When Ross Perot decided to re-enter the presidential sweepstakes, he deprived Bill Clinton of his uncontested status as the greatest political threat to our nation’s moral and economic future. Thankfully, he is not fooling too many people this time around, so the biggest threat is not the most likely threat. Unfortunately, he may still fool too many disillusioned conservatives, thus handing a tight election to disaster candidate #2.
Perot’s rhetorical appeal uniquely crisscrosses the political spectrum, making strange bedfellows out of voters of both the left and the right. But left wingers have a solid champion in Bill Clinton; they don’t really stand to gain much by signing on to Perot’s longshot bid. Conservatives, however, are much more vulnerable to Perot’s siren call. The great danger is that, in anger or ignorance, just enough of these voters will choose Perot that it will provide the margin of victory to Clinton. Thus they would have actually voted not for the white knight protest candidate, but for the establishment liberal whose vision for this nation stands in stark opposition to the most cherished values of moderate, conservative and Christian America.
So, if you are vacillating between Bush and Perot, let’s make sure you understand that H. Ross is no friend of free markets or family values.
1. How did he make his fortune? Not by satisfying ordinary customers in the marketplace, but by cozying up to welfare state bureaucrats. He is America’s first welfare billionaire, having parlayed his close associations with high ranking government officials in the welfare bureaucracy into exclusive rights to hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts paid out of our tax dollars. He essentially skimmed off a healthy chunk of the huge money flows that our Great Society programs poured into the welfare system. While Perot wants us to believe he is an amateur in politics, he is really a 30 year veteran of the political/business complex. No special interest lobbyist has ever profited more handsomely because Perot’s special interest extended no further than himself.
2. How did he spend his fortune? Once he got his foot in the front door, Perot then shrewdly reinvested his political influence so as to insure that the golden government spigot would never be turned off. This was accomplished through huge campaign contributions to those federal officials who held the purse strings for the welfare kitty. Campaign finance laws notwithstanding, Perot funnelled hundreds of thousands of dollars to such scandal plagued Democrats as Wilbur Mills, Dan Rostenkowski and Jim Wright, and to other powerful liberals such as John Glenn, Bill Bradley, Lloyd Bentsen and Richard Gephardt. According to Human Events, in the 1990 Texas elections the candidates Perot most heavily financed were all arch-liberal Democrats being opposed by conservative Republicans.
3. Does he believe in free enterprise? Not really. Though he puts a different spin on the idea, Perot essentially sees government as a social and economic savior. This is entirely consistent given that it was the government that made him his fortune. Liberal columnist Michael Kinsley points out that “he urges a massive new transfer program designed to take money away from the prosperous.” Maybe this is why even during the height of his popularity last May, 90% of Fortune 500 chief executives said they would not support his candidacy.
4. Is he pro-family values? Sometimes yes, too often no. For instance, he openly favors special privileges for homosexuals. The Human Rights Campaign Fund, a radical homosexual activist organization, praised his positions on homosexual political issues and even considered endorsing him. Of course, Perot was outpandered by Clinton for the support of this voting bloc.
5. Is he pro-life? Absolutely not. In fact, he is even more extremely pro-abortion than Clinton and Gore. According to George Grant, the Perot’s are “not simply pro-choice, they are activists with a vested interest in the most radical fringe of the abortion movement.” Perot is the first presidential candidate ever to have close ties to the abortion industry. For example, he funded an entire gynecological hospital wing where second trimester abortions are performed. He is a vocal supporter of Planned Parenthood, while his wife is an advisory board member. This is the organization that lobbies Congress for mandatory sterilization for couples with two children, and tax penalties for those with large families.
6. Does he support the Constitution? Amazingly no! Despite his superpatriot image, he scorns our constitutional framework of representative republicanism as antiquated and inadequate. Perot believes that the main problem with our government is not corrupt people, but a corrupt system. Our Constitution was designed to limit the power of centralized government in order to preserve liberty. Our system of government has successfully limited the aspirations of would be tyrants for more than 200 years. It is no friend to demagogues and autocrats. Is it any wonder that Perot would like to see it scrapped?
If you would like more information on Perot, read George Grant’s book: The Populist Appeal of Strong-Man Politics (Adroit Press, P.O. Box 680365, Franklin, TN 37068. Phone: 1-800-662-8629).
