lecturer at university of york and a national institute for health research scientist. . . what has been wu one of the most profoundly important elections i

know i've seen in my lifetime in massachusetts and the win of scott brown team back the people's seat as he put it. [applause] incredibly, incredibly important. so we are having a lot of n space to be in right now. just as this is a good space to be in. i had the incredible honor of visiting the reagan ranch and to be amongst the things of his life, he and nancy together and it's just a great energy i get from that and i got from that and it's to come and share some of that in the context of his legacy and certainly what it means going forward is an honor.

i really appreciated the young america's foundation inviting me here to be a part of this. andrew is right we spent a lot of time over the years working with the various groups that come to washington right to sit around the country in such profoundly important work. i was in the board room before coming down and was struck by nothing fancy about, a plaque on the wall that basically said the young america's foundation was committed to encouraging that young americans understand in our -- and are inspired by the ideas of individual freedom, strong national defense, free enterprise and traditional values and that is such a powerful statement and it is part of the underlying thinking if he will that i try to capture in the book, "right now." a lot of folks in washington are

hyped out about this book and i don't really understand why. it speaks to some of the core of things that we believe as conservatives and republicans and it speaks to them in the context of reagan but most importantly the context how we regain the trust and faith of the american people who if you haven't figured out right now are not too happy with us. and have had good reason not to be but that's part of the past and that's part of i think also the process of healing and recovering and so i took on the idea of the 12 steps because i think it was an important part to get to recovery so that's kind of the background and we will get into more of it but before i do i do want to thank wendi mccaul for her sponsorship of the speakers series of 2010. but a gift to the community in america to have the way says that come through here and have

shared with you in a broken bread with you get out there so people can see and hear what conservatism is in the 21st century and some of the things we face, the challenges and opportunities, so i know she's not here but i did want to thank her publicly for her support of the series and her work with the foundation and certainly to the members of the president's club and the rawhide circle -- i won't even go there, as rawhide, had to think about that because i'm from the east coast soap rawhide means something completely different. [laughter] usually it is what you have after your mother is tonnes thinking you. [laughter] i didn't understand but it works. certainly to ron robinson, the president of the young america's foundation and to andrew, who was a great guide this morning in helping for me to get there

and see. it was raining and started to hail and was just perfect. [laughter] it was perfect in the sense that president reagan was speaking to me letting you know the cloudy days may be a part of what you do but the son who does come out and when it does you better be prepared and that is a lot of my experience in public life dealing with the clouds and the malaise and the floods and all the crazy stuff that goes on but knowing that the sun will come out and things will get better. i was always struck by the quote may you live in interesting times. [laughter] and they don't get much more interesting than what i've seen over the past year and a friend of mine pointed out that was actually a curse and i could see that, how that would be the case. but the reality is living in interesting times enables us and

in powers us to do interesting things and allows us to go beyond our comfort zone and things we to explore new avenues and opportunities. for this afternoon what i want to do is kind of set the tone since we are living in interesting times i thought it would be important to set the tone a little bit differently with a quote from frederick douglass who once noted i glory in conflict i might year after its salt and victory. i've always liked that and i like to primarily because i think as a roman catholic african-american conservative from washington, d.c. -- [laughter] my whole life has been conflict. so i get that part of it. [laughter] i really do. but today, in face our what conflict sauce is not the ups

and downs of the elections but rather the nature of conservatism in this post reagan era. but conflicts us is the vision of the conservative movement. it's radical nature and the unique challenges and opportunities that come from both conflict and victory and you have seen that played out in small measure over the last few years certainly the elections of 06 and 08 and even as recently as 09 in virginia, new jersey and now massachusetts. but no great thing has ever been achieved without overcoming obstacles and no quality is more indispensable to the process than the ability to press on through adversity. in other words to persevere. so and fees interesting times, where we have to confront conflict in order to obtain victory we must persevere. we must find a way to make all lifted and all lippitt work.

