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Texas Republicans Revived
This past Friday and Saturday I had the privilege of participating as a delegate at the Republican Party of Texas State Convention. It was an enlightening first-time experience, one of which I am truly grateful for. Despite arriving in Dallas on Friday with less than 4 hours of sleep, my excitement remained high as I gathered with more than 7000 delegates and countless alternates and guests to elect new party leadership, develop a strong conservative platform, and approve party rules for the next two years. The greatest thing I witnessed though was a diverse crowd of Texans that was united on America’s founding principles including faith in God, limited government, fiscal responsibility, and individual liberty. In addition, they were all committed to taking on the threats facing Constitution of the United States in the upcoming November elections and beyond.
Anyone who has had an extensive political conversation with me knows that I am a conservative first and a Republican second. A conservative has core values that are well defined, based on faith in God and individual liberty, which are not altered by mood or current events. A political party is different though, as it is an empty shell made up of a people throughout the country that define its platform. There is little question that for decades political parties, including the Republican Party, have failed Americans. The Republican Party specifically has failed Americans by succumbing to progressive ideas such as big government, excessive spending, increasing the federal debt, and open borders. Of course there have been some great conservative Republican leaders in the past – Ronald Reagan being an obvious example. However, at the convention I amazingly witnessed the Republican Party of Texas as a whole, embraced the core principles our country was founded on and promised to take on the dire threats liberty faces in America.
During the convention, conservative voices such as Governor Rick Perry, Attorney General Greg Abbott, and (the crowd favorite) Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann filled the room as they spoke about pushing for a crackdown on illegal immigration, repealing ObamaCare, and restoring free market principles in our economy. Those topics, along with sharp criticisms of the federal government’s out-of-control spending, federal debt, and bailouts repeatedly sparked loud applause from the crowd. Although I enjoyed many of the speeches, especially Bachmann’s, my amazement mostly came from the crowd’s quick reactions to words and phrases such as “free-market”, “limited government”, and “securing the borders” and most excitingly “God”. This was all very heartwarming to say the least.
It is hard to say what exactly has conservatives all across Texas and the nation rallied together to get America in line with the Constitution and its founding principles. President Obama and liberal leaders in Congress certainly share some of the blame, but discontent has been building for years. Based on what I saw, excessive spending, debt levels exceeding $13 trillion, government takeovers, and the swelling federal government that is overtaking the private sector are surely on all conservatives’ list. While it is sad that it has taken such a disastrous condition in America for so many people to wake up and take action, I am very excited to finally see it happen.
President Obama and liberals everywhere are aware of this revitalized conservative movement and are doubling down on their radical agenda, but conservatives do not need to wait until 2012 to make change happen. Conservatives need to stay active at the grassroots level, engaging in their communities to help their neighbors get involved. There is no time to waste – the stakes are too high. Conservatives all across the Republic must continue to mobilize, back their candidates (local, state and federal) by volunteering and donating, and prepare to hand out pink slips to every single liberal officeholder on November 2nd, 2010 – less than 5 months away!
America does not have much time left to turn things around. Restoring prosperity in America can be done by restoring our founding principles, but conservatives must get the enemies of those principles out of office and liberty-loving, Constitution abiding people in to replace them. This can be done, and if what I witnessed in the Republican Party of Texas is any example of what is going on in other States, which I am confident it is, let Washington be on notice – November is coming!
A small collection of pictures from the convention can be found here.
About the author: Chris Bounds is a strong Christian, American patriot, and a proud capitalist. He was born and raised in Texas and currently resides in Houston. He is the Co-Founder of the conservative website www.LibertyJuice.com.
