In a world where there are too many whiners and too few who actually do something about our troubles, a noble knight on a mighty steed has just entered the governor’s race in the state of Georgia and, to be candid, I am mesmerized by Ray Boyd.

Boyd is something of a Johnny-come-lately to politics. He is a wealthy commercial real estate developer who just plunked down $2 million of his own cash to enter the race and just yesterday, when the Republicans demanded a “loyalty oath” to the somewhat-floundering party before it would qualify him, Ray politely refused.

He is of the belief the party is far from perfect and, in refreshing honesty, said he is unable to swear to always support the party’s actions. So, as of this morning, he’ll make a run as an independent and, keep in mind, when he put his own $2 million into a campaign account, state law says he can get back only $250,000 if he withdraws his name. Do you think this man is driven?

Let me tell you, I love that. But what makes him so special is that he’s like a lot of Americans who are fed up but he’s got the moxie and the heart to do something about it – and have a chance. What’s more, when his own son asked the 67-year-old Boyd if he had “lost his ever-loving mind,” Boyd answered, “I said I have no choice, son. I feel duty-bound to do this.”

Not a whole lot is known about him yet but what is apparent I adore. He lives east of Atlanta in Morgan County on a big 1,000-acre estate. Around his 6,000-square foot house there is a big eight-foot fence because “a six-foot fence says stay out but an eight-foot fence says stay the hell out.”

Inside his compound are two huge shiny chrome statues depicting St. George and the dragon and when he looks at them they reflect what he wants to do – to slay a state political dragon that he can no longer sit by and try to tolerate.

His mission began shortly after Barack Obama was elected president. “I then hoped and prayed he’d be the best president we ever had,” Boyd recently told the Atlanta newspaper. “It didn’t take but a short time to realize we screwed up.”

By last September he was growling openly that the country – his country – was in trouble. “I said, why the hell isn’t somebody doing something? I stopped myself in mid-sentence, and I said, ‘Ray, aren’t you somebody? And in fact you’re more guilty than the somebodies out here because you’ve been paying attention.”

So off he went. Obviously he’s a conservative, a staunch supporter of the Constitution. He yearns for more transparency and ethics in government, is opposed to the way the national health care reform has been framed, and, as much as anything, fears a weakening of personal freedoms.

“In normal times a guy like me running for office coming out of left field, they’d grind me up for sausage meat,” he said. “This is not normal times.” So now he proposes “a throw-the-bums-out, anti-incumbent campaign that pays no attention to party,” according to Atlanta columnist Jim Galloway.

“Send them all packing. Start with a new team who will know what happens when you fail to be a public servant,” Boyd has written on his campaign website. He has created a grass-roots group called VOILA, (“Vote Out Incumbents Liberate America”) and now faces the daunting challenge of getting over 51,000 signatures of voters to qualify as an independent by July 13.

He doesn’t wince. “I’ve been flying below the radar my whole life. I came from very meager beginnings. I picked cotton as a little boy. I made a penny a pound,” he said, his early years spent in Folkston outside the Okefenokee Swamp.

While in the Air Force he earned his college degree at Colorado and became an officer. When he did, the oath – “I swear to defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic” – has since defined his life.

He believes now is the time to uphold that oath. Ray Boyd proved it when he plunked down his own $2 million. He proved it again on Monday when he told the Republican Party to take a hike rather than lend his pledge to its blunders.

Admittedly, without a party he’s facing huge odds in a state-wide race but there is one more thing. In 2007 his wife Sandi died after being diagnosed with brain cancer. His decision to enter politics came uncommonly close to the anniversary of her death and when the newspaper reporters asked if he would have done so if she were still alive, Boyd was caught short.

“That’s a good question,” he said, his composure suddenly breaking.

“I wear my emotions on my sleeve, and I don’t apologize for my tears,” he finally said, wiping his eyes. “She was the love of my life. And the greatest asset I ever had. I’m not running because she died. I don’t know. Duty … she understands me better than anybody. I think she would understand my need to do this.”

Once again, a noble knight has entered the fray to become the next governor of Georgia. Don’t dismiss Ray Boyd in the same way that legend has it a fiery dragon once did St. George.