good job. so those are some of what i have read and in reading. ..

allow me to dispense with that particular biographical details on margaret that follow her everywhere and are essential to understanding who she is and what she is in the middle of accomplishing in her private life. some facts that are important for you to know. she is a corset great-granddaughter of herbert herber, the 31st president of the united states, one white house with president bush and on capitol hill. she appears weekly essay that everyone in this audience knows is a political commentator on fox news. she is known as a cultural barrier. on bill o'reilly factor. in addition to being on the word of overseers for the hoover institution at stanford, she's also on the board of the herbert hoover residential life resuscitation. finally, she is here today with her husband, john avalon of

newspeak in "the daily beast" as well as heard. andrea jeanie hoover. andrew is herbert hoover's grandson. at that to welcome all. [applause] among her many goals of life, so i'm quite low what we care about at the reagan foundation. but first the father of the reagan foundation a library come our mission and what we stand for have noticed in these past couple of years that we have sent over backwards to tarnish the image and legacy of ronald reagan, the reagan brand into the minds of americans.

we've taken the opportunity of the centennial to reach many millions of americans and remind notches for ronald reagan was as a man, but more importantly what he stood for. site near to report the reagans brandis and cliché. the most recent gallup surveys reveal that ronald reagan is the most admired among all americans. [applause] now, margaret is on a mission. she faces a different but related dream challenge. she has said it a course to build and where it needs it, repair the brand of the republican party itself. i will let margaret tell you why and how she believes this is possible. suffice to say she brings to the table ideas and through her name and through reach the ability to attract many newcomers to the

republican brand links you that have come before her. the second comparison i'd like to make between the mission of the reagan foundation and i shall call it the mission of marker is to attract young people to have respect this causes like never before. here is the reagan foundation we have an overwhelming interest in attract and people appeared particularly those either not even 11 president was old enough to vote on to an understanding of who he was and why his ideas are important. without the knowledge, there is little chance that they will strive to emulate him. we've taken special care to bring you into all that we've done from planning to organize in an evolving. markers similar task, when it rings forth in her book involves the single-minded focus of engaging youth, and from millennial generation 50 million strong into the welcome arms of

the republican party. she knows without a there is no future for the republican party and she urges us all to do something about it. ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming margaret hoover. [applause] [applause] ! an incredible honor to be here today at the ronald reagan presidential library foundation foundation -- foundation. ours is the herbert hoover presidential association, so i can play. thank you for the very generous introduction. the subtitle of my book is how a new generation of conservatives can save the republican party. now some of you may wonder if this is a bit alarmist from what

after all the republican party need to be saved, republicans after well in 2010 hot and historic election, came to washington and a short period of time has managed to change the course of the policy, especially the fiscal policies in washington. so in the context of our recent successes, some maybe even my father and i wonder if i'm not in a bit alarmist in mesa title. and so what i would say is, this is not at all awareness. there is a real sense the purpose that john touched on. my book is intended to be a real warning because the republican party is at risk of losing an entire generation of americans to democratic and independent voter rolls for the rest of their life. these 30 members, which i call the millennial, others have

called them generation we've come a y. they were born at the beginning of the reagan era to the end of the clinton presidency. they are the largest generation in america. in 2008 there were 50 million vote. conservative estimates have been 80 million. there were 17 million more millennial than there were baby boomers, 27 more then there are generation macs and we all know they're not republicans. they are overwhelmingly not republican. they represented 18% of the vote in 2008. they are anticipated to be as much of a quarter of the election -- a quarter of the electorate in 2012 and they voted in 2010 overwhelmingly for

barack obama two to one, 66%, 32% for john mccain. the reason this is urgent is because partisan identity takes a the characteristics of cement over time. it starts off and after they clear certain barriers it begins to solidify. so after three presidential election cycles, their partisan identity basically solidifies. they voted for john kerry in 2004. they voted for barack obama in 2008. this means republicans have roughly 16 run to make inroads into this generation before we lose them for the rest of their lives. now this is troubling to me, not just because i'm a republican, but i believe the ideas of the conservative movement and the republican party actually has offered better solutions to the

