Allen West: Democratic Handouts Are The 'Most Insidious Form Of Slavery Remaining In The World' (VIDEO)

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) delivered a fiery speech about Black History Month on the House floor Wednesday evening, praising the Republican Party for its tradition of "standing up for the rights of African Americans" and accusing Democrats of perpetuating an "insidious form of slavery" through their support for entitlement programs.

"Our party firmly believes in the safety net," West said in the speech, first flagged by The Hill. "We reject the idea of the safety net becoming a hammock."

"For this reason, the Republican value of minimizing government dependence is particularly beneficial to the poorest among us," he continued. "Conversely, the Democratic appetite for ever-increasing redistributionary handouts is in fact the most insidious form of slavery remaining in the world today, and it does not promote economic freedom."

The majority of West's address was focused on recounting the GOP's legacy on civil rights. He argued that the party had spearheaded many pro-racial equality pushes since President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. West said the idea held by many modern spectators that this was the last good deed the GOP had done for African Americans was offensive to the party's history.

As West recounted historical actions taken by Republicans throughout the 19th century and first half of the 20th century -- making sure to call out the Democrats who opposed them -- the congressman discussed the efforts of former Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.) on the first Civil Rights Act of 1964, then skipped ahead 30 years to the work of congressional Republicans who campaigned for welfare reform in the 1990s and for school choice under then-President George W. Bush.

"It's been the Republican Party that has fought to prevent African-Americans from being trapped in a permanent underclass through dependence on government handouts," West said. "Republicans have been on the front lines for equal rights and individual manifest destiny since our party's founding under Lincoln."

"With a core belief in the supremacy and the sovereignty of the individual, and the unconditional dignity of every human life, the Republican party is, always has been and forever shall be, the party of equality, of opportunity. Happy Black History month," West concluded.

West is currently running for reelection in Florida's 18th Congressional District, which he switched to after having served the 22nd District for a term. He faces challenges from a Democrat, a Republican and perhaps a Tea Party candidate.

Comments

[Fred Stender]

04:04 PM on 03/08/2013

Moochers gotta mooch

[Nikita63]

11:27 AM on 06/02/2012

Allen West is right on all counts. The left has been totally insidious and West and some other successful blacks are aware that this is so and try to reducate their brethren.On top of that, his knowledge of the constitution far supsesedes that of the President and unlke the president, he does NOT disdain and ignore the document which has been our guideline to success as the most propsperous and free society in world history, as does Mr. Obama. This president thinks the constitution means whatever HE says it means and IMO, violates his sworn ioath along wothj m,ost of those in his administration on a near daily basis and then has the AG of the U.S. sue those who have the temerity under the first amendmemnt, to dissent. It is time for a cahnge to a candidate who abides by the constitution; not continuance for one who seeks to destroy it, our individual liberties our sovereignty and would make us a vassal state of the United Nations by vehicles such as LOST and the UN Small arms Treaty,
favored by both he and Secretrary of Stsate Clinton, which would effectively abrogate the
2nd amendemrt right to keep and bear arms, even in your own defense. Over 170 million people have died when that right has been denied in World history by government fiat and, it has been the governments DOING the killing. We CANNOT allow that to happen here.

[JoBow]

12:22 AM on 03/13/2012

Is this man for real? He must be Herman Cain's little brother.

[divinemary]

08:10 PM on 02/27/2012

West meds, dosage needs to be reduce ASAP.

[4TJefferson]

04:35 PM on 02/25/2012

Entitlements are a hammock? What a West Moron? GOPERS just voted to keep giving $BILLIONS$ in subsidies to Oil, Gas, Coal, Corporate Farms. YET if you help the poor, they are suddenly bums sleeping on hammocks?! VOTER THIS GOPER OUT IN 2012!

[mtknibbesr]

11:50 AM on 02/19/2012

TO MR. WEST I WOULD SAY "BALONEY". HE SHOULD GET RID OF THAT "HIGH N TIGHT"
HAIRCUT WHICH ANYONE WHO HAS EVER BEEN AROUND A MILITARY BASE CAN SEE THIS IS HOW ALL OF THE G.I.s WEAR THEIR HAIR. HE'S A LITTLE OLD TO BE DOING THIS. MAYBE HE THINKS HE STILL ONE OF THE BOYS. I DON'T KNOW AND I DON'T REALLY CARE. I DO, HOWEVER, WISH TO INFORM HIM THERE ARE JUST AS MANY OF HIS FELLOW REPUBLICANS THAT ARE PERPETUATING "AN INSIDIOUS FORM OF SLAVERY" THROUGH THEIR SUPPORT FOR ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS. THAT ROAD RUNS BOTH WAYS, SIR. I'M QUITE SURE OUR PRESIDENT KNOWS THE CONSTITUTION VERY WELL. HE IS AFTER ALL OUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.