the first thing i noticed about perseverance is it comes more easily to the optimist. as a young man i was struck by of ronald reagan's on waiting optimism and his sense of hope. for me that sense of our best days are before us was captured in the phrase morning in america. now that was 1984. but i think by now a lot of people feel and have come to believe that it's more like lunchtime in america or even dinner. in other words, our best days are behind us, the sun is setting. the day is done. as a young african-american male gerdemann that in the nation's capital, such optimism moved me to understand the power of perseverance, the power of perseverance and to be able to put into focus that we are often

touched and indeed moved into action brought by the great figures of history but by those whose names are not written in the history books, the names that do not appear on the nightly news but the names of individuals who live in our neighborhoods and communities and indeed in our very homes. such is the life of me tell. mabel was one of the many faces who struggled to raise a family believed she could provide for her kids more that she herself had received. she was one of the face is to believe in the right to the history of this country not in its history books but instead on parts and consciousness of the individual, the community so that the promise of this great nation would become its truth. she grew up the daughter of sharecroppers, had to quit school when she was in fifth

grade to work in the cotton fields of south carolina. she married a man who abused her birth mentally and physically and he himself died at the age of 36 from alcoholism. she would go on to work in a laundromat the next 45 years of her life and the most she ever made was $3.83 per hour. now despite the hardships that come from the limited resources and certainly limited opportunity, mabel had an extraordinary sense of the possible. she did what it took to stimulate the economy of her household and what it took to make sure despite all the hardships things that needed to be done, raising the kids, providing for the family got done. she made certain as she put it it would be she and not the government who would raise her kids, it would vichy and not the government would provide for her

family and she did a pretty good job because today her daughter is a very successful pediatrician and her son stands before you as the chairman of the republican national committee. [applause] the power of naval is the power we all witnessed every single day, and it is why what we feared the most right now, stripping away that power from mabel, the power she feels she has to raise her kids the way she wants, to provide for her family the way she wants, stripping that away from her is why the fight right now in this country for freedom, opportunity, the very things that this organization are

trying to impress upon young people to appreciate and understand about the free markets and free enterprise and the value of family and community matters. mabel's life in bodies perseverance, the struggles and challenges of her time with old opportunity for her children and while her story like so many of ours contain hardships, she also found a way to term hopes for her children into action. the desire that tomorrow will be better for us there and for her meant more than anything else. she made sure her kids knew the value of hard work with in school and in the workplace. she made sure we can think for ourselves and make sure we had a good education. she made sure we knew right from wrong. she had our behind in church on sunday and in a classroom on monday morning. she understood the value of america and the future of her

kids. through a remarkable example of her life, my mother was the first person who taught me about fiscal discipline, the value of a dollar, budgeting and most importantly how thoughtful investment when coupled with hard work can provide in power and an opportunity. now, lord knows why this individuals in the united states congress can't figure out what the sharecropper's daughter, with the fifth grade education figure long time ago. [laughter] how to create wealth within a family, how to create wealth within a community, and while her bank account may not have made her rich, she was rich in purpose as every day she found a way to turn her hope into action. mabel was never discouraged by the trials of the moment because she knew they would pass, and because she was in it for the long haul. she was going to work it out. and that is the power of

perseverance. i remember as a young boy at 17, 1976, first time i get to vote that november i turned 18 and october got the vote in november so back in september, august 5 trillion to decide okay i want to be a republican or democrat, my mom is a democrat. she is a roosevelt democrat. my dad is a democrat. and so, she raised me to appreciate i had a mind that i could go weld and learn and decide for myself what i wanted to be and she pressed me hard on that don't be a democrat just because i am. don't fall lockstep into the mind set or way of thinking just because others are so she instaled this sense of independence as you wonder why i get in so much trouble in this job, blame mabel because the independent spirit allowed me to go and discover the man named ronald reagan and it was his voice i heard in the campaign

that sounded so much like the way my mother raised me when he talked about an america that would be better, when he talked about opportunities, about the power that comes from individuals, not from government so why go to my mother and say i decided to become a republican. [laughter] welcome, the idea of going out and doing that was great. the actual doing of it however -- [laughter] -- was a whole nother conversation which began something like lord, baby, why would you want to do that. [laughter] so even to this day there's still moments i think she's trying to recover from that. [laughter] and get me back but she understands and she still understands why i did what i did because of how she raised me and what she passed on, that legacy, and i really appreciate that legacy more than anything else.

