Independent Activity in Support of (or Opposition to) Potential Presidential Candidates

Led by former Congressman Jim Ryun and Ralph Benko. Launched Jan. 17, 2011.
Note: On Jan. 27, 2011, Pence announced he would not run.

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, CALL UPON YOU, MIKE PENCE, TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT. Congressman Pence, reports are that you are deciding in January whether to enter the Republican Primaries. You will have my enthusiastic support and that of tens of thousands of other conservatives. You are uniquely qualified to take America's helm at this moment of great peril.

At the first critical juncture in our nation’s history, our Founding Fathers started the Declaration with “when in the course of human events.” In 1964, Ronald Reagan defined the differences in the modern era as “a time for choosing.”

That time is now. The course of human events have put our nation on the cusp of financial ruin. Debt threatens to overwhelm virtually all that has made our nation exceptional and jeopardizes the future of this great nation in its entirety. It is, once again, a time for choosing, between the personal freedoms and guarantees of liberty that have brought unrivaled prosperity and opportunity and a statism that would render this country unrecognizable to Ronald Reagan, let alone Washington, Jefferson, and Madison.

Lincoln declared, “this nation cannot endure half-free and half-slave.” So it cannot, when we threaten to enslave ourselves and our posterity to debt and to massive expansion of the state.

Now is the time for men and women of stature, those who believe in the Founding principles, and possess the courage to defend them and persuade another generation of Americans to embrace them, to step forward in our country’s time of need.

For our country to survive and prosper, we must have new leadership in Washington, DC. Alongside the new leadership in the US House, we must have new leadership in the US Senate, and, in particular, the White House.

The Honorable Mike Pence of Indiana has displayed in his ten years of service in the U.S. House of Representatives the force of and depth of character that we believe is needed now. Time and time again he has stood firm on principle, no matter the pressure to compromise, and has demonstrated true commitment to comprehensive conservatism.

We believe that you, Mike Pence, must answer your country’s call. We believe that you must offer yourself as a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2012.

Mike, at this precarious time in our nation’s history, none of us can afford to make political calculations or make decisions based on future ambitions, for what will be left of the future if we fail today? As the Rev. John Witherspoon declared while advocating for the Declaration of Independence, “There is a tide in the affairs of men, a nick of time. We perceive it now before us. To hesitate is to consent to our own slavery.”

Seize this moment, Mike. Now is the time for you, as one of this generation’s leaders, to take your rightful place in the pantheon of American leadership, to cast aside personal considerations, and defend this God-blessed nation that has given us, and the world, so much.

RALPH BENKO

Coordinating this effort is Ralph Benko, who served as an attorney-advisor for the United States Department of Energy and served on detail as a deputy general counsel to a White House conference, and a presidential commission, under President Reagan. In 1986 Benko founded The Prosperity Caucus, in Washington, DC, a monthly meeting of free market economists and policy makers which was featured as the cover story in the National Journal.

Ralph Benko is the author of The Websters’ Dictionary: how to use the Web to transform the world (The Websters’ Press, 2008) for which he won top honors, in 2010, the Trophée du Choix des Internautes, from among the Paris-based World eDemocracy Forum’s “Top Ten Who are Transforming the World of Internet and Politics.”

Benko has been recognized as an active member of the Tea Party Patriots in publications such as The National Journal, TheWashingtonPost.com, and in The Prospect.

Under the George W. Bush presidential administration he worked closely with the White House Office for Faith-based & Community Initiatives in support of this leading White House domestic policy. He thereafter worked with the United States Department of Health and Human Services Operation Rescue and Restore to organize seven regions to identify and assist in the rescue of human trafficking victims in the United States.

Benko serves as a founding director of the Samaritan Medal Foundation. This Holy Land based nonprofit association represents the original Israelite-Samaritan people of Scriptural fame (the parable of the Good Samaritan) and annually presents medals for Peace and other worthy achievements.

Benko is a frequent contributor of editorial features to the Washington Examiner, Parcbench.com and Forbes.com and has been published by Foxnews.com, Townhall.com, DailyCaller.com, and AmericanThinker.com. His work is republished widely in online journals of opinion such as BestThinking.com and ConservativeHQ.

Born in New York, New York in 1952, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College, 1974, the degree of Juris Doctor from Boston University Law School, 1979. He is a member of the Bar of the State of New York.

Ed. Notes