BraveMen S3E50: Lt. Col. Allen West - Why This Warrior Is Still Fighting

The Brave Men podcast is not just about meeting Brave Men, it's about becoming Brave Men. That's why we do it to increase our capacity and make us stronger. But then there's sometimes you meet, and you go, man, this guy, this guy's a stud. This is a Brave Man. I'm here with Chris Shields, who's our producer for Brave Men. And recently, Chris, we were able to get Lieutenant Colonel Alan West on our podcast, who's now the head of the Republican Party for the state of Texas, or the nation of Texas, as we know it. But man, this guy, anytime you meet somebody who's won a bronze star in battle in combat, three service medals, army commendation medals, a valor award, valoris unit award. This guy was the ROTC instructor of the year. This is a guy, man, he's a serious man. You almost get to the point like, what hasn't he done? Yeah, he's amazing. And he was a congressman author, right? Author's written books. Yeah, I've got his book. He's a pretty impressive man, so I'm really excited to have him here. But we start talking about him, but then we got on to the issues, man. The issues in our nation, and what, and issues of character. And in this interview, it's great, because I mentioned something, and he just goes, oh yeah, lots of, that's a shiny toy. And I go, oh, yeah, okay, because you know, he doesn't, he just stands, right where he stands on issues. Yes. You know, and I was just repeating something that, you know, Harry Jackson told me. So he's like, so maybe he doesn't agree with Harry. Yeah, you know, that's good, the bad, that's good. So we could all debate this stuff. So, but man, he's a distance runner. And just before we did this interview, he had a motorcycle ride. Yes, he did. That was insane. Yeah, scary. But see, what I admire about the guy that no matter what, he's battling. He gets up, dust himself off, and gets there. You know, well, he got up, dust himself off, went to the hospital. Yes. But I mean, but I mean, even when it comes to like his communication, and when he was talking about it, you know, he didn't see, like there's men that, well, he didn't mind about it. Yeah, that's how I was going to say, you might not want to call them men if they're whining, but there's men who wine. Oh, is that boys? Or are there males? Okay. Yeah, males there. Anyway, you're going to meet Lieutenant Colonel Alan West today on Brave Man. It's Brave Man with Paul Lewis Cole, wisdom and courage for the journey. Talking with Colonel Alan B. West, who's now the newly elected chairman of the Republican party in Texas, and Colonel West, you served in Iraq. You served in the fourth infantry in the Army. But then you begin to serve in Congress. Have you, I mean, were you prepared for that? Was it the army that got you ready for that kind of thing? Well, no doubt. I mean, it's a different form of combat and the bullets are still flying. They're just somewhat hidden, but they still can cause severe damage. And I think that's what really has taken our political process down into the swamp, the muck in the mire, is that it has almost become a playground of the the ignorant people, and they're not focused on what we did in the military was solving issue. You have a mission, you know, and you're supposed to do it to accomplish the mission, but it seems that people just want to continue to perpetuate the crisis and kick hands down the road. That's probably well, only serve one term in Congress. Well, that and they redistrict to you. They put you in a different district, didn't they? Yeah, it was interesting. I mean, you figure, again, that, you know, you're fighting on the same team, but then I'll send a team done once you're around, but that's okay. We persevered through it and it was a great lesson learned, and here I am is the chairman of the Republican Party of Texas now. Yeah, it's amazing. And like you said in your book, which is great, but hold Texas, hold the nation, victory or death is it's a phrase, I was born in California, but my family came to Texas in 1827. And when I came back, they said, well, you weren't born here, but got here as fast as you could. Absolutely, but and that's the thing we have to look at is Texas is not just a geographical piece of ground. It's about a state of mind. It's about something in your heart that rugged, indomitable, entrepreneurial spirit, that toughness that really is what people think America is. I mean, when you're in the military, I mean, I've been in Kuwait, Iraq and in South Korea, Afghanistan, you can tell people you're from, you know, California, they think Hollywood, you tell people in New York and they think, you know, Broadway or whatever, but when you tell someone that you're from Texas, I mean, people kind of straighten up because they have this image and understanding about Texas and that ruggedness, and you know, the cowboys and everything of that nature. So when people are moving here from these other states that are horribly failing economically and they still want to bring those failing thoughts, perspectives and ideologies to Texas, you know, that's what we're facing right now in this great state. You know, we had a great governor who became president George W. Bush, and he had a phrase that he used called compassionate conservatism. And is that gone away? No, I think conservatism has always been compassionate. You didn't have to put that qualifier on it. I think what