Tom Tancredo, a Republican senator from Colorado spoke to a crowd of about 50 people on October 16 at Plymouth Sate University as another installment the Presidential Lecture Series.
“I am a conservative. I have been a Republican all my life,” he said. Tancredo had recently signed papers to declare himself an official candidate for president. He takes prides in the fact that he’s a conservative, pro gun and an advocate for small government. He has been active in politics for many years, and has run a Republican think tank in Colorado.
Trancedo has served three terms as a senator in Colorado and previously had served as a member of Congress. “I have spent about 30 years in the Colorado legislature, I was elected in 1976.”
Tancredo’s major concern is immigration. He is against granting amnesty to immigrants who enter the country illegally. Tancredo argues the apparent decline of assimilation in recent immigrants cost taxpayers millions due to national bilingual programs. He also advocates limiting legal immigration to 250,000 people a year to allow for assimilation.
“The system is broken,” Tancredo said, “No one used to discuss immigration” He added that immigration reform has always been a main concern of his, and only recently have other politicians made immigration a major issue, “We are still talking about it [immigration] on only a superficial level,” he said.
Another important issue to Tancredo is the war in Iraq, “The battle may be in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the war is somewhere much different,” he said, “I think it’s a war against radical Islam.”
“The ideas of Western civilization are challenged,” he added. He also suggested that part of the blame should be placed on the American people, because they do not know what their ideals as an American should be.
Tancredo finished his presentation with some personal information. He has been married for 30 years, and lives in Denver, Colorado. It is his first run for President. Tancredo was well received by the audience, and created a time for personal interaction after his speech was finished.