there was a great moment in 2006 when i was running for the united states senate. election night on the edge of the bed with my wife watching the returns and as in all elections starts out agreed. we've been there, you look at the numbers got the first precincts come in and you are 52-48 and your like yeah. then the rest come in and you're like okay that's a little bit different. when all the hard work, much of the election slip through my fingers of the united states senate, and i'm frustrated and angry and my wife is sitting next to me quietly and patiently taking this in and listening to me and after several brands when it's clear i will not be the next united states senator from maryland i turned to her and said what do i do now? and you know the of this we've putting this in perspective for you and are very supportive, my wife turned to me and looked at me and goes well, i think you

better get the job. [laughter] that's it. [laughter] and she got up and left and there i sat, lost the election told to get a job well. [laughter] but what i took out of that moment was something that my mother had taught me and that i learned and listening to reagan and that my wife brought home to me in a very real way, persevere. this, too, shall pass, get through a. don't be overwhelmed by this. told that it breaks you down where you can't get up. and as i reflected on this book i wrote this book actually before the 2008 election got under way. and because of publications and

delays and all that stuff it turned out, and god works in mysterious ways i could update to capture the realities of the 2009 election, but the core of the book focused on this idea of a party that had been beaten down, a party that lost its way, a party that had fallen away from conservative principles that defined it for generations but now was faced with an opportunity to move forward, to pick itself up, do not be overwhelmed by the circumstances ronald reagan understood the importance of connecting to the naval of america. three things that inspire us and policies that restored the strings, pride and prosperity of this nation he did the unthinkable, he helped america embraced conservatism and the core belief the conservative movement. he made it cool to be conservative. and that opportunity afforded to

him and enabled him to change the course of the nation to a path which it appreciated prosperity and opportunity where it appreciated our role in the world and fight for freedom not just here but abroad. but since then americas changed in our movement has changed, too but what we believe has not. what we believe has not. in the words of austin powers, we now have an opportunity to get our mojo back. [laughter] to be relevant in this century in this hour in this time to engage in the debate of the big ideas and small ideas, to fight for those principles again in a way that empowers them able of the world because they know there is someone standing there helping them to provide for the next generation. thurgood marshall once said we

all need to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps but every once in awhile it's nice to have someone bent down and help you and that is what reagan understood that while we espouse principles of freedom and independence every once in awhile it is good to know someone will be there to help you. to lift you up, not do it for you but show you how, to give you the tools. in the times we live right now what is the crime from the american people? don't do it for ross. give us the tools and let it do it for ourselves. whether it is health care, job creation, whatever it happens to be, the crying we hear across the land is we can do this on our own. individually, we are strong.

together, we are stronger. but in all of that is not the government's job or the role to shape the outcome and create that pathway. i think conservatives now have an opportunity to reaffirm to the american people the core belief that government should be limited so that it never becomes powerful enough to infringe on the rights of the individual, that those taxes that we pay, you know those little pesky things that come out of your paycheck, that they be kept low so that individuals might keep more of their hard earned money. the business regulation should encourage entrepreneurs to take the risks necessary for innovation and development and growth as opposed to using those regulations to beat businesses into submission. some just talk about change, folks. but what we believe and what we know about the resilience of the american people that will underscore the real change this nation needs is that it is the

individual that will stand america. it is the individual that will help america prospered. it is the individual that will keep us strong. our work is not done. but in some respects, many respects our work begins a new not in the sense of starting over but starting with a different perspective, 21st century perspective focused how we would take the hopes of tomorrow a reality today and you've heard the mantra hope is on the way. keep hope alive, hope you have a nice day. [laughter] but they're comes a part where hope doesn't get it done. there comes a point where action is the core of what must happen and that action is what worries people. is a government action or individual election?

and that is the the date this nation faces right now. and whether you see the results of massachusetts or virginia, new jersey and as an example of the american people answering the question there are more opportunities for the question to get answered over the next few years. not in a partisan terms but in who truly american terms what is the great nation all about? what is the strength and where does it come from? and it's one of the gifts ronald reagan i believe left us. when he described the nation the way he did as a shining city on the hill because one of the aspects of that is that the light that emanates from the hill is a powerful light and the question is where does the light come from? it shines not because of government but because of her

people, that light emanates from that hill from its people. the difference between prosperity and poverty is not the government. it is people. the difference between ownership and control by government is people, not government. and ronald reagan i think understood and put that in its precise context as he possibly could. some, like reagan, when i was 17 and today, i put my faith in people, not government. his spirit reminds us the promise of america is of in the responsibility and there was that spirit that truth me into the party i now chair. it is the spirit that recognizes individuals as the catalyst, the

action point, not the government think when the future fights over the flow and control of government will be about. the optimism and hope that emanates from such possibilities i think enables us to persevere and in power is not to give up on ourselves and certainly not on this great country. next year the nation will celebrity centennial of president reagan's birth. between now and then we have an opportunity to reignite his vision of america to remind ourselves and the nation in this morning again in america. a morning bright with possibilities, the morning of the day representing the best of our lives as men and women and as a nation. president reagan said it better than i ever could when he said we have got to quit talking to each other and about each other it go out and communicate to the world that we may be fewer in

numbers than we have ever been but we carry the message they are waiting for. this is your time, this is our moment to carry the message america is waiting for to be the light of this great nation once again, to lift up this began the disagree and wonderful experiment we call the united states and in doing it in a way in which reagan would be proud. certainly we know he would expect noeth less from us. if we are true to his legacy and true to what he left behind to do today. right now is our moment. right now is an opportunity for us to be something better, different. but very familiar. and that is the test.

are you ready to pass that test? are you ready to do what is necessary to hold that light up once again and show america and show the world its morning. [applause] thank you now i guess we have some q&a. the fun part of the program. >> my name is louis and i want to thank you for coming to visit. my hope is that we don't celebrate reagan's great needs but that we celebrate the heart of the manned because the was

that humble heart that chopped wood, shoveled manure, cleaned toilets and did not see himself as president of the united states and we just won a huge election because our people, myself salt and arrogant democratic party. the reason we have an arrogant democratic party is we have an arrogant republican party. so i would love to see how that is going to change with our party. >> so what point [laughter] but i believe it has. they nature of some folks of washington the way i started to answer that question will be news because there's those who don't want that.

there are some who like to wallow in the muck of accomplishments are what are past accomplishments and was oftentimes lost is you heard this before the will of the people but it is a real thing and you seen it now expressed very loudly on the three elections and my sense of it is in large measure many republicans and conservatives out there are working toward the same goal. looking back and understanding past mistakes but not dwelling on them and not beating ourselves up to the point where you can't move forward. the understanding that in order to move forward to have to at least acknowledge and accept the role that you may have played in some of the things that we are now confronted with. and the commitment the american people are looking for and i

assure you is ourselves heard wondering are we going to get the same or will this be different? show us how, tell us how. and that is a very unique opportunity and not too many political parties or candidates get a chance to do that to go back to the american people and lay their, how they have stepped in the past but have a better sense of what is expected of leadership. that contract with america of 1994 meant something to people and it still means something today. when they saw this wholesale march away from those principles outlined, those ideals that were laid out in the document people took it personally. it would be as if you're own kid started to reject the things you raised them to believe and sort of tried to help them understand and made the commitment to them

