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Hold Texas, Hold the Nation: Victory or Death
Texas is booming. In recent years, the Lone Star State has experienced some of the most rapid growth in the country, both in its economy and in its population. This is thanks to an influx of businesses relocating to Texas to take advantage of all its benefits. But this increase in population has also brought about a shift in the political dialogue within Texas's borders. As more people pour into Texas, they bring with them liberal and socialist ideologies as they try to swing the state from red to blue. These plans for changing policies will suffocate the highly successful capitalist state and its residents, and according to Lt. Col. Allen West (Ret.), allowing these liberal ideals to creep into the legislative branch will be the death of Texas. In Hold Texas, Hold the Victory or Death, West explains how the longstanding conservative capitalist policies within the state's government have allowed it to flourish over the years, providing hard-to-ignore evidence and allowing his experience in Congress to support his argument. He makes his stand, asserting that Texas must hold fast to its conservative ways and resist succumbing to liberal mindsets, or else cease to prosper, and begin to perish. Texas is a sustaining force for America, truly embodying the founding principles of those unalienable individual rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In Texas, it's ''Victory or Death.''
- GenresPolitics
224 pages, Hardcover
Published October 16, 2018
23 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 7, 2019
I really enjoyed learning about the rich history of Texas and how it's conservative principles have made it a flagship of success for business and successful living.
July 28, 2020
I decided to pull this out of my to-read pile because Allan West is now the Republican Party’s Chairman in Texas. The basic idea is in the title: Texas has a lot of electoral votes, and if Republicans lose Texas, they lose any national elections and debates.
West outlines why Texas has grown: why businesses keep moving here and new businesses starting up, creating jobs that cause more people to move here. That has two sides: other states create policies that drive people away, and Texas creates policies that draw people in.
Most of the book is focused on business policy rather than individuals, because of that focus.
West has a very different view of policy than most conservative writers I read. Where most conservative writers and groups are very critical of spending money to attract businesses, West supports them, naming the Texas Enterprise Fund, “designed specifically to close corporate deals”, and several other small and large business funds. He also specifically calls out “film and video game incentives” that mean “Texas now ranks number two in the nation for entertainment software jobs.”
He also considers California’s Proposition 13 a bad idea, because “It essentially created a mammoth rent-control subsidy for Californians who owned homes before 1978.”
He also backs certain tax incentives, tailored to specific industries, another no-no to traditional conservatives. For example, Texas relies heavily on sales taxes—there is no income tax, and property taxes go mostly to schools. This drives away businesses whose business model requires frequently refreshing their equipment, such as one of the fastest growing industries in the United States, data centers.
This keeps Dallas as one of the top data center markets in the country, “outranking even Silicon Valley.”
He also highlights some Texas policies that need improvement, such as the many licensing requirements for the kinds of small businesses that individuals could otherwise start up on their own, such as braiding hair and interior decorating. Such requirements drastically reduce economic mobility, and Texas is filled with them.
If you’re interested in what the new Texas GOP Chairman thinks about policy, this is a good book to read.
West outlines why Texas has grown: why businesses keep moving here and new businesses starting up, creating jobs that cause more people to move here. That has two sides: other states create policies that drive people away, and Texas creates policies that draw people in.
Most of the book is focused on business policy rather than individuals, because of that focus.
West has a very different view of policy than most conservative writers I read. Where most conservative writers and groups are very critical of spending money to attract businesses, West supports them, naming the Texas Enterprise Fund, “designed specifically to close corporate deals”, and several other small and large business funds. He also specifically calls out “film and video game incentives” that mean “Texas now ranks number two in the nation for entertainment software jobs.”
He also considers California’s Proposition 13 a bad idea, because “It essentially created a mammoth rent-control subsidy for Californians who owned homes before 1978.”
“It’s one reason why the proportion of the state’s properties that change hands each year fell from 16 percent in 1977 to less than 6 in 2014,” writes Henry Grabar for Slate magazine’s Moneybox blog. That’s why it’s always a sellers market in California.
It’s also why many longtime California homeowners are opposed to new housing construction. Those 1978 voters effectively snatched the dream of homeownership away from their kids. Building fewer houses than people demand drives up prices. That’s just basic economics.
The law also promotes land hoarding. In California, it’s extremely cheap to keep long-held land vacant, even if it has become extremely valuable. In Texas, however, you’re more likely to sell vacant land, if for no other reason than to avoid paying escalating taxes on something you’re not using.
He also backs certain tax incentives, tailored to specific industries, another no-no to traditional conservatives. For example, Texas relies heavily on sales taxes—there is no income tax, and property taxes go mostly to schools. This drives away businesses whose business model requires frequently refreshing their equipment, such as one of the fastest growing industries in the United States, data centers.
In June 2013, the Texas Legislature passed Texas House Bill 1223, which provides a sales-and-use tax exemption on equipment purchases for data centers of at least one hundred thousand square feet that invest $200 million over five years and create at least twenty full-time permanent jobs paying 120 percent of a county’s average weekly wage. With the law, data centers no longer have to pay sales tax every time they refresh equipment, which major data centers typically do every three or four years.
This keeps Dallas as one of the top data center markets in the country, “outranking even Silicon Valley.”
He also highlights some Texas policies that need improvement, such as the many licensing requirements for the kinds of small businesses that individuals could otherwise start up on their own, such as braiding hair and interior decorating. Such requirements drastically reduce economic mobility, and Texas is filled with them.
If you’re interested in what the new Texas GOP Chairman thinks about policy, this is a good book to read.
June 18, 2022
Why 3-stars? It’s not bad. But it’s not great. He rightfully asses the situation in Texas with the collision of conservative and ultra liberal values and issues.
January 31, 2020
What a great book! Col. West does a great job of explaining what has made Texas so great, and what may end up being the ruin of it (“progressive socialism”). Although this book focuses on contrasting Texas and California, all Americans in every state could learn valuable information by reading this book.
October 27, 2023
Excellent
Being from Texas, this hits home. I've also witnessed the slow erosion occurring in Austin. Stand up and be a voice, be counted but respect others, even if you don't agree with them.
Being from Texas, this hits home. I've also witnessed the slow erosion occurring in Austin. Stand up and be a voice, be counted but respect others, even if you don't agree with them.
June 11, 2019
West is right on all fronts. But some of the sections are perhaps better appreciated by businesspersons than mere consumers. Again, this does not detract from West's message at all.
August 14, 2025
Excellent read about the Nation and the Democrats dirty dealings
April 3, 2020
Great read. Hope he is overwhelmingly elected to head of Texas Republican pRty.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews