And so it begins…What’s at stake?
Yes, I know, we have all heard it before, “it is the most important election of our lifetime.” I am just 59 years of age and I must admit, never in my lifetime have the stakes for Texas — and America — been higher. I think we would have to go back to the 1864 presidential election, which resulted in the reelection of Abraham Lincoln, and which cost him his life, to find a more critical moment in the history of these United States of America. The philosophical divide is grand, and therefore, the consequences are, as well.
The players are the same, Democrats and Republicans. And, in a way, so are the two very divergent ideologies.
President Lincoln articulated it the best in a speech he gave in April of 1864:
“The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name, liberty. And, it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names, liberty and tyranny. The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as a liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty, especially as the sheep was a black one. Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty.”
We are at that moment when we, the sheepdogs, the true guardians of this Republic, must drive the wolves away. When Lincoln was speaking, it was about the physical enslavement of an entire race of people. Today, as I write these words, it is about the economic enslavement, and the collective subjugation of our American population.
We here, in Texas, are on the frontlines of that fight…we are the vanguard, the Praetorian guard who must stand at the gates and protect that coveted American quality called liberty.
Texas has the 10th largest economy in the world. A little over 10 percent of Fortune 500 corporations call Texas home. Elon Musk and Tesla have announced they’re moving to Texas…Why? Because Texas is about economic empowerment. Texas is a place where the indomitable individual entrepreneurial spirit flourishes. It is the place where businesses from failed states such as California, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey are fleeing.
Just ask our Republican Party of Texas Finance Chairman Ed Trevis why he moved his company, Corvalent, from California to Texas a little over a decade ago. Ed is originally from Brazil; ask him about the liberty America affords individual investment, ingenuity, and innovation. Ed is passionate about Texas because he understands Lincoln’s delineation between liberty and tyranny.
The rule of law, law and order, is at stake. The wolves advance the rule of the mob, their wolfpack spreading chaos, violence, and mayhem. All one has to do is look at the capital city of Texas, Austin, and see the consequences of leftist rule. They defunded the police in Austin by $150M, and Austin has now seen an over 60 percent increase in violent crime. The homeless situation in Austin is disgusting, and dangerous, to law abiding citizens. Austin, once the live music capital of the world, has seen 90 percent of its live music establishments shut down permanently.
We must defend our police, and we must retain constitutionalist judges. Texas will have four State Supreme Court justices and three Criminal Court of Appeals judges up for reelection. There are countless other important judicial positions on the ballot. Two years ago, Texans lost 56 judicial positions to the wolves of the progressive socialist left, and George Soros funded the flipping of several key District Attorney positions in the Lone Star State. There are some who believe that “We the People” of Texas should not vote for judicial positions, that they should be appointed by some political class, or worse by a commission of cronies. Just last week in Dallas there was a hearing on this folly.
Last week, I wrote about our oil and gas industry, and its importance. A vote for the wolves of leftism means its decimation.
The education of our children is at stake, unless you prefer our little sheep to be indoctrinated by the wolf pack? The University of Texas, Austin, was just rated as one of the worst campuses in America for conservative students. Yes, not UC California-Berkeley, but our University of Texas is rated as the worst place for intellectual discourse for our conservative young people.
The Austin ISD is an example of the perversion of the left when one considers their sex “education” curriculum for 3rd-8th graders. It is insidious and irresponsible — well, actually stuck on stupid — to teach, no indoctrinate, such failed beliefs as socialism, collectivism, and Marxism in our education system to future generations. This is why the school board and our Texas State Board of Education are such vital elected positions.
Our religious liberty is at stake, also. Just look at California where churches are being told to lock their doors under the penalty of arrest. Who wants that ideology, that belief system here in our Texas? Christian business owners are being persecuted for their religions beliefs and faith across America. We must not allow this cancer to ever creep into Texas. It is the purest definition of insanity to depart someplace that is failing — California, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey — and bring the same failures to a place that is thriving, Texas. Heck, even God told Lot, as He was destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, “Don’t look back.”
It is rather perplexing that anyone would leave these failed “blue” states, and still retain confidence in the philosophy of governance for which they departed. Can I just ask a simple question, why did you not stay where you were?
What is at stake? The very foundations of our Constitutional Republic are at risk. And as it says in Psalm 11:3, “If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?” The answer is simple, the righteous must vote. Sadly, in 2016, some 25 million Christians did not vote. This is why church doors were shut on Easter Sunday, and deemed non-essential. Sir Edmund Burke stated it succinctly, “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Now is that moment when good Texas men and women can make a difference.
Our first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, did define the 2020 election cycle. It is a battle between liberty and tyranny. The stakes are high, and starting this Tuesday, October 13th, you have a decision to make: join me, join us, the guardians, lock shields, and let us defeat the tyranny of the wolves, the progressive socialist left.
Carpe Diem! Let us seize upon this moment in time, in the history of Texas, and send a resounding message to this evil manifested in the leftist socialists, Marxist, who are preying upon our way of life.
We are the storm!
LTC Allen West (Ret.)
Chairman, Republican Party of Texas
#WeAreTheStorm
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