The Perot Legacy: A New Political Path

By Pat Benjamin

In 1992, America began a historic and unique political movement when Ross Perot, a down-to-earth, charismatic billionaire, threw his hat into the ring of presidential contenders. A member of the Reform Party, Perot was the voice for the average American, and he inspired millions of ordinary citizens to actively participate in their government. In The Perot Legacy, political activist and Perot campaigner Pat Benjamin takes you inside Perot’s campaign and tells the story of an action movement that turned everyday folks into street fighters as they delved into the depths of dirty politics. Benjamin lays out the campaign’s successful infiltration of “politics as usual” and exposes the back-room deals, intimidation, stalkers, and death threats that dogged the campaign’s every step. But The Perot Legacy provides more than a history of the Perot presidential bid. With sharp political sensibility, Benjamin addresses how to harness the growing frustration and disgust many Americans feel over politics today, and she explains how to learn from past mistakes to effectively put regular, real people back in control of the American government. Benjamin combines personal anecdotes, insider opinions, and sound political discourse to create a true testament to America’s unique democratic system. It’s time to put the power back in the people’s hands!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
• Release date: Mar 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781614484738

Book preview

Prologue

An enormous trade and budget deficit, a continually growing government debt, outsourcing of American jobs, and elected representatives who don’t listen to the people who put them in office and pay their salaries.

All of these issues are major problems today in the United States. In fact, these problems have grown worse since they were first discussed by Ross Perot in his 1992 campaign for President of the United States.

I have come to believe, as have many of the other activists who began their political journeys in the 1992 Perot campaign for president that real changes are needed, and can only be made by the people’s direct involvement in the running of their government.

Today, in 2012, there is a building momentum for reclaiming our country using a different kind of politics. A number of new organizations have recently formed, modeled after the Perot-founded issues organization United We Stand America (UWSA). One of these groups is called No Labels, which (like UWSA) is made up of Democrats, Independents, Republicans and alternative party activists. Their goal is to break the gridlock in Congress by getting the American people involved, and pushing their elected representatives to begin solving problems instead of ignoring or making them worse.

A positive change in government can be made. What does it take?

Voting by millions, telephone calls, e-mails, letters, and petitions to our local, county, state and federal representatives, as well as massive demonstrations by the people in front of our nation’s capital, Washington DC.

In order to succeed, we also need to understand what the Democrats and Republicans in our current two-party political system have done in the past to squelch any attempts to change the political structure.

This is the story of a citizen-action movement that turned ordinary citizens into street fighters, taking them into the depths of dirty politics that they had no idea existed. It exposes the back-room deals, intimidation, stalkers, and death threats experienced by many of the millions of people inspired by Ross Perot’s 1992 and 1996 campaigns for the presidency.

Also addressed is how these 1990s political activists - as young as 14 at the time - have evolved politically over the last 20 years – including what drove them to get involved, and what’s important to them today.

I continue to be convinced that We the People, working together, can accomplish this mission. To keep democracy alive, the economy growing, and our government honest and truly representing the American people, it’s time to turn the message into action and take back control of our country.

Chapter 1

The Movement

I answered the telephone and a voice said, You should have burned in the ovens in World War II. A recurring nightmare? Yes. But also part of my reality in the 1990s.

This reality is one of the reasons I need to set the record straight. In December 2005, I made a decision about how to spend the next stage of my life. I decided to write a book about the millions of citizen activists in the United States, including me, who joined an unprecedented political movement in 1992. The overwhelming evidence that the United States government wasn’t listening to its citizens drove us to act on our anger and frustration.

Just as I made this decision, I received a call at my home in Cherry Hill, New Jersey from a Connecticut friend, Donna Donovan, whom I had met in that 1990s political reform movement. Donna proceeded to tell me a story that reinforced my decision. She said, Yesterday I was on my way to a garage to service my car. While I was driving, another car passed. The driver honked at me, smiled, and gave me a thumbs-up sign. It wasn’t the first time this had happened. Donna continued, I have a bumper sticker on my car’s rear window that says ‘Ross Was Right.’ Recently I realized people had begun reacting strongly and positively to this message. When I arrived at the service station and pulled in, one of the mechanics had an amazing reaction. With tears in his eyes, the mechanic looked at my bumper sticker and said, ‘Where is he? We need him now more than ever.’

The he to whom the mechanic was referring, named on the bumper sticker, was Ross Perot—the man who represented truth, trust, and hope to many Americans. The man who founded and led our political reform movement, creating a new political path.

Who is Ross Perot?

Ross Perot, born in Texarkana, Texas, is the son of a cotton broker. He grew up during the Depression in a $4,000 house. After high school, he received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. Ross served on the USS Sigourney and the USS Leyte in the 1950s. In his book My Life & The Principles of Success, he explained,

One day while I was on the bridge of the Leyte, working as assistant navigator, Stan Farwel an IBM executive … came over and said, Son would you be interested in a job with IBM? … I looked at him and said: Mr. Farwell, I am twenty-six years old. I’ve worked since I was six years old, and I always had to look for work. You are the first person in my life who has ever offered me a job. You bet I would like to have an interview with your company, IBM, and I don’t even know what you do. [Farwell] broke out laughing, and said You don’t know what IBM does? I said, Well we have IBM typewriters on the ship. He said, No Ross, I’m interested in you because the captain tells me that you have a lot of knowledge about the gunfire control computers, and we are in the computer business. P. 66

In 1957, Ross Perot joined IBM, and as he says, the rest is history. In the 1960s, Ross Perot left IBM and founded Electronic Data Systems (EDS). He surrounded himself with people who were far more talented and gifted than I was —one of the secrets to his success.

