As our nation prepares for the election of its next President, I think about what I would say if I were a candidate for that position. I am in fact too old to be that candidate, and I lack the “machinery” and the “money” to get elected. But if I were a candidate, this would be my Stump Speech. It describes the candidate I would most like to be our next President.
“Fellow Americans: I humbly stand before you today seeking the most powerful and important position in our country, and the position that leads the free world, the Presidency of the United States of America. I do not seek this position for the power it would confer upon me, nor for its prestige or the other benefits that come with it. In my mind, the detriments inherent in becoming our President far outweigh these attractions. You could honestly say, “he doesn’t really want the job.”
My Motive:
But I seek to lead this once-great country of ours in order to return it to the principles that made it the greatest nation known to man…the nation that made the American Dream possible for its citizens…the nation that became the envy of every other nation on earth. I am motivated to do this for you and for me, but much more so for your children and my children, and for your grandchildren and my grandchildren. I want all of them to have the opportunity to pursue our American Dream. All of my Presidential decisions will be guided by this motivation, my desire to give all our children and all our grandchildren the best opportunity to live their lives in a free society, to pursue true happiness and to achieve a sustained sense of well being. The American Dream offers this opportunity. It is the only Dream that does.
My Principles:
Over the coming months, you will hear and read much from other Presidential candidates, and from their supporters and their detractors. Most of this will be focused on the candidate’s stance on individual issues. While issue positions have importance, particularly if you only care about a single issue, I believe it is far more important to know the fundamental principles that will guide your candidate…the principles that are part of his or her inner fabric…the principles that he or she will rely upon as President to prioritize what needs to be done, and to make the momentous decisions our President must make. Our President represents each of us on every decision he or she makes. Consequently, I want you to know the fundamental principles which are at the core of who I am, the principles which will guide my every decision from the Oval Office.
• I believe there exists a Supreme Being we generally call “God,” and that God can be acknowledged, understood and worshiped in many ways.
• I believe that God created each of us to be equal, and therefore our government should recognize each of us as equal. This means that we are given equal rights and respect, and as far as possible we are given equal opportunities. It does not mean we are guaranteed equal outcomes (because this leads to a totalitarian state where no one is free and no one is happy).
• I believe the power of love (a positive) is stronger than the power of hate (a negative).
• I believe that “family” is the basic (but not the only) unit of society.
• I believe in the principles upon which our nation was founded. It was indeed adherence to these principles of our Founding Fathers that enabled our fledgling, wilderness nation to become the greatest nation on earth in less than two centuries.
• I believe our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution and our Bill of Rights should be read and re-read often by every single member of our Federal government.
• I believe the proper role of our Federal government is to create a climate in which the lives and safety of its citizens are secure (protecting our inalienable right to “Life”)…a climate in which the freedom granted to each of our citizens is maximized, limited only by the responsibility each citizen must have to respect the lives, rights, and properties of all other citizens ( protecting our inalienable right to “Liberty,” but balanced by “responsibility”)…a climate in which each citizen can pursue true happiness and well-being, as he or she defines it, and in the way he or she wishes (protecting our inalienable right to the “Pursuit of Happiness”).
• I also believe that economic dependency (where not necessitated by physical or mental impairments) does not lead to happiness, and usually destroys self respect. In fact, it is a form of enslavement.
• I believe that our Federal government should be a limited government, having only those powers expressly given to it by the Constitution, and always exercising those powers in an effective and efficient way, and in the long-term best interests of all our citizens.
• I believe that all other powers, not so given to the Federal government, belong to our people, or to their respective States.
• I believe that governments, just like our families, must ultimately operate to a balanced budget. Deficits can be financed by borrowings for a while, but not indefinitely because of the build-up of accumulated debt. When this debt, and the unfunded liabilities that often go with it, gets so high that government cannot borrow anymore, that government, and its people, become enslaved to the consequences.
• Governments with unbalanced budgets usually believe that they have a “revenue” problem. Most often they have an “expense” problem. Therefore, I believe the first effort to balance an unbalanced government budget should be on the “expense” side.
• Each government tax, and each government regulation, works to further limit the economic and entrepreneurial freedom of our people. Therefore, I believe we should strive to limit these taxes and regulations to only those that are absolutely necessary to accomplish the proper responsibilities of our government.
• Taxation is a “government taking by force” (which is fundamentally “bad”) in order to fund a “necessary government activity” (which should be fundamentally “good”). Therefore, I believe every tax must be justified by the necessity of the government activity it funds, and by the effectiveness and efficiency of how this activity is carried on.
