Category Archives: Congress

Representative Allen West R-Fla

Representative Allen West (R-Florida) gave the closing speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on February 12, 2011. Here’s what he had to say.

He introduced an Army Sergeant, a veteran of Iraq, who trains those who guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

He talked about the difficult campaigns where Republicans won the House majority while having to contend with unreasonable accusations.

He pointed out that he had been called “The Worst Person in the World” 5 or 6 times (presumably by Keith Olbermann), and then with a little smile he said “And he got fired for it!”

He said “I believe that we are standing on the verge of the dawn of a new America, if we adhere to those fundamental Conservative principles, and those Consitutional ideals.”He quoted Alexis de Toqueville: “While democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.”

The next part of his speech involved what he called the “pillars of conservatism.”

First pillar: Effective and efficient conservative government.

• He quoted Thomas Jefferson: “Most bad government results from too much government”), which is why next week Congress will cut 100 billion dollars of spending off of the federal budget.
• Making people more dependent on the government has to end, so hard decisions must be made. “We cannot continue on with the policies of behavior modification through excessive taxation and over burdensome regulation…and that’s why we’re going to be cutting from the EPA.” (wild cheering)
• If health care is so great, then someone explain to me why over 200 Democrat political groups are going to the President and asking for waivers.” Here was a great quote: “I say this to the President: The good things in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: closing the doughnut hole, making sure that we take care of people with the preexisting conditions, keeping our young kids on our insurance, I can probably fit that in five to ten pages. It’s the other two thousand four hundred ninety pages with eleven new taxes, a hundred fifty nine new government agencies and beauracracies, and sixteen thousand new IRS agents, that the United States of America does not want!” (standing ovation)
• He mentioned the financial meltdown in 2008 and blamed it (rightfully so) on government interference with the private sector.
• He talked about reforming the individual tax code, cutting the corporate business tax rate from 35% down to 20%, eliminating capital gains taxes and dividends taxes, capping federal spending at 18-20%, developing a balanced budget amendment, and eliminating “redundant, failed, and duplicitious federal government programs and agencies.”

Second pillar: Peace through vigilance, through resolve, through strength.

• He mentioned the famous Edmund Burke quote, one of my personal favorites: “All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
• He quoted Sun Tzu: “To know your enemy, and to know yourself, and to know the terrain or the environment, in countless battles, you will always be victorious.”
• And then he made the most important statement of the night: “Peace begins with courageous leaders who are willing to identify and define our enemy, and their objectives, because political correctness has no place in our national security strategy.” (the crowd screamed and another standing ovation ensued)
• He said he was appalled that the Fort Hood shooting was treated like workplace violence.
• He said “A new America, a secure America, means that we can ill afford to have a twenty-first century Sir Neville Chamberlain moment.”
• He said “And yes, yes I do have a problem with granting American Constitutional rights to terrorists while we attempt to and have imprisoned our own warriors for killing terrorists.” (another standing ovation – there were so many during this speech)
• Here’s another money quote: “The dawn of a new America means this: Secure our borders and enforce our laws. Recognize the emerging threats on the Korean peninsula. Recognize the threats that are coming out of South and Central America. And confront the radical Islamic non-state, non-uniformed belligerents who transit freely across borders, killing and promoting a seventh century ideology that is anathema to the values of America and to Western civilization.”
• He said that we must never forget that Israel is our greatest ally in the Middle East, and vowed that “I shall never let Israel down.”

Third and most important pillar: Never abandon our values.

• “We must honor our language and realize that it is the most important, most basic and common bond which makes us an American.”
• He said we shouldn’t allow multiculturalism to “grow on steroids” and make American culture subservient.
• He said he doesn’t support late term abortion or abortion as birth control because he doesn’t believe that having a baby is punishment (reference to an Obamateurism).
• He said “We must hold sacred the privilege of the institution of marriage as a bond between a man and a woman.”
• He said we had to reclaim our “Judeo-Christian faith heritage.” He quoted John Adams: “We have no government armed with power, capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
• He said “This is not about a separation of church and state. It is about making sure that we do not separate faith from the individual. You must never forget that the American motto is In God We Trust.” (standing ovation)
• His next statement almost got a standing ovation from me: “We welcome the beliefs of others in America, but our coexistence must be based on a simple premise: when tolerance becomes a one-way street, it leads to cultural suicide. And American cultural values shall never be subjugated to any other as long as I have air in my lungs.”

His closing thoughts started with a quote from George Washington: “We are either a united people or we are not. If the former, let us in all matters of general concern act as a nation which has national objects to promote and a national character to support. If we are not, let us no longer act a farce by pretending to it.” He quoted Abraham Lincoln: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” He discussed how he grew up in the Atlanta area and went into the military, and then ran for political office as a public service to all Americans. He said “This is what Abraham Lincoln said. ‘Be sure you put your feet in the right place. Then stand firm.’ So as you depart here today from this great hall, from this great gathering of conservatives, this is the commission that I send you out with: Stand firm, for this is the dawn of a new America. God bless you all, God bless America, steadfast and loyal. Thank you.”

The speech can be seen in its entirety at The Rightscoop.

NOTE: The video of this speech recorded from C-SPAN was cut off near the end so they could cover a speech by the President. Most of the YouTube videos I saw all came from C-SPAN.