Political pundit speaks to Republicans

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Conservative political pundit Pat Miller was in Van Wert Tuesday evening to humorously skewer liberals and talk seriously about America’s past and future during a get-together of Van Wert County Republicans.

Surprisingly, for a man who talks politics daily on Fort Wayne, Indiana, radio station WOWO, politics aren’t at the top of Miller’s priority list. The pundit noted that, in order of importance, his priorities are 1. His faith, 2. Being a good husband, 3. Being a good father, 4. Being a good conservative, and, 5. Being a good Republican.

“If you get any of those out of order, you screw up all that follows,” Miller noted.

The political pundit began his talk with the despair of the Continental Army on Christmas Day 1776. Miller said General George Washington had had a bad year following the signing of the Declaration of Independence five months earlier, with the British defeating his army several times and pushing the Americans out of New York and New Jersey.

Washington’s army was nearly non-existent, down from approximately 30,000 when the war began to about 2,500 ragged, dirty and hungry soldiers and the revolution was, as Miller described it, “hanging by a thread.”

That’s when Washington, needing a victory before his army went into winter quarters, took a big risk, crossing the ice-clogged Delaware River to surprise Hessian mercenaries at Trenton, New Jersey, defeating the Germans and capturing much-needed equipment, clothing and food.

Although a desperate risk for Washington at the time, Miller said the victory, which gave Americans the spark they needed to get through the winter and renew the contest for independence, now seems inevitable — and in Miller’s mind it was, as he stated that, in his opinion, America was born “in the heart and mind of God.”

Miller also talked about the United States Constitution, stating that the Constitution doesn’t actually grant any rights to Americans, but merely reminds them of the “unalienable” rights given to them by God. He also noted that separation of church and state was always intended by the Founding Fathers as a one-way deal: to keep government out of religion, not religion out of government.

Miller also related a story about American Florence Chadwick, the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions, and her later attempts to swim from Catalina Island to the California mainland.

The pundit talked about how Chadwick turned back a mile from success because she panicked when thick fog rolled in and she couldn’t see where she was going.

However, she conquered her fears and successfully completed the swim shortly afterwards.

Using the story as an allegory for conservatives who sometimes lose their way in the fog of party politics, Miller noted that, while he is a proud Republican, he’s first and foremost a conservative, adding that his party affiliation could change if Republicans forget their conservative roots and fail to do “the right things”.

Miller likened his stance to that of Ronald Reagan, who when asked why he left the Democratic Party to become a Republican, said he didn’t leave the party, it left him.

The pundit concluded his speech by noting that, like Washington before the Battle of Trenton, the future of America is again “hanging by a thread.” Miller stated his opinion that, if America is to remain the great country it has been, it’s increasingly important for conservatives to stand by their beliefs.