• To the extent taxation is required, I believe it must be as “fair” as possible to all parties involved. While “fairness” may be quite different to people at the extremes, it should be a sustainable standard that the overwhelming majority of our people would generally judge to be “fair” all things considered.
• Because government regulations limit the freedom of our citizens (which is fundamentally “bad”) each must be fully justified by the “good” to be accomplished by the regulation. In other words, I believe each regulation must be “cost justified.” Those that are not, should be eliminated.
• In every society, there will be some who cannot fend for themselves, perhaps for a part of their lives and perhaps for their entire lives. In these cases, our society must adequately care for them. I believe private charity does this best, but to the extent that private charity does not step in, then government must step in. No one can be left to “starve in the streets.”
• I believe the primary responsibility of our government is to its own people. While we should never bow to any threats or abuse by other governments or peoples, we should not, and cannot, be the world’s “policeman.” Other governments and peoples must work out their own problems. We should help them follow our path to prosperity if they wish, but we should never force them to adopt our ways, or our form of government, if they don’t.
• And finally, I believe that the freedom we all desire, the freedom upon which we were founded, the freedom envied by the rest of the world…is not only the freedom to “succeed”, but also the freedom to “fail”, because you cannot have the first without the second. This freedom to succeed also requires personal responsibility, because you cannot succeed unless I am personally responsible, and I cannot succeed unless you are personally responsible.
If you elect me to be your President, I pledge to you that I will be guided by my motivation to return our country to greatness for our children and grandchildren, and I promise you that I will adhere to the fundamental principles outlined above because they are at the very core of who I am.
My Priorities
If you elect me to be your President, my first priority will be the single greatest threat to our future, which is the accumulated debt rung up by our country ($18 trillion so far) and the unfunded liabilities we currently have which greatly exacerbate this problem (over $72 trillion of promises to make future retirement and health care payments, for which we have no funds set aside). This, I believe, is our greatest threat, and the single thing which could, and if not corrected will, absolutely destroy our country and reduce it to economic and social ruin. The American Dream will become the “American Nightmare” if we don’t solve this problem. There is no “ducking it.” There are other priorities too, but this is number one.
Ultimately, you will want to know how I stand on other issues, and I am willing to openly share my views on anything you ask. But knowing my motivation and my principles now is of primary importance as you decide who is to be your President for the next four years. This President will have an enormous impact on our country and all of its people, and may well be our last chance to re-shape the environment we leave to those who will come after us.
One more important thought: many of the issues which grab media attention today are more social issues than issues which properly belong in the realm of our Federal government; these issues should be treated accordingly. And many other issues involve situations of “conflicting rights.” Where the rights of one person conflict with the rights of another person, any resolution seems wrong, and many in the media love to “hype” this. Government policies, however, must examine the pros and cons of each set of rights, and come to an acceptable solution, one which our citizens generally agree to be “fair” to the parties involved (like the “right” to kill in “self defense”). This approach will resolve these issues, issues that have festered for far too long in our society.
My Style
By nature, I am optimistic, but I am also a realist. I am collegial, but focused. And I believe we can, if we have the collective will, accomplish anything we set our minds to. It won’t be easy, and it will take time. Where we differ with one another, our discussions must be fact-based and civil, and completely devoid of “political” motives. “Demonizing” and “dehumanizing” should never be tolerated. We must focus on resolving problems, maximizing opportunities for our economy to grow and for all our people to prosper, and returning our country to the principles of our Founding Fathers, the principles which made us great. To do this, I will reach out to everyone.
My Promise
By now, you should know me pretty well. I promise that I will always be the person I have just described because it is who I am intrinsically no matter what I am doing. I cannot promise you that I can successfully accomplish everything I will set out to do as your President (no President can). Many, many people (some of whom are “politically” motivated) must work together to attain these successes. But I can promise you that I will surround myself with the most talented, caring and like-minded people I can find to help me in these momentous tasks. And I also promise you that I will try, I will try very hard, to the best of my ability and to the limits of my energy, because what I will be doing is for the future of our children and our grandchildren. I do not seek the Presidency for myself. I seek it for them. On their behalf, thank you for considering me to be the President of the United States. Please vote for me if you believe I am the best person to return our country to once again be the home of the “American Dream”, the country we want to leave to our children and grandchildren.”
Bill O’Neill