Under the fog of
freedom-of-religion destroying Supreme Court decisions, my wife, Mary, and I joined
with over four thousand, like-minded-conservatives to prepare for a 2016
general election. The 2015 Western Conservative Summit (hereinafter referred to as, “Summit”) began Friday night
with rousing speeches from Pastor Rafael Cruz (Ted Cruz’s father), Jenny Beth
Martin of Tea Party Patriots, and Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum. Like many of our fellow conservatives, we are
deeply concerned about the progressive national deterioration our country
pursues and remain uncertain if the nation will hold a 2016 presidential
election.
I intend to share my
observations from the Summit; however, I want to deviate once beforehand. The thing, which angers me about the SCOTUS
homosexual decision, is the fact that these elites purposefully confuse WE THE
PEOPLE by calling marriage a right. Marriage
is not a right. No one must marry in
order to sustain life, keep one’s liberty, or pursue personal happiness. God given rights apply to all humanity
regardless of gender, class, race, creed, or any other discriminator. Marriage is a privilege. Privileges by definition apply to some and
exclude others.
The SCOTUS decision
has lit the fuse of confusion and where there is confusion there is every evil
work. Now it is judicially official,
anyone who opposes non-traditional, non-biblical relationships is a bigoted
hater and shall be silenced. Few
challenge the illegal ruling because two of the justices held a conflict of
interest – conducting homosexual marriage ceremonies. Federal Law requires them to disqualify
themselves from the case. Using this
decision, what if the legally empowered left removes our citizen voting
privileges, our freedom of speech and religious expression rights, and our right
to due process under the law? After all,
how does one defend your ideas if it is a hate crime to speak an opposing point
of view?
Although Ted Cruz
did not make an appearance, his father, Pastor Rafael Cruz, gave a strong
Christian-conservative message on behalf of his son. He addressed current events and issues from a
Biblical worldview and challenged America’s pastors to stop hiding behind their
pulpits and speak out against the God-denying worldview of the left. He quoted one of my favorite verses, “You
shall know them by their fruits,” when examining candidate records. Later, he commented that, “Both parties are
rotten to the core.” He claimed, if the
Republican Party saddles us with a, “Mushy,” candidate, Hillary Clinton will be
the next president. If only our church
pastors stood against the left, we Christian conservatives might slow or stop the
progressive march to national suicide.
Jenny Beth Martin
compared and contrasted the Tea Party’s successes and failures. She showed how the Tea Party succeeded in
placing elected officials in the 2010 and 2014 elections when the established
Republican Party could not care less about the Tea Party’s involvement. However, in the 2012 general election, the
mainstream Republican Party openly opposed the Tea Party and real conservative
Republicans were left with a “Mushy,” candidate. Furthermore, the ruling class, including the
Republican Party, placed in leadership positions representatives who bow to the
dictator-in-chief like Speaker of the House, John Boehner, and Senate Majority
Leader, Mitch McConnell.
The evening ended
with Rick Santorum’s discussion regarding his candidacy (Rick Santorum). His strength is his commitment to securing the
health of the traditional American family unit – sickened by the SCOTUS
homosexual marriage decision. He articulated
well other issues relative to the economy, national defense, and
immigration. Regarding the economy, he is
committed to winning, “Blue
Collar Conservatives,” votes, which Santorum contends the Republican Party
ignores. Regarding the national defense,
he articulated a 3-point strategy to defeat ISIS starting with strengthening
our relationship with Israel. And
finally, he stated that he is committed to controlling our borders and
enforcing legal immigration.
Saturday saw the
arrival of Former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee, Former Hewlett Packard CEO,
Carly Fiorina, Former Texas Governor, Rick Perry, Doctor Ben Carson, and Wisconsin
Governor, Scott Walker.