ended up happening was that it became big government conservatism, which meant that excessive spending, that's not what it's about. It's not about tying people to government programs and making them victims. It's about making sure that government policies enable people to become victims. And that's what we have to get back to. Conservatism is all about individual rights freedoms and liberties. And really conservatism today is the classical liberalism of John Locke when he wrote in the second treaties of government where he talked about natural rights theories that the individual's rights come from a creative god, not from government, which was the divine rights theory, believed the king, the queen, the Duke, the Duchess, the prince, but interestingly enough, John Locke talked about life liberty and property as those three enalienable rights. And of course, Thomas Jefferson, with the counsel of Benjamin Franklin, it became life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yeah, you know, of course, and that would have been Franklin, at least, which is why he stayed in France so long. Now it was from the writings of John Locke that all men are created equal came out of. And many people I've talked to historians say that it was because of the influence of John Wesley, that all men are created equal. It's fascinating to me, Colonel West, and you're very involved in government politics. And we thank God for people like yourself, men and women who have committed to take the pain of being in the public forum. But that phrase, all men are created equal. I've had some people say to me, yeah, well, that didn't mean that. Except that four years later, in a court in Boston, that phrase was used, became tort law, became foundational law. It was used to set a man free from his enslavement. I believe that we have to get back to what the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution actually said about who we are as men and women. No, you're absolutely right. Those are, you know, when you're building a building, you start off with a solid foundation, you know, on the walls of first. And so the Declaration of Independence or Constitution or the foundation of this Constitution of Republic. And I think the challenge what we see happening now today in America is that we're drifting away from understanding the rule of law. And so right now, it seems that certain ideologies are certain agendas, you know, that's what constitutes what the law is, whatever they believe that a political belief is, instead of going with those fundamentals. So you find it very interesting that the 14th Amendment equal protection under the law can be used for certain ideological agendas. But when you're a church out in Nevada, who says, why am I being told by government, I can only have 50 constituents, but yet the casino is told they can have 50% occupancy. That's a violation of my first amendment, right, freedom of religion, also equal protection under the law, then the Supreme Court comes back and rules against the church. So yeah, you know, we can't cherry pick things based upon, you know, ideological beliefs. It has to be fundamental principles and values based upon a rule of law are founding documents. Yeah, equal opportunity. And so, yeah, in San Diego last week, there was a church served and noticed the cease and desist from having a prayer meeting in their parking lot. And a block away, there was a strip club that was open for business with only a caveat that the men had to wear masks as they came in. They didn't even social distance. And, you know, to me, that speaks of, and I want you to find this for us, progressive socialism. What does that mean? You know, we hear these things. I'm a progressive. Well, that sounds on face value, like, yeah, well, that's probably a good thing. Well, it goes back and it talks to the point that Vladimir Lenin made when he talked about the useful idiots, the people that would enable, you know, socialism and communism to be able to infiltrate Western civilization. And if you think about it, the turn of the century, what the communists coming from Europe call themselves, rebrand themselves as progressives. And so when I talk about progressive socialism, that's what they're progressing towards. And what is socialism? Five basic points. It is wealth redistribution. It is nationalizing of economic production on the government control. It is the creating and expanding of a welfare, nanny state. It is about social egalitarianism. It is not all made or created equal. It is about we are going to make all man equal. It's the difference between equality of opportunity and equality of outcomes. And the fifth point about socialism is secular humanism. And so, you know, when you look at this organization called Black Lives Matter, you know, the founders of that organization are about Marxists. So when you look at churches that are starting to, you know, accept this, you know, organization to talk about social justice, what does Karl Marx and Frederick Ingalls have to do with, you know, our Christian faith and beliefs? Nothing. They were secular humanists. But again, the other side has been very clever, you know, we're going to be progressive because if you're not for progress, then you're for regression. But the truth about progressive socialism is it does take us back. It takes us back away from understanding what liberty and freedom or the individual is truly about. And that's the