Today billionaire Ross Perot has changed a lot from that young man who founded EDS. However, he still retains the basic east Texas values of compassion, patriotism, and hard work. He is a man who became a billionaire and wanted to give back to the people and the country where he was given the chance to succeed.

Ross Perot contributes to many worthy causes, such as medical research and hospitals, the majority of which is done under the radar of the media. In particular, Ross supports our military and helps thousands of United States Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine veterans.

However, the part of Ross Perot’s legacy that has impacted millions of Americans and gained him the most visibility is his direct involvement in politics. In 1992, Ross Perot ran for president as an independent. In 1996, he ran as the candidate of the state Reform Parties. He funded the issues organization United We Stand America, and contributed to the organization of a citizens’ group to help with emergency preparedness after September 11, 2001.

Many Americans believe the legacy that will outlast Ross Perot is his initiative to put the control of this country’s government back into the hands of its people.

Involved reformers speak

Numerous books have been written about Ross Perot. These books explore his personal and business lives, as well as the political impact of his 1992 presidential campaign and the resulting creation of the Reform Party. However, so far, this is the only book that has been written by a citizen volunteer participant in the daily activities of the 1992 Ross Perot presidential campaign, United We Stand America (UWSA), the Reform Party (RPUSA), and the post-9/11 emergency preparedness network (named United We Stand, UWS) following September 11, 2001. For the first time, you will hear my and others’ reasons for involvement in the government and political reform movement inspired and invigorated by Ross Perot. Some of us were political activists who were reenergized by him. But many were people who had never participated in politics and were transformed by Perot and the reform movement into politically involved Americans.

Movement goals

The goal of this political movement was not and is not just to create a third party. An alternate party, like the Reform Party, is just one way citizens can have an impact on their government. Some people choose to join citizen action groups or local activist organizations. Some even choose to run for office.

Millions of people were and still are drawn to the movement by the issues that Ross Perot addressed. In 1992, many of his issues were not even on the radar screen for either major political party. Yet his campaign’s emphasis on issues such as trade, the growing national debt and deficit, and campaign reform resonated so loudly that almost twenty million Americans cast their votes for independent Perot in November 1992. And today, the trend toward independent voting continues to increase. As observed in the book The 100 Best Trends 2006 by George Ochoa and Melinda Corey, According to the Harris Poll, 24% of Americans call themselves independents. This and other findings suggest that independents are the fastest growing political constituency in the United States.

The main emphasis of this movement, from the beginning, has been—and still is—the need for the people’s direct involvement in the governing of the United States of America, in order to make sure every change is good for the country and its people. Also, as Ross Perot often said, Never ask yourself, ‘Is it legal or illegal?’ Simply ask yourself as a leader, ‘Is it right or wrong?’ If it’s wrong, don’t do it (address to the graduating class of Port Huron High School, 6/7/1995).

Bias and disagreement

In this book, I have chronicled the political and life-changing events experienced not just through my own eyes, but also through the eyes of some others who signed on to the Perot campaign and the subsequent political movement. These people represent the thousands of voters I have spoken to since 1992. They had and have many different professions. They live in every part of the United States. Yet, they have shared the same political environment—the Perot-inspired reform movement, which began in 1992 and is still having an impact today.

Within the movement, from the beginning, participants didn’t always agree with one another on every topic. Yet, for a time, we were able to overcome these differences because we did agree on our core values and our primary mission. The problems with today’s politics include the hardening of political positions in both of the major political parties, the growing representation of extremist views, and the unwillingness to compromise. These problems have made passing laws and effectively and democratically governing more and more difficult.

In our political reform movement, we chose to set aside social policy—such as abortion and gun control—and focus on political and economic reform. Today in politics, it’s more obvious than ever that the greater emphasis is on social issues that divide people, rather than on the core issues and values that bring them together. Overall, our activist supporters represent the moderate or middle positions on the core political and economic issues.

A variety of members

It’s important to note that the Perot constituency varied from Perot’s independent campaign for president to United We Stand America (UWSA) and later the Reform Party. In 1992, people supported Ross Perot based on his stance on issues; their trust in him; his clear, direct, outspoken statements; and their desire to have him run for president. In 1993, we who continued in the Perot-inspired reform movement as part of the issues organization UWSA were focused on educating elected officials and the public. We elected to reform the system through an indirect process, rather than by running our own candidates.

In fact, following a line-by-line comparison of the Republican Contract With America with the Principles of Reform developed during the early Perot movement, both Russ Verney and Donna Donovan concluded that the GOP position statement was inspired by and based in part on our document.