In my opinion, Mike
Huckabee had the best discussion on immigration (Mike Huckabee). He outlined how he would secure the border in
one year. He used the Alaska-to-Lower 48
States highway, which was built in one year to demonstrate how border
construction could be accomplished if made a national priority. His speech revolved around three major points
regarding freedom. First, we must feed
ourselves, fight for ourselves, and fuel ourselves. The current administration is doing
everything it can as fast as it can to make us food importers, make us
dependent on other nations for military hardware, refuses to engage hostile
enemies, and keep us from developing our energy resources. In my opinion, Mike Huckabee had the best
one-liner jokes and when the fire alarms went off twice during his
presentation, he made light of those potentially tense moments handling them
with dignity, grace, and humor.
Carly Fiorina had
the best speech of all contenders (Carly
Fiorina), in my opinion. I haven’t
been excited about a Republican contender since Ronald Reagan. She is a legitimate Presidential
Candidate. Based on what I heard this weekend,
she is the real deal and she has Mary’s vote.
I will write a separate piece on her presentation, the amazing audience
response, and our personal meeting with Carly Fiorina. It will be well worth reading.
Rick Perry acquitted
himself well from his missteps during the 2012 primaries (Rick Perry). He gave the best presentation regarding our
national defense. I thought his best
line was, “To our adversaries, if you cross the ‘Red Line,’ there will be hell
to pay.” His ideas regarding economy
stimulation, preserving the environment, improving education accountability,
and border security are sound, but not too unique from the other contenders.
Saturday night, the
Summit shifted into high gear. Presidential
hopefuls Dr. Ben Carson and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker addressed the
packed BELLCO Theater. Probably 5,000
fun-loving conservatives were treated to Michael Murphy’s music as he performed
several patriotic American and Christian songs, and his hit tune, “Wildfire.”
Of all the
candidates, the one I wanted to hear the most was Dr. Ben Carson (Dr. Ben Carson). He did not disappoint, and he handled Byron
York’s tough questions with intelligent answers and his now well-known grace
and civility. I will write a separate
blog article for Dr. Carson’s presentation.
It too, will be worth reading. To
know more about Dr. Carson’s views, I recommend reading his book, “One
Nation.” If you do not have time to
read the entire work, please consider Chapter 6, “No Winners in Political
Fighting,” where he offers a Biblical application regarding the benefits of
unity.
Wisconsin GovernorScott Walker finished the evening with his campaign speech, which like Rick
Perry didn’t offer any unique ideas. His
claimed strength is his ability to stand up against rabid liberals and
win. This character strength was tested
when a mindless heckler attempted to hijack his speech. Governor Walker handled the heckler
professionally and with dignity. Personally,
I grew up in the mid-west and I appreciate mid-western values. Governor Walker’s candidacy appeals to my
Conservative sensibilities.
The, “No Shows,”
included: Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Lindsay Graham, Bobby Jindal,
Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump.
I understand why Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Lindsay Graham and Donald
Trump chose to ignore the Summit. They
could never be called Conservatives.
Marco Rubio’s absence was a surprise.
I think he missed a golden opportunity.
Bobby Jindal addressed the Summit last year. At least Ted Cruz’s father represented him. Mary had a long personal discussion with
Pastor Rafael Cruz. Pastor Cruz treated
Mary dismissively and interrupted the conversation to chase after one of the
elite donors in the crowd.
Unfortunately, she left the conversation with an unfavorable impression
of both father and son.
Sunday morning, former
NFL star running back, Spencer Tillman preached an inspirational
sermon using the word vector as an acronym.
He unpacked, “VECTOR” as follows: Values, Energy, Courage, Talent,
Organization, and Resources. He combined
the term with a vision statement, “Sum of focus.” VECTOR SUM OF FOCUS applies the Biblical
maxim, “Without a vision, the people parish.” He used Nehemiah as the example of a leader
with vision. Spencer Tillman believes
that Nehemiah knew that if he didn’t rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, the
Messiah could not, would not come. We
need a national leader with God inspired, not ideological obsessive,
leadership.
Dr. Ben Carson won
the Summit Presidential straw poll (2nd year in a row), followed by
Carly Fiorina, and Scott Walker (WCS15
Straw Poll), which happens to be my picked order.
Mary and I have
attended four of the six Western Conservative Summits. The 2015 Summit was by far the biggest and
the best. Mary even thanked me for
dragging her to it. We look forward to
next year’s critically important Summit with great expectations.
