Perot Personifies American Spirit

In 1964, when I was in high school, 76% of American young people said they trusted their government. By 1984, that figure had fallen to 44%. By 1994, it was down to 14%.

Given the revelations this fall about the flagrant and massive abuse of our campaign finance laws by both established parties and the wholesale influence-buying of the current administration by foreign interests, could there possibly be a kid left in America who still believes in his country’s leaders?

What does that portend for the future of our society? When there is no respect for authority--because the authorities are no longer deserving of respect--what fabric are we left with, as a civilization?

The bean counters say this election has been a forgone conclusion for months. Most graphs of economic indicators have been headed in the right direction for a while, so President Clinton is a presumed lock for reelection. Those of us exercising the rituals of democracy are supposedly wasting our time.

But if Americans are so satisfied with their lot and leadership, why does the Los Angeles Times Poll released Tuesday show a 54% majority feeling that the country is “off on the wrong track?”

Two reasons: The great bulk of American families have seen no advance in their economic welfare over the last generation, even though working moms are now the rule rather than the exception, and almost everyone perceives the nation has lost its moral compass.

Both of these problems have their origin in the nature and behavior of our leadership. Government now serves the powerful, not the people, and that lack of morality has eroded the fiber of American faith and values.

Clearly it is time for a revolution in American politics--the kind that Thomas Jefferson warned we would need every generation or two to keep democracy vital.

We now need a straight-talking, straight-shooting, straight-arrow president who does not play the Washington insiders’ game. We need someone who has innovative vision and steely determination, yet is idealistic enough to believe that the people know what is best for America.

Such a man is Ross Perot, the traditional spirit of America personified.

As a small boy, he sold seeds door-to-door and later delivered newspapers on horseback. Turned down by the Naval Academy, he enrolled in the local junior college, was elected student body president and got the trustees to move the campus--all in his freshman year. Annapolis decided he was Navy material after all. There, he ranked in the top 1% of his class in leadership, was elected president of his junior and senior classes, served as battalion commander and was trusted with the task of rewriting the honor code.

After serving four years in the Navy, Perot was hired by IBM; in his first full year, he made his annual sales quota by Jan. 19.

When Big Blue didn’t take his advice on marketing computer services, he borrowed $1,000 from his schoolteacher wife and struck out on his own. The result remains a legend in the annals of American business. It took 78 sales calls to close the company’s first contract, but Perot’s one-man firm grew into a $12.4-billion corporate giant with 95,000 employees.

When his company went public, Perot received $5 million. Within 60 days, he had given half of it away. Since that time, he has given away more than $100 million, chiefly for the education of underprivileged youth.

But Ross Perot has repeatedly reached beyond his checkbook for noble causes, giving large segments of his life, and even putting it on the line.

Hearing of the mistreatment of our prisoners of war in North Vietnamese prisons in 1969, Perot flew to Indochina with two planeloads of supplies and Christmas gifts from home. Though barred from landing in Hanoi, he dramatized the plight of the prisoners to the world and their conditions immediately improved.

When two of his employees were imprisoned in Tehran during the Iranian revolution, Perot found the U.S. government unwilling to take decisive action. He formed a volunteer team of employees with commando experience and eventually succeeded in spiriting his people out of the country.

Perot’s campaign for president in 1992 was the closest thing to a genuine draft this country had seen in more than 100 years. When he was through, the number of voters saying they had enough information to make a proper decision had doubled, turnout had its biggest spike in 68 years and fiscal responsibility was at the top of the national agenda.

This is not the kind of man who will knuckle under to our corrupt politics-as-usual. Ross Perot is of that rare breed of leader who can inspire the dispirited to restored greatness.