Fred Thompson's Washingtonian Declaration: Fire in the Belly Is Not a Requirement

Fred Thompson's response in his interview on Fox News Sunday over his "fire in the belly" comment is a refreshing change from the hurly-burly, dog-eat-dog, political infighting now occurring in Iowa and New Hampshire primaries.

Goerge Washington only reluctantly returned to the Capitol from his home in Montecello Mount Vernon [edited 01/05/08 thanks to observant reader, Thomas Jefferson was at Montecello...duh!], to become our first president. Washington was one of, if not the, greatest of our presidents. He was not a man of great personal ambition, he was a man with a sense of great personal responsibility.

He fought the British because he felt he had to fight them. He fought for an ideal, not for glory. He led for victory and freedom, not for fame and accolades. When offered a crown following our hard won battle for independence, he humbly declined saying he did not fight a war to remove one tyrant merely to replace him with another. From the Souix City Journal comes this:

Thompson: 'Not particularly interested in running'

WASHINGTON, Iowa (AP) -- Fred Thompson acknowledged Saturday he's not especially fond of running for president, but he thinks he'd be a good choice for the White House.

Asked at a town hall meeting in Burlington whether he had the desire to be president, Thompson said it wasn't his idea to seek the office, and he wasn't enamored with campaigning.

"I am not consumed by personal ambition. I will not be devastated if I don't do it," he said. "I'm not particularly interested in running for president."

How can this be? A man seeking the Presidency who doesn't have any personal ambition to be President? I am told that the Democrat Party is laughing at this statement...they would. Such a concept as sacrificing oneself for the good of the nation rather than out of personal ambition is a foreign idea to the party of Senator Hillary Rodham, Mrs. William J., Clinton and John Edwards.

What a strange concept...service to the nation, not self service and self-seeking. For people who put the good of their Party and their ambition for power above the needs of the nation...and the security of their nation, this statement must truly be an "Undiscovered Territory."

Democrats have, over the last half century or more, invariably placed their personal ambitions and lust for power over the good of the nation. They have pandered to special interest groups and proffered a philosophy of victimization as their answer to the problems of our society.

Democrats have offered a blameless society in which no one is responsible for their own predicament, rather it is always somebody else's fault, whether it is "rich Republicans," greedy corporations, or "non-inclusive," "non-diverse" policies. The concept of merit and duty are lost on the Democrat voters and their Party leaders.

That is what is so refreshing in Senator Thompson's words. They echo of duty, responsibility, and not of ambition. Here are some of the rest of Fred Thompson's historic words. Words which are beyond the understanding of Democrats, but which would ring familiar in the ears of Madison, Jefferson, Washington, Adams and Hamilton.

"I'm offering myself up. I'm saying that I have the background and capability and the concern to do this."

"I and my family have made sacrifices for me to be sitting here today. I haven't had any income for a long time because I'm doing this. I guess a man would have to be a total fool to do all those things and to be leaving his family, which is not a joyful thing at all, if he didn't want to do it."

"Nowadays, it's all about fire in the belly. I'm not sure in the world we live in today it's a terribly good thing that a president has too much fire in his belly."

"I like to say that I'm only consumed by very, very few things and politics is not one of them. The welfare of my country and my kids and grandkids are one of them," he said. "But if people really want in their president a super type-A personality, someone who has gotten up every morning and gone to bed every night thinking about for years how they could achieve presidency of the United States, someone who could look you straight in the eye and say they enjoy every minute of campaigning -- I ain't that guy."

Now those are the words of a man I could enthusiastically support. Those are the words of a statesman, not a callow self-absorbed, life-long politician. Not a woman who believes herself to be the annnointed one.

To have a President who is doing the job out of a sense of duty rather than out of ambition...Now that really would be a change.

Democrats claim to be offering change, but the ideals they espouse are the same tired old disproven ideals of socialism. Fred Thompson as a man of duty and "foolish idealism" as President of the United States, now that really is change.

Democrats will never comprehend what I am saying, but hopefully Fred Thompson's words will resonate with the Republicans and the independent voters both in Iowa and around the nation.

GO FRED, GO!!!

Long Live Our American Republic!!!

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