difference. You know, I don't think we we truly understand collective subjugation, but that's what socialism has always been about. You know, the Bible talks about justice and God is God of justice and he hates injustice. And I think any right thinking person has that same sense or feeling about them. What's the difference with social justice? Well, social justice is based upon anyone's agenda at the time. And so, you know, we have justice as out there, you know, everyone's talking about the case with George Floyd. Well, guess what? Those four police officers have been charged. They have been arrested. They're going to have their day in court. And so when when people are going out and talking about social justice, again, that's where I make the comparison between the quality of opportunity and the quality of outcomes. Yeah. Social justice. Yeah. Well, you know, I'll use my life as a case in point. In 1961, I'm born in a black-only hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. And I grew up in the inner city, the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood in Atlanta. They produced Dr. Marley Luther King, Jr. That's where he preached and everybody's about this church. But out of that neighborhood, inner city neighborhood, being born in a black-only hospital, you know, 50 years later, I'm sworn in to be a congressional representative of, you know, cities and areas for Lauderdale Beach Palm Beach Island. That when I was born, I could not go to. My dad was just a corporal in the United States arm. My older brother was a Lance Corporal in the Marine Corps. I ended up becoming Lieutenant Carl and commanding a battalion in combat. I ended up becoming a member of the United States House of Representatives, the second only black Republican from Florida since Josiah T. Walls in 1876. Right. So that's the quality of opportunity that says no matter where you're born, no matter where you come from, with the drive and determination of good quality education, you can achieve whatever you want. But social justice means a quality of outcomes that someone is going to be determining what you can do and what you can have and where you can go and how things are redistributed, you know, being at wealth or being at, you know, property or whatever they need necessary in order to further their own agenda. Yeah. Tell me something, Colonel West, you're a follower of Christ. You're very open with that. How do you do that? How do you get a lot of guys listening right now who are, let's say they're in business or they manage a bank or they've got a transmission shop and they're followers of Christ. I go to church or good guys, but they don't know how do I navigate that in the public forum? And how do you do that maintaining your faith and at the same time being salt and light? Well, that's what we're called to be is that salt and light. And I think that that's what our Christian faith enables us to be. You know, when I look at what is going on right now in the United States of America with the COVID-19 crisis, this should be the Christian community leading the way because our community, we either walk by faith or we walk by fear and God did not call us to walk by fear. God told Joshua three times to be strong and a good courage will alert that guys when they were leaving or forsake you. And Isaiah 54-17 he talks about how no weapon formed against you shall prosper and no tongue which rises against you adjustment. You shall condemn every tongue. And he talks about in Romans chapter 8 of God before us who can be against us. And 413 of Philippians, you know, I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me. So when if you're a professional out there at whatever you do every day of your life man or woman, you're supposed to go out there and be that example, be that shining light, be that beacon. And that's why we need more strong Christians of faith. And I will tell you something else Paul is that in 2016 25 million Christians did not vote 2016. And so now look at what is happening. You have a baker, you know, Jack Phillips from Colorado who has to go before the Supreme Court because of his faith stance. And that's where we should be taking our courage from someone that says, look, I love you. But this is a violation of my fundamental principles and beliefs. And look at what happened, like I said, with the church that out there in Las Vegas, the valley. So it is time for Christian men and women to make that stand, especially Christian man. And then the blood community, I mean, we have seen the family just absolutely be decimated born in 1961, 77% on 77% of black households had strong fathers in them with the mothers at that time. Today is only 24%. And that's not by accident that that has happened because of policies that came from the government which decimated the family. And now look at all of the second, third and fourth order effects you see in our urban population sentence. This is Chris. Let me take a moment right in the middle of this great conversation to remind you how to get in touch with Paul and Christian men's network in the global fatherhood initiative. You can find all the resources for mentoring and fatherhood at cmn.min. That's the Christian men's network at cmn.min. Christian men's network does special events across America and around the world. You can find all the information at cmn.min. Click on events. We also have tremendous resources for churches with special