Texas Eagle Forum Patriotic Banquet

“Texas is not strong unless Republicans lead the way,” roared Senator Dan Patrick through a banquet hall at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dallas.

I had the honor and privilege to attend the Texas Eagle Forum Patriotic Banquet on Thursday night. In a banquet hall filled with staunch conservatives and Christians, the smell of liberty and conservative values was in the air.

After the welcome by Penna Dexter, co-host of the “Point of View” radio show, elected Texas officials led the pledges and invocation and banquet honorees were called to the stage, including Texas Republican Party Chairman Cathie Adams. I was more than delighted to hear nearly every speaker that crossed the stage, including Governor Rick Perry and Eagle Forum President Phyllis Schlafly, endorse Adams and thank her for her work for the party and Eagle Forum.

After dinner was served, Governor Rick Perry, despite not being listed on the event program, surprised the audience with an appearance. Perry commended the crowd for their support of pro-life values: “There are thousands of young Texans alive today because of your [pro-life stance].” Towards the end of his speech, Perry reminded the audience to text his campaign for notifications and updates: “I hope you’re as fired up about it as I am to make a difference…Working together, we can take America back.”

David Barton, President of WallBuilders, followed Perry after a short introduction by Rep. Wayne Christian who informed the audience that Barton was named one of the most influential evangelical people of our lifetime.

Barton’s speech was more of a presentation out of history class, complete with PowerPoint slides and quotes from our Founding Fathers, but you can bet there was not a single person in the audience who was asleep in their desk!

Barton’s presentation, “The Founding Fathers on the Principles of Limited Government,” featured quotes from the men that founded our nation, including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. These quotes showed the proof that our Founding Fathers believed in a limited government. My personal favorite quote of the night was from Thomas Jefferson: “A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.”

Barton also brought up an interesting fact in his presentation. If you were to read 700 pages of the U.S. Federal Code each week, you would finish in 25,000 years!

After Barton’s intriguing and engaging presentation, Eagle Forum President Phyllis Schlafly took the stage. Her speech focused on Obama’s “transformations” since he took office, including “his weirdo Czars.” Shlafly noted that no politician in Washington wants to be labeled a liberal anymore and riled up the crowd when she said, “Now conservatives know that we can win!” Schlafly engaged the audience with her humor, saying that Joe Biden “finally said something smart: ‘If Democrats lose 40 seats in November, that will be the end of what Barack and I are trying to do.’” Naturally, the audience replied to Schlafly’s statement with enthusiastic applause and cheering.

Schlafly stayed true to conservatism and said that she believes all our nation’s problems can be solved by the Constitution we have, noting that there are twice as many conservatives in the country as liberals.

Overall, I felt that the Texas Eagle Forum Patriotic Banquet was a true tribute to conservative and Christian values.

Senator Dan Patrick’s statement from the beginning of the dinner rang true until the very end of the banquet when nearly all of the seats in the room remained full: “I was told we’d have more people here than Obama has Czars in Washington.”