and then to you that this is part of our family. so the sense of rejection was very strong and still is for a lot of folks. my hope and the white right to engage with leadership from the country is to understand that and let's move forward with a different renewed perspective about how we we engage with american people and restore the faith and trust and leadership and i like what i am seeing so far in search of the in massachusetts and new jersey and virginia and there's some even better opportunities that lie ahead. so, hold on to that faith. don't let go of it. but keep everyone honest because again you don't get second chances often in politics and i think the american people are giving an enormous second chance to read engage them and said it

again on this additional principles that are defined us for generations and are doing that and it's a good thing. yes, sir. >> i, too would like to thank you for visiting. it's an honor to have you here. my name is robert olson for an hour and a half up the coast. the results of the recent elections in november and this week i am more optimistic than i have been since probably the 2014 election and so are many people who think as i do are so optimistic i am concerned we've become overconfident and complacent. to many people are already declaring the the next congress after the november election as ours so i guess my question is what can we do both u.s. the leader of the party and us as the rank and file to make sure we maintain the image and don't let over confidence lead to

something we don't want to see come november. >> that's a good question as you probably read i got in trouble. mabel raced me to be a very pragmatic guy, very honest. i tend to tell people exactly what i think which i've learned in the stop people don't necessarily want you to do. [laughter] nor do they want to hear it. but of course that doesn't stop me so that is someone else's problem, not mine necessarily. i really believe that this november we will do incredibly well given the candidates we are beginning to see emerge and who are already leading in the races around the country. how that ultimately ends i don't know yet. there are still places where individual candidates haven't decided. we don't have a declared

candidate at all so there's still a lot of factors and that's been my only point is i agree with you i don't want to put the cart before the horse and make declarations i can't back up. someone told me you are the party chairman, you should be the cheerleader and i went no, don't look good in a skirt or the white pants or know my job as the party chairman is to be the leader and be honest and thoughtful and delivered and lay out a strategy that will achieve the goal people want winning elections and helping the people regain their footing with the american people. you can't just wipe away what happened in 06 and in 08. that wasn't a repudiation of normal course. it was outright rejection. i know firsthand. i was a candidate in 2006. so i know that firsthand.

you don't just get up because people are upset with the democrats and obama and say they are going to love us. no, if you've been listening to the american people they are telling you very clearly a pox on both your houses. if you do not understand what this is about -- [applause] if you do not understand the frustration and anchor and if we don't understand the frustration and anger and if we don't know what this is about for them, we are doomed to make the same mistakes and repeat those mistakes, and that isn't something i want us to do. so i am very excited and working hard to go out and get good candidates. i have this enormous sense of opportunity ahead of us and every day work to achieve the goals in state after state after state winning elections and bringing principal conservative leadership to the front of the

room and the leading out, not running away from it but leading it and trusting the american people will like what they see and hear. so far we are 3-0 so i think that pragmatic approach works. that smart approach works to lay the groundwork for those candidates to run to help them take the message directly to the people and not have it filtered through the national media or the local media who have a separate agenda. that is part of my responsibilities i try to uphold every day and so do forgive me if i am not out here every single moment. i don't think that's what you want, seeing someone down the road see where the opportunities are going toward the opportunities and seizing the opportunities so that we get the win and if we come out where we have got more of the end of the day than we started, that's good

but the reality is we are in a very different ball game than we were two years ago, four years ago and there's a lot of hard work to be done and i'm committed to getting it done because of the majority but when we get it i want us to keep it. i don't want us to lose it again. yes, sir. >> my name is frank and again, thank you for coming. i almost feel like i asked the microphone to soon because you pretty much answered some of the biggest concerns i had. i think what happened in massachusetts needs to register with the republicans because they didn't win this. the independence of massachusetts won. i'm from massachusetts originally and i know what drives that state and it certainly isn't the republican policies. i think it was a wonderful thing that happened and i think that you put your finger on

something. the people in this country have said they are not happy with either the democrats or the republicans and if the republicans behave like they've done in the past, their recent election well have meant nothing. i was reading "the wall street journal" few days ago and there was an article that talked about how the american people were disgusted with both parties. i think in fact what they were disgusted with his politics, and i think the message on got out of "the wall street journal" article said that the republican party has an opportunity to rally of around a central theme and that is term limits and getting those people in washington that are professional politicians not interested in what happens to us but what happens to them. the greed and the bipartisanship that doesn't exist in this

partisan nonsense where 100% of the party goes in one direction and another party goes and the other direction. something is wrong with that philosophically and you as the leader of the republican party have got to hammer that home so the people that are running and i happen to be republican by default came here from massachusetts and couldn't find a democrat all i thought was socialism and communists. [laughter] [applause] but i sincerely hope the message got across from that election in massachusetts. thank you. [applause] >> there's a number of points i can start with on that one. i think you're absolutely right. i really do. i think that "the wall street

journal"'s plight is a good one that we do have an opportunity here unlike anything we've seen and it's not just about term limits. it's about a lot of things. starting with okay what do you believe in and what are you going to fight for? starting with what are you going to do? what you're going to fight for and do different from what they are doing and what they believe needs to be done and that is a real uniques got to be in. i go back to the earlier point you don't get second chances in this game too often and the american people are looking and saying okay here is a second chance. show me something different. show me something i haven't seen before or that i don't expect. because what i have seen up until now is not what i want. from republican leadership.

i go back to my point that my opportunity as the chairman is to galvanize within the party, grassroots activists, men and women who believe fervently as i do with this fight is about and why what we can do as republicans is part of a broad conservative movement in the country can and must do. 40% of the american people now self identify as conservative. that is a big number in the age of obama. that is significant. particularly when you go back and look at the results of the 080 election you would not have thought 40% of the people coming out of 08 with self identified conservatives. but what happened is the began to see policies on fold, the decisions on gitmo and on health care, the decisions have to do with economy, jobs and they

realize i'm more conservative than i thought i was because i don't want any of that now we have a chance to come and fill in the blanks based on principles that are foundational the fact we believe markets should be free so wealth can be created not for government but here, the grassroots so we can be invested and spend and save to buy individuals within the community so that drew can go out and build a business and higher my 18 year old son when he gets done for the academic year, something to do in the summertime. that is what this is about. and if we lose that momentum that's being generated by the likes of bob and donald and virginia and chris in new jersey -- we've one new jersey for goodness sakes.

be honest i don't even have to go back a year. i can go back a month and i bet you 90% of the people in this room would not have predicted tuesday's outcome and would have said its massachusetts, it's not going to win. god bless him. [laughter] but to have a candidate who wouldn't give up because he believed something and those beliefs to the table you shared with the people of massachusetts and said to them what has been done now has not been good for you and what i am willing to do this to things, one, account, to be accountable as a leader when i go to washington and number two i'm going to washington and by taking you with, very different conversation than the ones they've heard before we are the party does not afraid to

account anymore. we want to be held accountable in our leadership and when we go and lead meet with us because we have our faith in you the people, not the institutions of government. that is a powerful argument to make and getting back to this gentleman's question will allow us to achieve the goal of taking control of the congress this year if the people have the faith that when we get it we will do the right thing with it. >> chairman michael steele, thanks for being with us. i am a student at pepperdine university, and along the same line of communicating with americans and getting them to understand what the principles are, i think most people would agree the republican party historically has a problem communicating our ideals to the american people. i've come up with an idea of

creating something very simple to pitch to the american people, something i like to call the three ours and i think it goes perfectly, number one you respect everybody no matter what their race, religion and creed. we believe in the traditional values along those lines. member to come your response will for your actions it includes response will become a free markets not relying on the government and the third would be a report, if you produce your way to be rewarded and that's the american dream and what we all agree with me america strong. what do you have as far as the idea to pitch to the american people some kind of a simple marketing strategy that is going to say less than this is what made america strong. the republican party we are the party of the american people. >> will get that camera because you just did. [laughter] [applause] you just did. [applause]