[cqtestk4xs]

08:11 AM on 02/19/2012

Hey West, not just blacks get entitlements, we older white people get them in the form of SS. Enjoy your last year in the House. You teabagger goofs are going to join the 8.3% unemployed in January. I bet you'll apply for your jobless entitlements. No problem with that!

[mtknibbesr]

12:03 PM on 02/19/2012

CQTESTK4XS, YOU ONLY GET SS IF YOU WORKED 10 YEARS UNDER THAT SYSTEM OR THERE ARE SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES. THEY DON'T GIVE IT TO EVERYONE.

[cqtestk4xs]

08:37 PM on 02/22/2012

Read what I wrote...I said jobless entitlements (unemployment benefits), not SS. You don't have to work for ten years to get them.

[macohmz]

02:06 AM on 02/18/2012

I don't want to see people go hungry and start doing things out of character for them because they have nothing. Desperate people do desperate things and nothing makes a person more desperate than hunger.
The politicians having enacted policies that have permanently altered the economy still act as if this is the economy of old and you can quickly find a job anywhere that will provide a standard of living.

[WI Dude]

03:34 PM on 02/17/2012

When Johnson initiated the civil rights reforms of the 1960s pissed-off bigoted Dixie democrats flocked to the GOP, eventually took control of it, and watched as the party of Lincoln abandoned ship. The two institutions of American politics then flipped like a Belgian waffle. The result is just the opposite of what West imagines it to be. His is the party of apartheid, of suppression, of intolerance. With a core belief in the supremacy and the sovereignty of wealthy whites and a few non-white toadies, the Republican party today is, and shall be in the foreseeable future, the party of inequality.

[DC Liberal]

04:58 PM on 02/17/2012

West doesn't have many strong suits, but revisionist history is definitely one of them.

[sportsbyholly]

02:59 PM on 02/17/2012

The TeaBablicans love to smack down the poor and minorities of this country....and have been doing so for decades. Their legacy since 1981 is the complete leveling off of middle class wages, while the top earners have seen their income skyrocket; their de-regulation mantra has brought the world to the brink of economic collapse, as the financial sector gambled on fictitious financial instruments that weren't worth the paper they were printed on. Mr. West screams about nonsense all of the time, but the GOP policies have ruined our economy and caused infinitely more poverty than anything the left has done. Rep. West will not win re-election and in my opinion will end up leading a militia trying to overthrow our government. He will then become a slave on the rock pile in Leavenworth.....so long token teabagger!

[TheCentury21Thinker]

02:46 PM on 02/17/2012

Obama" thinking:"

All you Progressives think that Lt. Col West should have been Court Martialed for his "offence" in saving his men's lives.

But I am sure you back this clown getting the rank of Admiral:

The official investigation into the 1987 shoot-down said the F-14 pilot’s decision “raises substantial doubt as to his capacity for good, sound judgment.” The Navy banned him from flying its aircraft. Lt.jg Timothy W. Dorsey intentionally shot a missal that brought down one of our own aircraft.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta this month announced to the Senate several nominations for promotion to admiral.

On the list is Navy Reserve Capt. Timothy W. Dorsey, the same man who, while assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, committed what the report said was an “illogical act.”

Capt. Dorsey today is the inspector general for Navy Reserve Detachment 106 in Norfolk, Va.

His promotion to admiral has some in the aviation community shaking their heads, especially because minor discretions by flight officers over the past decades have resulted in reprimands and the ends of careers.
BUT
It makes all the sense in the world to Progressives.

[DC Liberal]

03:10 PM on 02/17/2012

Spell check - look into it. Then, even if your posts don't make sense, at least they'll be legible.

[arimyd]

03:10 PM on 02/18/2012

Ditto!! W-T-F is he talking about?? And who cares??

[twain307]

02:44 PM on 02/17/2012

Please stop using the word "Shocking" in headlines concerning something that Representative West has said. Reserve that word until he says something that makes sense..because THAT will be shocking.

[mtknibbesr]

12:17 PM on 02/19/2012

FIRST, I AM NOT SHOUTING, I HAVE A VISION PROBLEM. IF YOU MUST USE THE S LETTER WITH REP. WEST, IT COULD STAND FOR STUPID. THAT CERTAINLY COMES TO MIND.

[Hazegrae]

02:41 PM on 02/17/2012

Sorry, but that "don't feed the deer" mentality works as poorly for disadvantaged groups as it does for the deer: it's hard to justify not mitigating the decreased circumstances of the environment, be it a decrease in food due to territorial encroachment or the lack of social investment in health, education, and fair housing and food.

[panamarine]

02:38 PM on 02/17/2012

This guy is self destructing faster than a snowball in Haiti. What T F with this so called representative. He will not last. For sure.

[aquarius2001]

02:30 PM on 02/17/2012

Mr. West fails to realize the Grand Ol Party just ain't what it used to be. Republicans today are the Southern Democrats of yesterday.