The Pendragon's Hall

This is for all those, mostly college people, who think I am the Republican to end all Republicans and support George Bush merely because he is the Republican candidate. Eight years ago, in 1996, both my parents voted for Howard Phillips, the Right to Life candidate, and I agreed with their decision. In July of 2000, I remember telling a young Taiwanese boy who asked me very seriously if I thought Bush or Gore were the better candidate: "Bush is better than Gore, but even Bush is not very good." Up until October of that year, my parents were not yet decided on who they would vote for. I am not a supporter of Bush because he is the Republican candidate (although I oppose John Kerry because he is the Democratic candidate). I support the President because of the impression he has made on me as President. Although I was happy in 2000 when Gore, somewhat like the man he endorsed this time around, finally conceded and Bush was elected. But I wasn't convinced I necessarily wanted him re-elected in 2004. Now I am. The war on terror and the way he has led it, his stand for pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, his ability push through tax cuts have all convinced me. This country needs George W. Bush--unlikely as he may seem. The sage Merlin said of Arthur, "Was ever a King thus made for his kingdom?" Elrond said of Aragorn, "This is your test. Every path you have trod through wilderness and war has led to this road." The Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance for I have rejected him." He is unlikely, he is not infallible, but it seems that so much of what he has experienced in his life has brought him into the kingdom, so to speak, for such a time as this. If nothing else, life has taught him he must rely on God and this, in the end, is what makes a great speaker. There is a Rudyard Kipling poem I would like to dedicate to the President and his re-election effort:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowances for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired of waiting
Or being lied about don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating
And yet don't look too good nor talk too wise;
If you can dream and not make dreams your master,
If you can think and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same,
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken,
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
And watch the things you gave your life to broken
And stoop and build them up with wornout tools,
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch and toss
And lose and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone
And so press on when there is nothing in you
Except the will which says to you, "Go on,"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings nor lose the common touch;
If neither foe nor loving friend can hurt you;
If all men count with you but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds worth of distance run,
Yours is the earth and everything that is in it
And what is more, you'll be a man, my son.