Mike Huckabee - Character Makes a Difference: Where Im From, Where Ive Been, and What I Believe

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Character Makes a Difference

2007 by Mike Huckabee

All rights reserved

ISBN: 978-0-8054-6367-4

B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

www.BHPublishingGroup.com

Originally published as:

Character Is the Issue 1997 by Mike Huckabee

Includes selected chapters from:

Living Beyond Your Lifetime 2000 by Mike Huckabee

Dewey Decimal Classification: 170

Subject Heading: WHITEWATER SCANDAL / POLITICAL ETHICS

Unless otherwise stated all Scripture citations are from the New King James Version,

1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc.

Printed in the United States of America

INTRODUCTION

Responding to questions regarding his personal character, President Bill Clinton once told his audience that character isnt the issue. Yet our character defines the world we live in. Our government, welfare programs, schools, and everything else in our lives are shaped and directed according to our character. It s commonly claimed that you cant legislate morality, but, in fact, every law in the country is a reflection of our moral values. We have laws against murder and stealing because we believe they are morally wrong. We used to have laws against abortion under most circumstances. When our moral values changed, the laws changed along with them.

Over the past thirty years, a decline in moral character has produced a decline in the character of our society. Columnists and researchers have produced a whole library of books and reports on the issue and laid blame for our cultural troubles on everything from government policy to single parent households. What it all comes down to, though, is that people of good, godly character make good, godly laws. Everything hinges on the character of the men and women we choose to establish public policies.

And their character depends on you.

This is a book for everyone who looks out at the world, sees the moral decline that seems to be devouring our culture unchecked, and thinks, Our country is falling apart and theres nothing I can do about it.

There is something you can do about it: you can live a God-centered life of high moral character, and you can run for public office or support candidates who share your Christian standards. At first that sounds like an oversimplification maybe even an impossibilitybut I can tell you from personal experience that it can happen.

I was once the pastor of a wonderful church in Texarkana, Arkansas. We had a growing church, an active television ministry, and a wide-ranging series of community outreach programs. But I felt God s call to leave the pulpit and take my message into the political arena. I had no experience in politics. I was a Republican in a heavily Democratic state. And yet I had a God-centered worldview that my fellow Arkansans identified with.

My views didnt make me any better than anyone else before God, but they struck a chord with people who were weary of living under a government that no longer respected what they thought was important. When I became governor of Arkansas in 1996, I recognized the same moral authority Gods authoritythat I did as a pastor, as a student, and as a radio disc jockey in high school. God s standards never change; they are an unmoving goal toward which we can travel all our lives without ever having to change direction.

There are three sections in this book, each dealing with a different aspect of how character shapes the events and institutions of our culture. The first section gives examples of how character can direct the outcome of a crisis. From political showdowns to life-threatening illness, character equips us to face daunting challenges and prevail over them.

The second section focuses on why character is important, how we know there are absolutes of good and bad character, and the consequences of surrendering those absolutes to the champions of relativism.

The final section, comprised of speeches and public commentary, shows how character decisions translate directly into public policy decisions.

Character is the issue, and your character makes a difference every dayin the work you do, the candidates you vote for, the people who look to you for leadership. My hope is that this book will encourage you to live your faith proudly and publicly and to support and uplift fellow Christians as we work together to build God s kingdom.

PART I

CHARACTER IN THE FURNACE

A CRUCIBLE MOMENT

My office wasnt the best place in the world to rehearse a speech, but my staff was doing its best to keep interruptions to a minimum. Outside the door, people were running around like members of a pit crew working the Indianapolis 500 fast, efficient, focused, everybody with a job to do, swarming everywhere at once.

It was 1:40 p.m. I wasnt going on the air for several hours, but this was my only opportunity to practice my speech from the TelePrompTer. In twenty minutes I was scheduled to be sworn in as governor of Arkansas. Meetings and other official duties would follow, right up to the time of my live, statewide address at 5:15 p.m.

I had spent days writing and timing this speech; I wanted to make sure everything was just right. ()

In the relative calm of the capitol office which I had used for almost three years as lieutenant governor, I sat at my desk and read aloud:

... The responsibility that has been thrust upon me and entrusted to me is one that I approach with unapologetic dependence upon the Spirit of God to give me the heart of a servant, wisdom for the difficult decisions I will face each day, the courage to stand by my convictions, and the humility to acknowledge my mistakes, of which there will be many.

A few weeks ago, when a jury of our fellow Arkansans patiently reached a verdict in a nearby federal courthouse, our state was shattered emotionally and politically. My decision to withdraw from the race for the United States Senate and concentrate wholeheartedly on serving you as governor is one I do not regret. I want to help restore Arkansas image to America as a place of natural beauty, hard-working people, and a family-friendly atmosphere....

Less than two months before, on May 28, 1996, Governor Jim Guy Tucker had been convicted on federal charges of fraud and conspiracy in the first Whitewater trial. Jim and Susan McDougal, principals in Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan, had been convicted the same day. While the McDougals had gotten more national publicity because of their ties to Governor Tucker s predecessor in office, President Bill Clinton, Tuckers conviction had a far greater effect on the people of Arkansas.

After his conviction was announced, Governor Tucker made a promise to the people of Arkansas that he would resign as governor on or before July 15, 1996. That meant I would move into the governor s office, becoming only the third Republican governor since Reconstruction. At the time, I had a double-digit lead in the race for a seat vacated by popular Democrat David Pryor in the United States Senate but had pulled out of the campaign to concentrate my energies on my duties as governor. Arkansas remained one of the few states whose people had never elected a Republican senator, and if I were to be elected, it would be political history. As it turned out, an even more historic moment was about to occur.

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