Allen West: An American Resurrection

Greetings everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful and happy Resurrection Day and weekend. Although the secular definition of this weekend is usually referred to as “Happy Easter,” it is important to affirm what this weekend means according to our Judeo-Christian faith heritage. It is central to the Christian faith that God sent His only begotten Son into the world to take upon Him our sins. It is about reconciliation, restoration, and a resurrection that we can enjoy eternal life through the grace of God. This is the same Creator God who cares not just about our eternal life but also endows us with certain inalienable rights on earth, such as life, liberty, and property, as John Locke asserted in his natural rights theory.

Our Judeo-Christian faith heritage is integral and vital to the core of the United States of America. No other nation was established, as our Declaration of Independence was, on the premise that the individual is sovereign over the institution of government as our rights emanate from a Sovereign God, the Judeo-Christian God.

On the other hand, for the progressive socialist Marxist left in America, their core belief is that man, meaning the government, determines your rights. Marx himself saw religion, which I call the Christian faith, as a clear and present enemy. Marx himself did not believe in God. Nowadays, we see what was once God’s promise to Noah, and mankind, the rainbow, transformed into an ideological symbol. We see the pervasive and quite disconcerting belief that we have the ability to alter God’s creation of male and female. We are told that we cannot bring our faith into the marketplace of ideas because of some insidious redefining of Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptist Convention of Connecticut, where he posited the “Separation of Church and State.”

Last Friday, we remembered Good Friday, the day when Jesus Christ was crucified upon the cross. We read of how the earth shook and darkness fell over the land. Great storms and winds rose, and people scattered about. The body of Jesus Christ was buried, laid to rest, and Roman guards set before it. Then, on the third day, His resurrection happened. The greatest story ever told . . . for those who have the faith to believe. To those who do not, it is folly.

America right now is in a perpetual Good Friday: darkness is spreading across the land. The foundations of our Constitutional Republic are being shaken and attempting to be destroyed. As Jesus spoke from the cross, His last words were, “It is finished.” There are those who believe that the United States is finished, that their fundamental transformation has been completed. The purveyors of hate, evil, and wrongdoing seemingly rejoice at the death and burial of this great Constitutional Republic. They are setting guards about to ensure America is dead . . . and enabling foreign adversaries as well.

However, an American resurrection is coming because there is an American awakening. This resurrection will bring about a reconciliation to our founding principles. There will be a restoration of respect and regard for our rule of law. There is a spirit of courage, determination, and will that is arising across the nation.

Some people say now is the time for compromise, negotiation, and appeasement. We must reject those calls for surrender in the face of abject totalitarianism and tyranny. Individualism cannot coexist with collectivism. Equality of opportunity cannot coexist with equality of outcomes. Economic empowerment cannot coexist with economic enslavement. Liberty cannot coexist with tyranny. The rule of law cannot coexist with absolutism. Territorial sovereignty cannot coexist with open borders. Freedom of speech and expression cannot coexist with fascism and suppression of those freedoms. Truth cannot coexist with moral relativism. Choosing life for our children, born and unborn, cannot be denigrated, disparaged, and attacked.

Legend says that the commander at the Alamo, Lt. Col. William B. Travis, drew a line in the sand on the 5th of March, 1836. The Alamo fell the next morning. If there is to be an American resurrection, the time to choose which side of the line upon which to stand is now.

The progressive socialist left has told us their intention, which is creating fear, intimidation, coercion, threats, and violence as a means to their ends. An American resurrection will require bold, courageous, and resolute men and women. As my dad once told me, “Boy, the only thing in the middle of the road is roadkill.”

Chicago just elected a Marxist as its new mayor. Wisconsin just elected a leftist to their Supreme Court. Those are not reasons to abandon fundamental constitutional conservative principles; they are reasons to embrace them even more.

Early in the fight for our independence, things did not look great for our cause, yet there was a resurrection. In his Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln spoke of a “new birth of freedom,” an American resurrection.

I close with the encouraging words from December 23, 1776, of one Thomas Paine, “THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”

We know the rest of the story after these words were printed. The Continental Army under Gen. George Washington’s command left Valley Forge, crossed the frozen Delaware River three days later, and attacked the Hessians, winning a victory at the Battle of Trenton.

An American resurrection is coming. Summer soldiers and sunshine patriots should not apply. Be steadfast and loyal.