what we have to realize, folks site got a title. that is the juice right here. this is it right here. what are you sitting down for? i'm the chairman, don't sit down until the chairman says sit down. [laughter] my point is we look around to someone else who is in leadership to leave the and the one lesson i learned in the course that i've been on since i was a young man and certainly the time i spent on monastery as an augustinian to reflect on the leadership of concluded recently this is how wide lead, and always prepared to lead the line never afraid to follow and a true leader is someone who is never afraid to follow someone else's idea, someone else is

leadership because what happens then is people see that and say wow, she's giving over or she's getting over leadership control to someone else and is following and that is very powerful. that is something that reagan did so well when he recognized and others their ability to lead in this moment -- he didn't have all the answers. he never pretended to have all the answers. quite frankly, i don't think he wanted to have all the answers because then that leads to something else, something else not very good. he trusted others and their ideas. so the fact that you have stood up is the first step of leadership. the fact that you have laid out some ideas is the second step of leadership and the third step is your ability now to convey to everyone else the validity and importance of what it is you are trying to do by your nature and youth and experience, all of those things come into play and in power them to trust you

because you are willing to step up and step out and say i've got some ideas, so why do i like the ideas and i'd like yeah we can do that the question then becomes how do you take what you talked about and put it out in a way so others can follow on college campuses in your community amongst your friends? that's where the opportunity lies. a lot of folks tend to look at particularly young republicans and they go can you come over saturday and like some stamps and do door knocking it that's great, that's important work that's got to get done but what i'm saying to you is you want to ask for permission to leave any more. you are a part of right now so when the folks say your the future, no comment or not, you are the right now because if we don't recognize right now what you can do in your leadership we are going to lose. we are not the winter regain the strength we have in the past to lead because it's your generation that is making the difference in this time.

you don't believe me, how you get barack obama as president of? he struck a chord and inspired a generation of young folks to get engaged the first time in a long time, now what's happening the coup leaders wearing off. [laughter] and they are waking up and see wait a minute unemployment among twenties and thing is that 30%. i can't get the job. the prospect of paying for college education is dimming. all of these realities that began to hit home that have never seen double-digit inflation or unemployment and never see gas lines, that have never seen the future that we know as past. and they are about to confront that and will be someone like you who will help guide them through and that is what i want you to know that you are already in power, your ideas and the fact he's been able to encapsulate the three ours, the way for your generation to begin to appreciate what this grand old party is about will enable

you to help us make this the grand new party that embraces not just the past and the legacies of the great men and women like reagan but its future in and vegetables like you. >> that's very encouraging. thank you. [applause] seabeck thank you. this gentleman here. excuse me, this gentleman here put his hand up three times, so can we help a brother over here? >> thank you. i had a very simple question the view from the rnc in california and the good center boxer -- senator boxer -- >> time for her to go. >> amen [applause] >> without revealing a lot of strategy because i know our friends are watching -- [laughter] california will be very

important to us this year and we are very excited about the prospect that the gubernatorial and senatorial level, it said the prospects of the congressional level, legislatively while folks have been focusing on all of the crazy noisette comes out of washington about the republican party and who is mad at who and who's picking a fight we have been quietly and methodically building layers and layers of support networks, grassroots organizations and opportunities to be competitive and a law that people don't expect us to be competitive not just here in california that across the country. i am tired of this party taking the position we can't win so we won't play their. and i've told the political operations and all the other adjunct departments within the rnc there will be raised as everyone will scratch their heads and say why are you over here in this race, you're not going to win this race?