discounts for groups on that website. Everything your church needs from A to Z to mentor and disciple men of all ages and backgrounds. Now let's get back to this powerful interview with Paul and now the west. The man who is on our board of Christian men's network at cmn. Doug Stringer in Houston told me he said when Katrina happened in New Orleans, it actually set 150,000 children free of a welfare mindset and of being fourth generation welfare. You know, it sounds like a good thing, Colonel West, to help people when they're in need. How does it disincentivize people? How does it stop people from being productive? Well, it's what I call the soft bigotry of low expectations. And Daniel Patrick Monahan, who was a liberal Democrat senator from New York, wrote a book called the Negro Family. This was after Lyndon Johnson, who was the president at the time, came up with his great society policies and one of them was that the government will give checks to women who had children out of wedlock. But there was a caveat to that, Paul. They couldn't have a working man in the home. And that's one of the things, the documentary Uncle Tom, which features my very dear friend, now deceased Hermacane, we discussed that. And like I said, those 2nd and 3rd and 4th are effects. So I don't know what intention someone had, but the strongest, greatest foundation in the black community was the family that has gone through slavery, Jim Crow segregation, you name it, lynchings. And then they purposely decimated it and look at what has happened now. We have a 21st century economic plantation and all of these major population centers. And people have gone from being big doors. Now they're victims. And what's amazing to me is that you go to church on Sunday in the black community and they're talking about everything that is about being a victor in Christ. But yet when they go out from those church doors, there are victims in their everyday life. We have a great friend, Dr. Dwayne Pickett, who pastors New Jerusalem Church in Jackson, Mississippi. They have, they're actually, we have a whole program that helps men be commissioned. They walk through a three year process discipleship in the local church, their commission, his church is commissioned almost as many men as Joel Osteen's church in Houston and under Christman's network majoring in men program. They have a church that's running right now. Well, when they're all there, 40 over just right at 40% men on an average weekend with 8,000 people in attendance and all their campuses. He told me he said it's unheard of. Well, then what's the issue? He told me, Colonel West, he said he believed that there was an attack. The enemy was specifically going after a young black American man. And basically trying to, if you will, hollow out the middle of our cities, creating, and I love this phrase, a 21st century economic plantations. And you know, right here where I live in Fort Worth, we've got just in Fort Worth alone. We have 11 zip codes that are food deserts. Yeah. You know, it's stunning to me in this culture in which we live with the influences around it. There should be that. That's that's people who live further than three miles from any kind of fresh vegetable or fresh meat. That's a food dog. And you know, you had the same thing in an area called Bontan community over here in Dallas. And of course, an incredible young man went down there and created Bontan farms so that now it is not just, you know, them being able to grow their own nutritious foods. He's also rehabilitating these young men that are down there. They're previously incarcerated. So now they have their own, you know, organic foods, grocery store, restaurant and everything like that. And that is what I'm talking about, helping people to become victors and not victims. But, you know, we have to have that engagement. We have to have that constant communication that tells them, here's a clear choice. And when I look at what is happening in Chicago, again, going back to this organization called Black Lives Matter, they should be hanging out in Chicago. They should not be running around, you know, making the NBA and the major league soccer and all these other teams, you know, advocate their little logo. They should be where we see all these things. They should be in Baltimore. They should be in, they should absolutely. But yet, when you read their website, they are against the traditional nuclear family. They're against everything that made the black community strong and successful. Yeah. Patriarchy is one of their huge targets. Yes. Basically goes back to the fatherhood of God. I mean, that's really what they're doing. They're basically saying they're going back to that. Tell me about prison reform, Colonel West, it's something that I know. Plotters house Bishop, Jake's has been part of the Texas Fenders or Entry program helps start that number of other things. Tell me about prison reform because it feels like that's an area that seems to be overlooked, but it's so extremely important. Well, prison reform is important because what you want to do is continue to, you know, invest in the lives and the souls of these young men that, you know, we believe in reconciliation, we believe in rehabilitation. And that's what you should be trying to do when you have them incarcerated. But, you know, we don't want to see criminal justice reform become what you see up in New York City and some other places bail reform, where