Christians must ‘stick to our principles and values,’ get involved, YAF speaker says after blue wave midterm results 

The blue wave in the midterm elections is only a “snapshot,” and Christian conservatives must continue to protect their values, use their vote and shape a “long-term strategic vision” for when the “Marxist left” hands back control “in two years,” said Lt. Col. Allen West, a former congressman.

“I think the most important thing in response to this, you can’t see this as just in that snapshot. We got to have a long-term strategic vision, and Christian conservatives need to get out and vote,” West told Heartlander News Wednesday in an exclusive interview.

West, a veteran who served in the Iraq War and former executive director of the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas, spoke to more than 300 high school seniors Wednesday morning at Faith and Nation, a student forum organized by Young America’s Foundation and The Herzog Foundation, publisher of Heartlander News. 

“I can’t think of a better time to talk to you all after what happened yesterday,” West said to open his speech. “And I don’t want you to be sad. I don’t want you to be upset. I don’t want you to be despondent. I don’t want you to worry.

“As a matter of fact, in the Bible, it says you’re not supposed to worry. It says that many different times. So you as a Christian, you should now be standing on your faith. And when you talk about the faith and the nation, that’s what we have to get back to.”

The midterm election results reflect a “generational gap,” in which parents and grandparents did not “tell the story of the greatness of the United States of America, and therefore other people told the story,” West explained.

Learn history and get involved

He challenged the students to read the full Declaration of Independence, which takes just over 10 minutes, and to know the “premise” on which the country was founded: “that each and every one of you are sovereign because your rights come from a sovereign God, the Judeo-Christian faith heritage God.”

Republican leaders failed to implement policies they promised, which also led to the exchange of power reflected in Tuesday’s results, West said.

“I will tell you that we need to get away from calls and personalities on either side. Let’s get back to understanding our fundamental constitutional republic and the things that government can do and things that government can’t do,” West said, adding that he gave the students permission to “kick in the shins” of anyone who claims America is a democracy, rather than a constitutional republic.

He encouraged the high schoolers to get involved in their surroundings, adding that school board elections have the “least amount of voter participation” in the U.S. Heartlander News reported earlier this year on a Wisconsin student who joined his local school board during his senior year in high school.

“You’re the next generation,” West said. “We got to train you up and get you ready to go out there and be our city council members, be our school board members, be our county commissioners. Go to law school, become our judges and continue to climb up that ladder. Remember, I said start out with your immediate sphere, and then watch it grow.”

The blue pendulum swing will shift back in a few years, he said, paraphrasing a quote from Winston Churchill: “you can expect the Americans to eventually do what is right after they have exhausted all other means.”

“Why did your parents tell you ‘don’t touch the hot stove’? Because the stove is hot. And now I think this country is gonna find out just how hot that stove is,” West said.

He also told Heartlander News conservatives must “raise up candidates” at the local levels, including county and state races that eventually lead to the federal government, but called Republican messaging right now “horrible.”

“I think that the cult of personality thing is starting to break down,” he said, a likely reference to President Donald Trump. “But the messaging for ‘Republicans’ is horrible, and I think that in the next two years they’ve got to tighten up their message discipline, and I think that the Marxist left is going to end up handing it back to us in two years.”

He urged Christians and conservatives to “stick to our principles and values,” even against a government that “is not abiding by our Constitution,” citing the lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic that violated the “first liberty” – the freedom of religion.

“I think that you should be able to protect your Christian values regardless of who is there,” he concluded. “You know, ‘you render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, but you render unto God what is God’s.’ And so, I render my heart and my faith to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

(Image credit: Screenshot/X/Allen West)