Chuck Bateman's Candidacy Announcement Speech

If elected, I will commit to work as a Constitutional Purist in the traditions of the founding fathers. The ONLY way for America to get back on track is to submit, and commit, to principles and values found in the U.S. Constitution as it was brought forth by the founding fathers. This great work has NOT become outdated. It does not pertain to just an old agrarian society. It is an inspired set of principles and values that hold the "natural man" in check so that American citizens can continue to enjoy the freedoms and liberties held so dear. The "natural man", when given power by virtue of an elected office, will want more power until the office he or she holds becomes corrupt, power will be over-used and abused, moving our government closer to tyranny. As Lord Acton put it, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

The Constitution, as our founding fathers brought it forth, is vital to us because it provides a system of checks and balances to limit elected officials to the use of specific powers related to their office. If we elect constitutionally minded people to political office, and once elected, we continue to hold them responsible to do what is right, America can get beyond the huge problems facing us today. But there isn't much time. Too many "debt bombs" are looming ever larger to destroy us economically, and it is up to the Federal and State governments to reign in the taxation and the spending. It is up to every American citizen to be a watchdog and to study and gain sufficient knowledge enabling them to understand what they see is happening. We the people can do it. So I say to Utahans and all Americans - I commit to set our house in order! Will you help?!

Now, I want to present to you a puzzle, to which I will provide an answer: I present to you our nation’s leaders (whom I will refer to as tigers), sealed inside an unbreakable-glass room. Inside that room, there is, in addition to the tigers, tables and mirrors for some useful purposes, - but nothing more. The unbreakable glass serves to control the power given to these tigers, meaning the powers that are given to them are limited to the office to which they are elected. But, being "natural men", they wish to break out of the glass room, thereby enabling them to exercise their power in an uncontrolled manner. They are vicious tigers in a cage. Once turned loose, the tigers go where they want and devour at will, many times lying in wait for the right time to strike. But the puzzle is in how do they get out of the cage? The answer is this. First they wait until the keepers of the cage are asleep. Then, through their coniving minds they find that if they look into the mirrors, see what they saw, take the saw and saw the table in half, the two halves making a whole (hole), and they climb out.

Well, the keepers of the cage, being we the people, have fallen asleep, and upon a few having awakend early, find the tigers are out of the cage, they look for an answer to how this happened. Upon finding one of the female tigers, they learn from her the story of how the tigers got out using the saw and the hole. These few cage keepers explain she shouldn’t have gotten out, and the tiger says, "Do you really believe that!", and then says again, "DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT!" Furthermore, the female tiger explains the escape was legal, and the means to accomplish their escape was within their limitation of powers to leave the cage; that their methods and ambitions were within proper bounds.

Now those few keepers of the cage finally realize that they have been duped by the female tiger, and begin to awaken other cage keepers of the tiger’s escape. But the story of the escape has reached the press, who’s readers mostly buy the tiger’s story. The cage keepers, now realizing that they face destruction if they don’t do something, unite with leagized weapons of humanity and tranquilize the tigers, ship them back to the jungle where they were initially captured, and pursue a new set of tigers to put back in the cage. This time they agree to keep a closer eye on the newly caged tigers.

But the tables and mirrors still remain in the cage, and I want to draw an analogy to them. Within the U.S. Constitution we find in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1, and I quote, "The Congress shall have Power to ...provide for ...the general Welfare of the United States..." From this phrase we now have a Federal welfare system. The tigers used the mirrors and tables to get out of the cage.

Again in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 18, we find the following statement: "The Congress shall have Power to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers (of which there are 17 enumerated powers), and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Office thereof." This is referred to as the "necessary and proper" clause, and is the most improperly used clause for the tigers to escape and roam at will, believing that they have the power to do anything they want if it is deem it to be necessary and proper. The tigers are out of the cage. I hope you can see my point.

I will say we must all be better keepers of the cage. We can’t fall asleep, but must be ever vigilant. I’m asking for your support and your vote, that I may represent you in repairing the damage and cleaning up the carnage that has been done to us, while preparing ways to go forward providing for our children, our grandchildren, and continuing posterity, to live free and have the liberties envisioned by our founding fathers. Please help wake up more cage keepers. Please, help with the job of sending the escaped tigers back to the jungle from where they came. Help find those who are knowledgeable and willing to serve properly, keeping the checks and balances provided for in our Constitution. I don’t come to you promising you anything but a pledge to serve you proplerly, to stand solid on my principles, and to expend my energies and intellect in setting Utah in order to survive the surmounting crisis that is before us.

What I have shared with you tonight, deals mostly with problems at the Federal level, and yet I am running for a State level office. I have done this purposely because the greatest problem facing Utah is the Federal government’s encroachment on our State Soverienty and the continued loss of freedoms, liberties, and our land. Beyond that, many important issues pertaining to our State face Utah’s legislators, with a few being time-wasting minutia. My hope tonight is that you hear and acknowledge my desire to represent you in the House of Representatives, that you will find me solidly rooted in the U.S. Constitution in the traditions of our founding fathers and NOT in the perversions today’s politicaly leaders use as a basis for law making, administratiing, and ajudicating those laws.

There are a few handouts available containing my campaign platform. I have also included some additional information that I thought would be informative.

Thank you for coming tonight. I will now accept questions that you may have regarding me or my platform.