America in good hands with Mama Grizzlies

Believe it or not, a candidate has come to my attention who actually has a spine — someone who wants to get a grip on Congress and restore sanity to spending.

She is one more of those strong conservative women I have been writing about in recent weeks. You may not have heard of her, but she is a true American hero. Just listen to her stump speech — listen to her tell the truth to the voters:

“You warned those who served you in Washington that you were disturbed by the high cost of government. Your warnings were heeded. You ALMOST received the tax cuts and other economies you demanded. Then something happened... Congress went on a spending spree with your money... spending more than ever before ... The result was inflation. Prices soared higher and faster than incomes. I am convinced this inflation was unnecessary and could have been avoided. Now then. Are you going to send men and women to represent you in Washington who are so easily provoked into panic? Who will plunge you into bankruptcy, waste your money and mine? Then tax you again and again until you are destitute? Or are you going to elect men and women who are determined to regain control of the purse strings in Congress? Representatives who will eliminate waste, and balance the budget, while keeping you free and secure?”

So who is this brazenly outspoken candidate who wants to balance to budget and, by the way, also wants to “liquidate the United Nations,” “consider going back to the gold and silver standard,” pass a bill “protecting our states’ rights from the Supreme Court,” and get the government “out of competition with privately owned business”?

Michele Bachmann? Sarah Palin? Meg Whitman?

No, none of the above — and chances are, it’s someone you’ve never heard of — but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from her. No, she’s never held political office before, but she is grounded in American values and American traditions and does not mind “seeming overzealous in [her] patriotism.”

That’s my kind of woman — and my kind of candidate. In fact, she embodies the virtues that Sarah Palin talks about when she refers to common-sense conservative women as “Mama Grizzlies.”

So without further ado, let me have the honor of introducing you to Jean Walterskirchen, candidate for Congress from Montana and a woman ahead of her time —  way ahead.

In fact, Walterskirchen’s campaign slogan was “Freedom at Stake in ’58” — as in NINETEEN fifty-eight.

And the spending binge she was talking about in her stump speech had happened because Congress was frightened by the Soviet launch of the Sputnik satellite. But that “spending spree” in the 1950s was infinitesimal compared to what happened when Congress panicked in 2008 and 2009 — when Congress and the presidents (both Bush and Obama) spent well over a trillion dollars RE-acting to a so-called crisis.

Clearly, Walterskirchen’s fears more than 50 years ago about where the country was headed were not unfounded. Nor would I consider the timing of Walterskirchen’s warning within one year of the 1957 publication of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” to be entirely coincidental. Both women were tireless warriors, who like the Greek goddess Athena came equipped with not just wisdom but the torch of liberty — and their words still burn bright with the thunderbolt of truth today.

I was actually introduced to this fine American, Jean Walterskirchen, not too long ago by her daughter Helen Neumunz, who spends her summers in the Flathead, and who shared with me a copy of a speech from 1958 that was used by her mother in her campaign against Lee Metcalf to represent Montana in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Some of you may have even known her, though she died in the late 1960s. Born in Butte and longtime resident of Missoula, she was a dedicated Republican and had served as president of the Missoula County Republican Women’s Club as well as on the state Republican Central Committee. She was certainly well known throughout Montana, and some members of her family still live here in the Flathead. But she was a politician by accident, not by design. She ran for Congress because she saw something wrong and wanted to fix it, rather than because she longed for power or prestige. Indeed, I think she took her greatest pleasure from her family, not from politics, which may be why she was awarded the title of Mother of the Year for the state of Montana in 1961.

But it is her stump speech from 1958 that singles her out as a great American, ahead of her time, unafraid of taking a stand, and always standing on principle. If she were alive today, I have no doubt that she would be a leader of the Tea Party movement — and could very easily have run on the same platform she used in 1958.

Listen to her:

“My slogan — Freedom at Stake in ’58 — sums up my entire philosophy. It is a goal from which I will not be diverted nor compromised. I am and always have been a dedicated American believing that our Constitution is the greatest document ever written by man. Because it safeguards our God-given rights and freedoms.”

She warned those who had ears to hear:

“You choose to vouchsafe your freedoms or lose them depending on HOW you vote. Choose wisely the men and women who are to serve you. Get to know exactly where they stand and WHAT they stand for. The pages of history reveal many never-to-be-forgotten experiences through which great nations have been forced. Nations which enjoyed abundance, religious freedom, peace… and then suddenly were plunged into slavery because of their apathy and complacency.

“Our country, unfortunately, is in an era of complacency.”

That was written 63 years ago, but is still true.

Walterskirchen was fully aware of where we were heading:

“Our prosperity has been threatened because we have based it on a false philosophy of economics. A philosophy which ruined Italy and Germany and paved the way for dictators. We need a one hundred cent dollar. Worth a dollar. Remember, you are government, and you and I can, and should demand that wasteful spending in government be stopped. We should demand a reduction in taxes for everyone. Business needs this relief from the heavy tax burden to expand facilities. Thus providing more jobs. The worker needs more take home pay…”

Time and time again, Walterskirchen was proven right by history — the danger of communism, the failure of “progressive” education, the foolishness of going bankrupt while sending billions overseas in foreign aid to countries that aren’t even our friends.

In at least one instance, unfortunately, she was proven dead wrong:

“I also believe,” she said in 1958, “that America will never accept the socialized medical program, advocated by social planners, and shall resist such a catastrophe in our country.”

Ladies and gentlemen, the catastrophe is upon us. America did accept socialized medicine — or at least Congress is trying to force us to accept it, though 26 states are resisting with all their might in the federal court system.

It is lamentable that Jean Walterskirchen, R-Mont., was never elected to Congress, but her truth goes marching on. Balanced budget — or profligate spending? Less taxes — or more? “Loving America first, last and always” — or viewing America as a tainted, repressive imperial power?

It’s unlikely that Republicans will find a standard bearer as powerful, clear-thinking or plain-spoken as Jean Walterskirchen — but history has proven her right.

So now, we have a choice. Follow Obama — or follow Walterskirchen. For me the choice is clear. I’m with the Mama Grizzly.