Don’t Touch a Hot Stove
“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.”
— Sir Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of England
Greetings, everyone! I pray y’all had a very fine weekend. I must admit, I hope that the Islamic jihadist group, Hamas, did not have a good weekend . . . now and into the future. See, if there is one thing that is enticing to terrorists, depots, dictators, and authoritarians, it is weakness. The enemies of liberty and freedom are once again encouraged by the return of the feckless absence of leadership emanating from our White House. If there is one thing former President Jimmy Carter can be assured of, there are two presidents worse than him.
That leads to the title of this week’s missive. How many of y’all have said to your children, or kids in general, “don’t touch a hot stove?” Yet, for some odd reason, the kids always touch the stove and then realize it is hot, painful, and they get burned.
I remember when as an inquisitive little fella I was visiting Granddad Jule down in Cuthbert (Randolph County) Georgia. I was sitting there in the living room with Dad — the wise ol’ Buck West — and Granddad, wondering how electricity worked. Dad and Granddad tried to explain, but, noooo, I wanted to conduct my own experiment which they cautioned me not to do. I waited when they were not around and took a hairpin, widened the two ends, and stuck it into the socket. A very bad idea.
Yep, I got shocked, flew back, and the imprints of the hairpin were burned into my little fingers. I ran crying to Dad and Granddad who looked and said, “We told you not to do it.” Of course, to further exacerbate my folly, they poured a mixture of alcohol and iodine on my fingers. That produced another level of pain.
So, here we are America. Wise people have said– in essence — “Do not touch the hot stove of progressive socialism.” Americans were warned by the astute and principled constitutional conservatives not to go sticking a conduit into the outlet of Marxism, statism, or communism. So now, we have a nation in a state of shock: burned, and crying. Well, some are . . . only a masochist likes pain.
Americans are sitting in gas lines, something I recall from the days of the malaise of Jimmy Carter. We all remember the rationing based on odd/even days on your license plate dictating when you could go to the gas station. We are seeing inflation rise and commodity prices soar; that is not debatable. We have an employment crisis in America due to the insidious policy of paying people to stay at home and not work. And, I am quite sure many of you are truly exhausted by the confusing rhetoric surrounding a virus, not a disease, with a 99.96 percent recovery rate.
Our borders are wide open. Our streets are full of seditious, subversive leftist, Marxist organizations and criminals being released by deranged leftist District Attorneys. Our children are being murdered in the womb, disfigured by maniacal doctors conducting gender reassignment surgeries, and they are committing suicide at an alarming rate since leftist teachers’ unions keep their schools closed.
On the international front, Islamic terrorists are rearing their ugly heads once again. Darn, we had forgotten about them. The Taliban murdered over 60 little school girls. Hamas is raining down rockets on Israel. You know, our best ally is in the Middle East where, under President Trump, we moved the US Embassy to its rightful location of Israel’s capital, Jerusalem. Yeah, I know, “orange man bad.” Yet, orange man did not mandate — via Executive Order — that gender-dysphoric males would be competing in sports events with females.
Winston Churchill’s quote at the top of this missive is so appropriate. We must ask ourselves: will we do the right thing after trying this foolishness? I will give the progressive socialist left credit for being delusional and tenacious. But, the pain of this walk down “stuck on stupid” lane must end.
So, how does it end?
Republicans control 62 of 99 state legislative bodies and we have a majority of Republican Governors in America. I continue to hear, “wait until 2022 0r 2024!” There is no need to wait. What we need are strong GOP legislatures, unlike what happened in November of 2020. If our Republican states invoked the 10th Amendment and the principle of constitutional nullification, we could begin to heal from the shock and burns we are receiving. Now, y’all know the left will take that statement and start ranting about defying the White House. Well, I tend to recall that leftist-controlled states were the ones claiming they were “sanctuary cities and states,” for illegal immigrants. We also had fifteen leftist states seek to undermine our electoral college by establishing the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC).
So, what are our GOP states afraid of, after all, failing leftist states are bleeding population into successful Red States. Texas is about to gain two new congressional districts?
A great example of Republican states rejecting failed Obama-Biden policies are the 16 states saying no to additional unemployment benefits meant to stifle economic recovery. But I don’t think Texas is one of them.
We should have no fear of HR 1, if we pass strong election integrity laws. My prayer is that our Texas state legislature will come through before the end of their 87th legislative session. Who cares about HR 5, dubbed the “Equality Act?” Pass strong religious freedom and liberty legislation at the state level. HR 8 and Executive Orders about gun control? Ahh, just pass constitutional carry in Texas, making it the 21st state in America to have such. Pro forma proclamations of being a Second Amendment sanctuary state are truly worthless. The US Constitution is our rule of law and America is its sanctuary. If the Governor of New York believes that he can mandate that the Second Amendment stops at your door, well, that is unconstitutional.
If Joe Biden and Kamala Harris want to institute an open borders policy by Executive Order, well, Texas and other Republican states should take control of their respective borders. After all, Art. I, Section 10, Clause 3 and Art. 4, Sect 4 of our Constitution address the issue.
When I torched my fingers after sticking that hairpin in the electric outlet, Dad and Granddad explained, once again, why they said it was a bad idea. Then, they treated my wounds. The Republican Party must start now to treat the wounds being experienced by America. We have tried the same failed philosophy of governance other countries have . . . Most recently Venezuela. Einstein is attributed with the quote, “the pure definition of insanity is to continue to do the same thing, and expect different results.”
Republicans have the opportunity to end the insanity and do what is right, but it cannot be accomplished by being a lesser version of the insane. My wise dad once quipped, “the only thing in the middle of the road is roadkill.” America, Texas, is looking for committed, and convicted, constitutional conservatives who will do the right thing for the interest of the people, not their special or self-interest.
America, let’s not be burned again . . . The socialist stove is really hot.
Steadfast and Loyal,
LTC Allen B. West (Ret.)
Chairman
Republican Party of Texas
To receive Chairman West’s Monday Message directly in your mailbox each week, sign up here.
The post Chairman West’s Monday Message for 5.17.21 appeared first on Republican Party of Texas.