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Young America’s FoundationJuly 31–August 4George Washington University
The Industry
conservative politics
The Attendees
400 campus activists, right-minded pundits, and liberal-bashing doctrinaires
The Issues
•Inspiring Memories: One speaker reminisced, “When you look back on your time at college, it will be your campus activism you’ll remember, not your classes and professors. I remember how my friends…handed out leaflets about how our professor was a biased liberal.” Said another: “The Ronald Reagan Ranch is magical. You feel like Ronald Reagan is going to walk in the door any minute.”
•Rile Over Substance: The Conservative Guide to Campus Activism, a handbook distributed to attendees, offers this advice from columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin: “If you aren’t prepared to be attacked as a racist/sexist/xenophobic/homophobic/fascist/imperialist spawn of Satan when you wake up every morning, find something else to do….stick with ballroom dancing. Or ping-pong. Or crochet.”
•“Great American Conservative Women”: New calendar depicts such role models as Shemane “Queen of the Forest” Nugent, gun rights advocate and author of Married to a Rock Star.
•Adventures in Liberal Hypocrisy: One speaker investigated whether high-profile liberals live by their ideals. He reported that though Ted Kennedy supports a 49 percent inheritance tax, his family paid .004 percent on wealth transferred between generations. The speaker concluded, “Conservatives who abandon their principles harm themselves and their families…while liberal hypocrites actually improve their lives.”—Rob Tierney