Georgia and Texas: The Inextricable Bond of Liberty
Greetings everyone, and Merry Christmas to y’all! Please remember to keep Christ in Christmas. He is, indeed, the reason for this season.
In this season, politically, everyone is focused on the Peach State of Georgia. There are those who mistakenly believe that I am from Florida. The truth is, after my retirement from the US Army in 2004 — from Ft. Hood, Texas, by the way — I turned to my wife Angela and committed to follow her. See, Angela not only married a career Army man, her own dad was a career Army man. So, when Angela got the offer to continue her career as a financial advisor in South Florida, near many of her Jamaican relatives, we settled there.
But, in 2014 we got the opportunity to return to the Lone Star State, where Angela’s mom and dad lived. We returned.
I am a native son of Georgia, and very proud of that. Georgia is historic, one of the thirteen original colonies that signed onto the Declaration of Independence and established these United States of America. Georgia is a beautiful state with mountains, rolling hills, and a beautiful coastline with barrier islands. It is known as the Peach State: folks know it for its peanuts, and, along with Texas, it is a major producer of pecans. Georgia is a major agricultural state, and has some of the most strategically important military installations, and is the largest state east of the Mississippi River.
But, the bond, the history, that Georgia shares with Texas is special. It is a bond forged in the fight for liberty and Texas’ independence.
There are five Georgians listed on the Cenotaph, the memorial to the 183 defenders of The Alamo. Their names are Albert Calvin Grimes, William Wells, Manson Shield, Edwin T. Mitchell, and William T. Malone. Their names shall always be remembered for their stand in those 13 glorious days. There is also one other who gave his life at The Alamo who has a tie back to Georgia, his name is Jim Bowie. There is a possibility that Bowie spent early years in Georgia. His mother and father were settled there. He is listed as being born in Kentucky.
However, there is no debate about these three gentlemen and their history in Georgia, and their service to Texas. Col. James Fanin attended the University of Georgia, transferred to West Point, but was not successful. He returned back to Georgia and was in Columbus when he heard the call of liberty. Mirabeau Lamar was born in Louisville, Georgia, but found his way to Texas to answer the call of liberty. Thomas Jefferson Rusk was born in South Carolina, but was practicing law in Clarkesville, Georgia when he answered the call of liberty in the Lone Star State.
If you know your Texas history, you know that Fanin won fame at the Battle of Concepcion, but was executed after the massacre of his men at La Bahia, just south of Goliad, Texas. I have been there to pay homage to my fellow Georgian.
Mirabeau Lamar went on to be the President and Vice President of the Republic of Texas, and Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, is named after him. And, Thomas J. Rusk was the first Secretary of War for the Republic of Texas.
As well, it was an 18-year-old girl from Macon, Georgia, just north of where my mom was born and raised, who created the Troutman Flag. It was the white and blue flag that featured a Lone Star and the words “Liberty or Death.” The flag was brought to Texas by a group of Georgia volunteers.
As Georgians answered the call of liberty in Texas, and came to its aid back in 1835-1836, so Texans now are answering the call in Georgia.
My native state is facing the onslaught of the new tyranny, that of progressive socialism. When we hear the assertion of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), “first we change Georgia, then we change America.” it should rally us all to the Peach State.
Texans just held off the $61 million challenge of the left to undermine our individual rights and the freedoms we enjoy. Now, Texans are lining up, heading east on I-20 to take a stand beside Georgians, to stand upon freedom’s rampart, and defend liberty.
What has happened in Georgia is part of the strategic plan of the left in America. The leftists are fleeing their own failed states — California, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey — and infiltrating strong conservative red states, like Georgia, Texas, and Florida, bringing their failed ideology. They are settling into the major population centers, where you witness the greatest failure of leftist, Democrat, policies. In Georgia, the Atlanta-Fulton County metropolitan area is dominating the political atmosphere. We face a similar challenge here in Texas with Houston-Harris County, Dallas-Dallas County, Austin-Travis County, and San Antonio-Bexar County being ruled by the progressive socialists of the left. The same has been replicated in other states that were once red, conservative: Nevada, Washington State, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, and Virginia.
Georgians once deployed to Texas to fight. Now, we as Texas must deploy to Georgia for the same. I am deeply humbled to be a native son of Georgia who came to Texas, and now calls it home, similar to Mirabeau Lamar and Thomas Rusk. I am blessed to have the same resolve and courage as Fanin, and those five who are named on the Cenotaph who were willing to give their lives for Texas. And, I am excited to be able to head back to my birth state of Georgia and carry on the fight for liberty.
There are two states that share an inextricable bond of liberty with Texas, one is Tennessee, where I attended university. The other is Georgia. How awesome it is to have been born and raised in Georgia, gone to school and earn the title of Tennessee Volunteer, and now live in Texas.
Damn, y’all, it just doesn’t get any better than that! “Liberty or Death!”
Steadfast and Loyal,
LTC Allen B. West (Ret.)
Chairman
Republican Party of Texas
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