Then, in 1995–96, a democratic vote of the UWSA members led to a decision to convert to a political party—the Reform Party. With that change, many activist supporters who had left after 1992 because they wanted to create their own political party and run their own candidates returned to the fold. Also, we added new third-party supporters. Unlike in 1992, numerous events occurred that limited Ross Perot’s voting numbers as a presidential candidate in 1996, not the least of which was his exclusion from the presidential debates by the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates and the private bipartisan (not nonpartisan) Commission on Presidential Debates.

In fact, after 1996, external and internal events and circumstances, which are detailed in later chapters, continued to contribute to the diminished size and impact of the Reform Party following the chaotic 2000 Reform Party National Convention. Some people in the movement remained in the party. Others ran for elected office at local, state, and national levels as independents, third-party candidates, or as members of the two major parties. Still others joined issues organizations, faith-based groups, and many other volunteer associations in efforts to maintain our freedom, promote our democracy, and to help our citizens in any number of ways.

Overview

Through the voices of participants, this book presents the start, the development, and the continuation of Ross Perot’s legacy—citizen involvement in politics and the governing of our country. Here, the reform movement’s participants address the many forms of vigilance they adopted and encouraged to preserve our democracy and freedom by answering Ross Perot’s key question—Is it good for the country? The Perot Legacy: A New Political Path explores how each American, by reaching out to other Americans, can play a role in running our government. This book encourages all of us to use every means possible to take our country back.

Chapter 2

The Campaign

These are the best of times. These are the worst of times.

Those words by Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities perfectly describe the state of American politics over the last two decades. It was the best of times because Americans began to wake up and eventually rise up in 1992. They slowly began to realize it was time to move from the political status of outsider to their legitimate position of insider. It was the worst of times because political party members had been ideologically moving further away from one another, within each party as well as between political parties. In fact, extremists in both parties were beginning to move into positions of power.

The pull-and-tug of extremes seemed to be greater in the Republican Party. In a 1992 article for Scripps-Howard News Service, Jane Lowey reported, Several leading GOP moderates … recently announced the formation of the Republican Majority Coalition, a national organization ‘to take our party back’ from the Religious Right. The organization made the stand clear in its following Statement of Purpose: ‘We believe issues such as abortion, mandatory school prayer, homosexuality, the teachings of creationism and other similar questions recently inserted into the political context should instead be left to the conscience of individuals.’

The missing link

People across America were feeling the tension—and often disenfranchisement— of the polarization within the two major parties. And then the missing link that completed the chain fell into place. That chain united millions across America. There are many stories behind the people who became part of this chain of political awakening. I was one of those people.

For me, the key to the discovery of that missing link came from my son Steven. One spring day in 1992, Steven walked into the house where we lived in East Brunswick, New Jersey, and said, I just signed a petition.

For what? I asked.

To put Ross Perot on the ballot for president of the United States.

I replied, Who’s Ross Perot?

For me, that was the beginning of fifteen years of the best of times and the worst of times.

For Diane McKelvey, from Colon, Michigan, the discovery of Ross Perot—the missing link—also centered on a family member: her husband, Alec. According to Diane, while watching TV, Alec would thump on the arms of the couch complaining about what the politicians were saying. Alec often said he was glad when Congress recessed because then they would not be spending any more of our money.

Meanwhile, Diane was busy training her racehorses when one of the other trainers at the Marshall, Michigan, fairgrounds said to her, What do you think of that millionaire guy who’s going to run for president? referring to Ross Perot. At home, Alec kept talking about Perot and told Diane that Mr. Perot was going to be on Larry King Live. Diane said, I decided to watch the show and find out for myself what the fuss was about. To put it mildly, I was astounded by what I saw and heard. No one, absolutely no one, had spoken or addressed issues like he did.

Diane volunteered to work with the Michigan Perot for President campaign. She was asked to carry a petition and get signatures to put Perot on the ballot in Michigan. Diane said, Amazing to me, every person I presented the petition to signed it! It took no time out of my busy day.

Once her petition was filled with signatures, she took it to the neighboring town where the Perot for President office was located. Diane said, What I saw there was unbelievable! They had a sign out on the highway saying ‘Sign Perot petitions here,’ and a table set up with several people and petitions. Cars were stopping and people were walking across this busy highway to sign them! The groundswell I saw was simply amazing. People really cared.

The groundswell

While Diane was reacting in Michigan, Marilyn Tighe from San Diego, California, became a Perot for President campaign volunteer working the telephones. Marilyn eventually became the office manager putting out fires, placing volunteers where they were needed. In the beginning we were in someone else’s offices then we moved twice to larger quarters. The volunteers were wonderful. Nobody knew anybody, didn’t know nor did it matter if they were a Democrat or Republican or other, didn’t know their religion, education. He who could, did, he who had, gave. It was wonderful getting an impossible job done.

Meanwhile, back in New Jersey, a sixteen-year-old high school student, Scott Sanders, who couldn’t drive or vote, heard about Perot from his excited father. Scott said of his dad, "Politics was a common topic, and he didn’t have a whole lot of love for people in office. I picked up on my dad’s