About Rod D. Martin
Praise for Rod D. Martin
Book Rod to Speak
Politics & Economics
Technology & Markets
Faith & Cultureby Bill Kelly
May 24, 2006
Hi, c’mon in. I need to show you something.
This is Julie…… Yes, she is very pretty when she sleeps. Can you believe she worries about her weight? …… I know. It’s crazy.
Don’t worry about making noise. First, she sleeps like a log. Between being a full-time nursing student and working at a halfway home for people with disabilities, she stays very busy. Secondly, if we could wake her now, maybe she could stop …. well .. you’ll see.
No, no. I’m okay.
Well, you see. Right now, her phone line is being cut. This trailer actually belongs to her brother-in-law. He lived here as a bachelor. When he married her older sister, they moved to an apartment. They plan to build a house on this land someday, but…. well … they might change their mind.
Yeah, the trailer is pretty old. Her brother-in-law couldn’t have gotten enough to make it worth selling. It wouldn’t have rented for enough to make it worth the hassle of dealing with renters. When she finished her freshman year in the dorms, he offered it to her rent-free. Her dad built the deck in the back. He built it in sections back home and hauled it up here in his truck. He and her brother-in-law assembled it.
It works pretty well for her. She’s about twenty minutes from campus and fifteen minutes from work. She never had the time, money, or inclination to join a sorority. Even regular apartment life can have more distractions.
You heard that? Yeah, so did I. Julie did too. See? She’s stirring; opening her eyes.
The guy who cut her phone lines just broke in the back door. It really didn’t make that much noise. The doors on these trailers aren’t very solid. The one bad thing about the deck is that it gave him a little more solid footing when he did it.
He’s walking into the living room pretty carefully. He’s not really worried, he’s just spent so much of his life sneaking around that he’s always a little stealthy.
Yep, her eyes are wide open now. She’s not certain whether she heard something or whether she just had a dream. Yeah, her teeth are chattering a little.
He sees the extension cord running from the socket to the lamp over her favorite chair. That’s where she likes to sit when she reads. The lamp cord didn’t reach any outlets from that corner. He’s unplugging the lamp, but he decided just to jerk the cord from the wall.
Yep, she heard that. She’s picking up the phone, but there’s no dial tone. He already took care of that. She sits up in bed. Unfortunately, her cell phone is in the kitchen with her purse. It might not matter. The real phone would have instantly told the police where she was, and they could have been here in ten minutes. With the cell phone, she would have to give the address. Speaking clearly when you’re this terrified isn’t easy. Maybe the police would get here and maybe they wouldn’t.
She wishes she had listened to her father. He wanted her to bring a gun. He taught her to shoot a couple of years ago, and she knows how to handle his old .38 pretty well. Still, she refused to bring a gun.
You see – Julie’s only 19, and the federal government has now made it a crime for 19-year-olds to have a gun. No, she realizes that if she kept quiet about it she’d probably never be caught or never prosecuted if she were caught. However, she believes in obeying the law, and she doesn’t want to take a chance on having a criminal record.
The guy walking down her hall with a knife in one hand and the extension cord in the other is 19 also. He can’t legally own a gun either, but that wouldn’t stop him. The only reason he doesn’t have a gun is that he doesn’t need one for what he has in mind.
According to our government, Julie can have a gun in two years. Unfortunately, ….. no, I shouldn’t say that. It isn’t a matter of “fortune,” “luck,” “chance,” or anything like that. This situation resulted from a deliberate decision by our government.
What I was going to say was that Julie doesn’t have two years. She has about forty horrible minutes.
Rod is one of our nation’s leading minds. He’s smart, original, and very committed—a combination that one rarely finds.
Rod Martin is a Reaganite-Thatcherite conservative…[and] a man who has spent much of his life ministering to and working for the benefit of others. I know Rod as an advocate for freedom, a leader who understands the real changes we need in Washington, and who has the drive and ability to make those changes happen.
Rod Martin is the kind of dynamic leader who has the knowledge, ability and experience to lead us successfully into the 21st Century. His vision for America is compelling.
Rod Martin literally wrote the book on excellence. Humble yet brilliant, a man of love and compassion, with penetrating clarity he illuminates the world around us, and we are both stirred and enlightened.
Rod Martin is a born leader and an outstanding political mind. Anyone who takes him on is going to have a serious fight on their hands.
Rod Martin is a man of uncommon vision and character. Ever since I first worked alongside Rod in the early days of PayPal, I’ve been struck by his powerful vision for the future. Rod understands the intersection of technology, politics and culture in a way that few others do.
Rod Martin wears with uncommon grace an uncanny ability to link his vigorous faith to the practical challenges of both the business world and the political arena. Yet the respect he shows for others carries a warmth and modesty that are both too rare among those who are strong advocates of feisty positions.
America badly needs more leaders who really get the future. We need more Rod Martins.
Rod Martin is a modern day philosopher-statesman. He is a capitalist intellectual, a conservative iconoclast, a gentle adversary and a kind prophet. He inspires us towards a fresh national vision built upon the original founding principles.
Rod Martin is not only effective and efficient, but he is also perceptive, wise and gracious. He gets things done. He is a great friend and a great ally.
Rod is one of the sharpest, most gracious men I know, and one of the most gifted political thinkers today. His ability to analyze issues and communicate thoughtful insights on them have earned him the respect of people across the political spectrum.
I am proud to have been Rod Martin’s friend for a quarter century, and I can tell you that he is one of the finest men and most outstanding leaders in our church and in our country today. He has a knack for turning everything he touches to success.
Rod Martin is a cornucopian entrepreneur and eutropic thinker whose influence radiates through an array of companies, institutions, movements and churches. A renaissance American, he is also a prolific friend of freedom and faith around the globe.
If Rod Martin represents the next generation of leaders, America has nothing to worry about.
A leader and a servant, in public life and in private, Rod Martin strides at the top of his profession, and has nowhere to go but up. He is in the truest sense of the word ‘outstanding’.
Rod Martin is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished thought leaders today. He is a wonderful mentor, a humble role model, and a deep inspiration for the next generation of scientific innovators and entrepreneurs.
Rod’s achievements pale beside his character and his brilliance. He sees what others can’t. He leads when others won’t.
Rod Martin is one of America’s finest young minds.
The future of technology is the future of America. Rod Martin sees that future clearly, and also sees how to shape it for the betterment of all. He is firmly rooted in the traditions of faith and patriotism that have made America great. That’s why he has made, and will make, so many outstanding contributions in so many areas.