By BRIAN PORTER | The Rocky Mountain Voice
DENVER – The present state of Colorado is a microcosm of happenings in states across the nation, and Republicans must react to preserve liberty, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Allen West (ret.) told those gathered here Sunday at the Douglas County Republican Party’s Lincoln Dinner.
“Colorado is very important for the rest of the nation,” he said. “What is happening in Colorado is what you see happening in states across the nation. The left targeted Denver, Boulder and now Colorado Springs. A strong, red state went purple and then blue.”
West served a term in Congress from 2011-2013 in Florida’s 22nd District and also as chairman of the Texas Republican Party from 2020-2021, following a decorated 21-year military career including deployments to Kuwait and Iraq. He commanded the 2nd Battalion’s 20th Field Artillery Regiment 4th Division.
“Even in Texas, we are concerned with what is happening there,” West said. “We have to look at the cancer in these major population areas.”
In the early 2000s Dallas County turned blue, in a sea of red North Texas counties, and joined blue Travis and Harris Counties, where Austin and Houston are located. In 2020, there were 11 counties in the Texas Valley to go blue and three counties in the westernmost area of the state, including El Paso County, to go blue. Surprisingly, Tarrant County, where Fort Worth is the county seat, narrowly went blue in 2020. And it all resulted in Donald Trump narrowly defeating Joe Biden by less than 6% statewide.
“I want you to understand we have been here before,” West said. “The Republican Party was founded in 1854 for one issue: Liberty.”
He encouraged Republicans to drop labels and understand the opponent, despite a heated primary election season.
“You are not competing against a person, you are competing against a standard,” West said. “My father told me to find out what the standard is and beat it.”
A former black military officer, he weighed in on the theory America was born out of racism and it continues today.
“America is not a racist nation. I’m living proof,” West said. “A kid born in a black hospital [in Atlanta, Ga.] rose to become a member of the House of Representatives.”
Donald Trump was among his constituents in Florida and he three times had dinner with Rush Limbaugh, West said.
He recalled President Barack Obama’s claim “You didn’t build that” toward anyone who had founded and grown a small business, and called it offensive to those who had done such work.
“The most important fight we face in America is the fight for Liberty,” West said. “We need to go on the offensive.”
In a discussion of current events, West asked those attending the dinner to consider why anyone would oppose energy independence, noting the large quantity of natural resources existing in Colorado.
“Who you gonna fight?” West asked. “Are you going to fight amongst yourselves? Who will you fight and what will you fight for?”
Concluding his remarks at the Lincoln Dinner, West paid tribute to another highly respected Republican president, Ronald Reagan: “The world is watching us because we are the Shining City upon a Hill.”