you're just allowing people to, you know, commit crimes and things of this nation, then you release them right back onto the streets. And we have that problem over here in Dallas County with the district attorney that says, if you commit a crime that's under $750 worth of damages, you're going to be released. He's not going to prosecute you. That's not what we're talking about with criminal justice reform. What we're talking about is continuing to develop, you know, skills, the skill sets and people so that they can reenter society and be a productive member of society. That should be the focus. My friend Harry Jackson and a number of others were very involved in something called band the box. It had to do with the front of most employment applications, had a little box of your been convicted of a felony. And, you know, are these things effective, you know, when we go after things like that, are they effective? Is this, or is they diversions? Well, I don't like the shiny little tour, you know, okay, so you banned the box, but someone's still going to have to do a background check and whatever is going to be uncovered. So I would rather someone would be transparent and say, you know, this is who I am, this is what I did, and this is how I'm trying to, you know, correct my life and get on to have a better life. So I think that's what we should be teaching this character and not teaching about, you know, eliminating a box. You shouldn't put yourself in a box first and foremost. But then again, if you go back and understand that structure of the family, you know, my dad, that old corporal from World War II, who worked at the BA hospital, he would have told me boy, boy, pull up your pants. You know, what, you're not going out looting and all this type of stuff, you know, it was rough, you know, I had chores to do, I had, you know, a defined time, you know, to be out and about, but guess what, he taught me discipline, he taught me standards, he gave me left and right limits, and that helped me to be the guy that I am today. And I think that when you extricate that out of a family, then you have these young men that are coloring outside the lines because there's no lines for them. So instead of, you know, the gimmicks about boxes and all this type of stuff, let's get back to the real essence of the problem, having that strong patriarchal direction and a young man's life. And also in a young woman's life, I have two daughters. And the most important thing that I could do for my daughters was to show them the example of what a man who loves them looks like. And it showed them an example through my relationship with my wife as well. And when you don't have that in the family, then these young girls go looking for love, and they go looking to be accepted because they're not getting that at home. And, you know, every day, even when I was deployed, if I could, try to get a note of message or whatever back to my girl, say, daddy loves you. I'm over here in the combat and so on, but I'm fighting for your freedoms and liberties. And I also find for freedoms of liberties of others, so they could understand why I was doing what I was doing. Every one of our key elements with Christmas network is defeating fatherlessness and ending child abuse. We believe every child deserves a loving dad. Absolutely. Towards that end, you know, Dan Crenshaw recently in his book, Fortitude, he said, he said, we'd become a nation addicted to comfort when we need to be a nation building character. And he said, that has stopped from building character because comfort doesn't do that. You know, we live in a nation, uh, Colonel West, that seemed to be more concerned about the calorie content where children's launches than the character content of their children's hearts. You know, what's, uh, as we finish up this, this time together and thank you for this time, Colonel West, uh, what is it? What's your hope? Where do you see hope? You know, we see these 24 hour new cycles with all this crazy stuff going on. And if we're not careful, we get discouraged. How do you, where do you find your hope? Well, my, my anchor is in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And I really do believe that you're going to see an awakening in this country. And, and as I travel around the state of Texas, I see that I sense that I feel that people know that something is not right, but we just have to have those courageous voices out there to point the way to that. And, and again, it comes back to that simple choice that I tell, you know, every young person that I run into and anyone, I say, you can either choose to be a victor or you can choose to be a victim. And there are a lot of people out there who would be happy to make you a victim. And, you know, dovetail and off what Congressman Chris shall say, I think that we're becoming a nation of victims. Everyone has agreements. Everyone, you know, it's looking to blame someone else for their own travails and what have you instead of looking at themselves. Individual responsibility and personal accountability is what made this great nation, what made this great state what it is. And we got to get back to that. And that is the essence of our Christian faith. Salvation is an individual decision. It's not a collective decision. Yeah, but it affects the entire culture, doesn't it? Yes, it does. Thank you, Colonel West, for taking this kind of time and really illuminating and inspiring