because at some point, ladies and gentlemen we have to plant the flag as a party and say we want to compete even though we know we're going to get out or clocks cleaned. we are going to lose but compete here because the people need us to and it's about time that we do that. [applause] test case you were, upstate new york while everybody was focused on the new york 23 and losing their mind over what happened in the new york 23 and they should because that was the bigger cluster i've ever seen, it was crazy, should not have happened, but one of folks were focused on the new york 23 congressional district guess what we did. we won the two county executive race is. you might say to yourself big deal. well the counties are as big as some states and populations. and what it meant was that there it was westchester county where barack obama won with 60% of the vote last year a republican now

runs the county this year because we won the election and so the point is when you go and engage, when you're prepared to compete, when you are prepared to go after the ground you may not get it right now, you may not to get it the next time that there will come a point when you will see whether it is california or new york, wherever it happens to be where we've not been competitive before our goal now is to be competitive to get the new candidates to run to support the candidates and make the investment necessary for them to win. everyone as i've said before wouldn't advise anyone to invest in massachusetts. they wouldn't advise to invest in new jersey because while republicans just don't win there. at some point you have to stop believing the old thinking and stop doing it the old way and take the risks necessary to

compete. and i am the chairman prepared to do that. and i get beat up for it sometimes but that's fine. throw the rocks and stones at me while i'm putting my guys and gals wind. go ahead, hit me again. keep going. that is the goal and, it is to put ourselves as a party in a position we can be competitive and we will be very competitive in california this year. trust me. trust me. [applause] thank you very much. [applause] thank you so much. this has been a lot of fun. i have enjoyed being here. i have enjoyed being in the spirit of reagan and certainly being at the reagan library last week and to be here at the ranch this week with all of you it does my heart good and it is so nice to know so many people still give a about this great

country and are willing to fight for it every day and i am honored to be one of the soldiers picked out and choosing to go down a particular path and do my best to make sure we can win. thank you so much. god bless you and god bless america. [applause] >> michael steele is chairman of the republican national committee and the former lieutenant governor of the state of maryland. for more information, visit rnc.org. while congress is in recess book tv comes to you live in prime time starting this tuesday joined us at 8 p.m. eastern for an hourlong live call in programs on the significant books and issues of the times.

farai chideya might be familiar to the cable news watchers but she's written the first novel, kiss the sky.

farai chideya, why an awful? >> i am someone who is a creature of imagination. i love books and when i started reading as a kid, i was reading science fiction and fantasy, reading things like the rain which trilogy, and i only got into journalism later. i mean, i was sort of asked, forced to read the newspaper but part of me always wanted to write a novel and this is above the music industry i covered for a while. >> you have written a couple of nonfiction. >> to read nonfiction books. don't believe the hype, the color of the future and trust so they are about politics, race and very serious. this one has serious themes but it's about the influence of pop culture and also about our ability to transform ourselves when we mix to the decisions. it's about a woman too smart to make dumb decisions but keeps doing it. >> what is more fun to write,

nonfiction or fiction? >> i found nonfiction easier to write because it was when you are a reporter which i am, you get facts and they become the building blocks of your book, whereas when you were a fiction writer you have a swirl of chaos in your hands. you have characters drifting in and out of your brain and then you have to take that and right in a way that is structured so i felt myself toward the end of the book is written and 90 short chapters, spreadsheet and the entire book. i spread sheet the book, the characters, what happened. i mean, i got very scientific toward the end because it was so chaotic at the beginning. >> what is your day job? >> i'm now working out wmyc on nseries called the value which is about what matters to us more than money and he's tough times we think about money but we also have to think about things like ethics, giving back to people,

the future, and so its profiling people, some of them famous, some of them and not famous who have made the choices about how to live their lives, what to do for money usually taking less money to pursue a project like either the arts or environmentalism color religion but i'm also developing a new show which i can't talk much about now but i'm developing a public radio show and it will have a musical guest. i will reveal that. it will be a news show with a musical guest the end because why not? >> do you miss the daily writing of journalism. senate by someone working on a new nonfiction book about the millennials generation and political coming-of-age, and so i am someone who over time i don't being in front of a microphone daily as much as i used to because i need time to orni