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Speakers at Americans for Prosperity conference inspire activists
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This past weekend nationally recognized speakers at Americans for Prosperity Foundation’s conference inspired activists to keep fighting for more freedom, less government and lower taxes. Some 2,000 attendees heard from talk radio personalities, members of Congress and conservative columnists at the event in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac from Washington, D.C.
Laura Ingraham, radio host and best-selling author, addressed conference participants attending the Friday evening “Tribute to Ronald Reagan” dinner. Her presence on the stage was testimony to the growing power of female personalities in the conservative movement. Ingraham, whose daily talk show is heard on hundreds of radio stations, said that if it had not been for talk radio, the tea parties and groups like Americans for Prosperity, the health care bill “would have been a done deal.” She also said, “We don’t have a health care crisis; we have a jobs crisis,” and challenged the Obama Administration to do something about it.
Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) also spoke at the Friday evening dinner and gave an inspiring speech that lifted the spirits of the banquet attendees. Pence said the country was at a turning point.
The American people know we can’t bail, borrow and spend our way back to a growing economy…We are witnessing an absence of leadership and the American people are paying the price…We must recognize that our current crisis is not just economic, but moral in nature.
Pence said that it was a time for integrity and personal responsibility.
The evening concluded with awards for “Grassroots Activists of the Year,” members of Americans for Prosperity who had worked hard for freedom and limited government over the past year.
Saturday morning, The Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore spoke to the enthusiastic crowd. He began by saying, “This is the real second American Revolution.” Moore addressed the failure of the Obama stimulus package to generate jobs. He reminded everyone that President Obama promised that unemployment would be less than 8 percent if the stimulus bill passed, but now unemployment has reached 9.8 percent.
Moore suggested health care reform solutions that are not being considered in bills before Congress:
- Medical malpractice reform
- Move to a system of individually owned and controlled health savings accounts
- Allow the purchasing of insurance across state lines to increase competition and keep prices low
Later that morning, Moore’s colleague at the paper, John Fund told the crowd, “I think you are the new American patriots.” He said conference participants were much more in tune with the public than the Obama Administration. According to Fund, 65 percent of the American people think the health care reform bills being pushed in Congress are too expensive. Fund believes that the Democrats will eventually lose power in Washington and recounted what happened after Jimmy Carter’s first term and Bill Clinton’s first two years. Both were followed by Republican gains. In Carter’s case, Ronald Reagan won the White House and Republicans took control of the Senate. In Clinton’s situation, Republicans took over both houses of Congress. Fund observed that the American people have forgotten the economic misery and foreign policy disasters that have occurred when liberals control both Congress and the White House.
Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), a champion for conservative causes in the U.S. Senate encouraged conference participants to stay active. “The more we hear from you, the better we vote,” the South Caroline senator said. He appeared confident that conservatives would make great progress in the coming year. He proclaimed,
The principles we believe in have proven themselves for centuries in this country.
Herman Cain, Atlanta talk show host at WSB radio, began his speech by quoting from the Declaration of Independence:
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is
the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.
“We have a lot of that to do,” Cain said to thunderous applause and cheers.
Phil Kerpen, Director of Policy at Americans for Prosperity Foundation, brought up a subject that has received little or no coverage by the mainstream media. He revealed that advisors in the Obama Administration are considering how to regulate the Internet.
Susan Crawford, President Obama's Special Assistant for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy, is leading an effort to regulate the Internet. Essentially, the Administration and its allies on the left want to take over the Internet and operate it like a public utility. If they achieve this, they could stop any activity with which they object, including gigabytes of political material with which they disagree. And, since the Internet is being used quite effectively to help conservatives organize, the Administration could effectively “gag” the online conservative movement.
CNBC host Larry Kudlow concluded the Saturday morning session with an insightful defense of free-market capitalism and supply-side economics. “Free-market capitalism is the best path to prosperity,” said Kudlow.
Kudlow had an antidote for the economic slump in which the country finds itself.
We need to revive the conversation about lowering marginal tax rates across the board for both large and small businesses.
Kudlow pointed out that much of the economic success in the late twentieth century could be traced back to the reduction of marginal tax rates. Then he made the case for cutting taxes on doctors and health care companies. He argued that the liberals who are pushing government-run health care, which will require new taxes, are moving in the wrong direction. “If you want less of something, tax it. If you want more of something, cut taxes on it,” he said. “I want more health care, not less,” therefore cutting taxes in the health care sector would be a wise course of action.
Kudlow also supports two new constitutional amendments: one to limit federal spending and a second to limit federal debt. He is convinced that Congress lacks fiscal discipline, hence his support for these measures.
The remainder of the conference consisted of issues sessions in various breakout rooms around the hotel and a final reception at the end of the day.
Conference participants departed the event determined to continue their fight for freedom in this nation.
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