us. I'm really excited. It, you know, thank you for coming to Texas, first of all, as a person who lives here. And, and for accepting position like being ahead of the chairman of the Republican Party for the state of Texas. Because that's it, you're going to take shots from all sides. And I remember walking into Congressman Kenny Marchim's office a couple years ago and he said, what's up? And I just came over to pray with you today. He said, oh, good, close the door. Yeah. You know, and, you know, so I thank God for you and your wife willing to do what you do, standing in the public form. And we pray for you, Colonel West, that your heart will continue to have its capacity that God will bless you wherever you go, bless the work of your hands, wherever you put your feet will be holy ground. And he will keep you and your children and their children deep within the grip of grace. We thank God for you, brother. It's my pleasure. Every day of my life, I get to serve God, country, and Texas. So, God bless Texas. Amen. And God bless you. Thanks for taking the time, Colonel West. Great to meet you. Pleasure, sir. God bless you, man. What a stellar guy, Alan West is. Like, he's just the real deal. Yeah, he really is, Chris. You know, the thing in talking to him about the issues of today and our culture, you know, he's very clearing the issues, but he's also very inclusive. Yes. That's what I appreciate about him. He, you know, he's he's got a standard, but in a sense, he's not rigid with his grace. Yeah, no, definitely not put that way. Yeah. And I mean, even his heart for the next generation, how could you not be graceful if you have a heart for the next generation? Because you know the ability that training causes you to walk in grace. Yeah. You know, and that's what I love, you know, in my interactions with him, he, he's a man that doesn't just tell you to do something. He's telling you to do something because it's something that he's living. Yeah. Wow, that's really good. Now, where did you meet him? I met him in Washington, D.C. Oh, you did. I did. Yeah, you were on assignment there. Yes. You worked there for how long? I don't know the exact number. It felt like a longer time than five years. You were there for six months. Yeah, but not because it was a bad time. I learned a lot, you know, very busy to running nonstop, but you know, it was funny on my last day there. It's when I met it. Really? You know, and it was just an amazing divine appointment and God just connected us and he said, Hey, I'll be in contact with you when you get back to Texas. And you know, people tell you that all the time, but he actually followed through with it. Isn't that something? You know, yeah, he offices right now. I don't know what's going to happen with the Republican Party thing, but he offices in the same area that the Tony Rory does over at the Hope Center. Oh, well, he's been heading up that organization or that some part of that for some time now since he's been in Texas. Well, he's one of those guys that goes, you know, I didn't get here a long time ago, but I got here as fast as I could. He loves Texas. He says that a lot. And now, well, because he had a Republican party for the state, you know, and so, you know, it's a guy that's serious about, you know, making this a better world. Yes. A better world for the next generation. Yeah. And, but he's also seems like a man who's willing to reach across the aisle to people of different backgrounds, different sort of persuasions. Oh, definitely. He's a man that is very intentional with his time and his words. I, in my interactions with him, you know, I got to eat with him. I've gotten to do certain things with him that it's, you know, honor and a privilege, but he doesn't waste, you know, I mean, he's very intentional. And he's going to take the time to hear you. And once he hears you, he's going to intentionally speak to the issue that you're presenting. But he's also going to tell you exactly what he thinks. Exactly. Yeah. But he's going to do it in a graceful way. Like you said, like it's, it's from a place of love, you know, some people tell you what they're going to say. Okay. But then they hit you and you're just like, whoa, why'd you beat me with a bat? And then there's another thing to tell you what he's going to tell you. And it's because, hey, I want you to be better. Yeah. And that's this type, that's the type of man Alan West is. Yeah. Well, it was a great time. And thank you all for being with us today and brave men. As Chris mentioned a while back, C-M-N dot men, Christian men's network, C-M-N dot men, tools you need to disciple men, tools you need for your own life, to expand your own life, tools to be a better dad. We've got resources, videos, we've got books, materials. Go to the YouTube channel. You can subscribe there. We've got stuff coming out every single week on the Christian men's network YouTube channel. There's new stuff there. The Nancy Houston interview is something you've got to look at dealing with stress. And then Bishop Bronner about walking through difficult times. But thank you for being with us on behalf of Chris Shields and Joanne Webster and the entire Christmas Network team. God bless you. Hope is alive. Hope as a name. Hope's name is Jesus. You've just experienced brave men with Paul Lewis Cole. Paul is president of the Christian men's network. Connect with Paul at C-M-N dot men or write to him at Paul at C-M-N dot men.