issues that are most important to this generation and the issues that affect them most directly. now the title of my book, not the subtitle, "american individualism" as a reference to my great grandfather, herbert hoover on the guiding principle he sat for almost 90 years ago in which i believe captures the spirit of the millennial generation is surprising ways and i'm going to go into this in a minute, but i want to tell you a little about me on background first besides just the headliner biography and the great grandparent or of herbert hoover. because of this has always been a proud republican, but i've also had my own journey. since the beginning of the stories i i can remember right and a student of herbert hoover, of his life, this legacy, but also american conservative movement. i never know my great

grandfather. my upbringing was informed by him, his wit, philosophy of government and he was also peppered with visits to the herbert hoover presidential library was in west branch iowa, where he was born, but also the hoover institution at stanford university in northern california, which he calls his proudest legacy. i also grew up with some of these stories that are common in presidential families and my dad has these fabulous stories about how he went to make a flank with his toy soldiers because a guy with five stars on a shoulder are taught them how to do, carter was on the 32nd floor of herbert hoover lives on the 31st floor of the waldorf astoria. so these influences have an impact on me growing up.

but despite that experience or the set of experiences, i really shied away from politics or participating in any sort of politics as i was growing up poor in my early adulthood. i didn't intern for a local representative. i didn't pursue jobs in politics in the summers in washington these feet. i didn't major in political science. instead, it's actually quite inspired by my great grandfather's life trajectory, which took in a broad in his early years as i studied spanish language literature in college. i also was inspired by my grand grandmother had learned mandarin chinese so i studied entering chinese have lived abroad and studied abroad in bolivia and in mexico and in china and all saw my first job out of college when i graduated from the university was in taipei, taiwan and i

worked for a taiwanese law firm. i was a research assistant and an editor and studied mandarin chinese at a. but my first full day in taipei when i arrived there after graduating from college as september 11, 2001. and on that day in the weeks that followed, i realize i wanted nothing more into the back in the united states at the deepest expression of patriotism mustering in our country and being on the other side of the globe when that was happening here at home had a profound effect on me. all of us stayed watching television, watching the 24 hour news cycle which really began then and i stayed 12 hours different and i stayed up the night watching cnn as late as i could stay at. the reason i watched cnn was because fox news wasn't available in taipei at that

time. and i was so inspired by president george bush's words and his leadership as they rally the country and also of rudy giuliani. and the expressions of patriotism everywhere across the country and especially rallied years to patriotism in a way i hadn't yet in my life inspired me to want to come back, to want to be part of the functioning of our democracy and i thought it would be an incredible honor to come back to the united states and work for president bush. and so after a year in taiwan, i found my way home. i volunteered at my home state of colorado for a senate race and they got very lucky. i went to washington and found a job working for -- i was lucky enough to be hired by a brave new republican from miami who desperately needed a spanish

speaker in his washington office. and then had the opportunity to join president bush's reelection campaign in july 2003 and a year later i received a white house appointment in 2004 where i work for roughly two years. and in 2006 at the opportunity to come to new york city which is where i live now in the opportunity was to work for rudy giuliani on his presidential campaign. not during the course of my time working for president bush, i sensed a mounting animosity and distant and of my peer group from the republican party. i noticed this not only in 041006, but she couldn't miss it in l.a. and polls really solidified that the youth vote had completely turned away from

the republican party. now for the record, i'm completely accustomed to being in the minority of my peer group when it comes to politics. i'm very comfortable. in fact day job as a hoover and cut out for it. when you grow up related to the most vilified president in 20th 20th century history, whom i history books taught caused the great depression, who ap u.s. history books to this day say he did nothing to solve it and i know this for a fact because duke blackwood, director of the reagan library here brilliantly e-mailed because his daughter had an ap u.s. history essay she had to write about herbert hoover not doing anything to fix the crisis in the great depression. and his daughter armed with the information from the hoover library and director and myself managed to get may on her test and educator teacher about what herbert hoover actually did during the great depression.

but what has been interesting to me to see and you develop a thick skin and learn to think independently. these were the greatest gifts i got from herbert hoover. what has been interesting to me is the narrative has gotten worse in my lifetime. democrats have always kraków or out of the whipping boy for economic hard times. every presidential election cycle and that republicans are doing it. mitt romney is talking about barack obama's hoover bills and rush limbaugh has even said the economy is so bad we won't reelect barack hoover obama. now, i can't put that out there without doing a small defense. this is a man who is contemporaries called the great humanitarian. his biographers say that he probably -- they estimate just shy of a billion lives are saved because of his staffers at

famine relief. he was really the pioneer of the modern ngo. he was the master of the merchant fees. in 1927 mississippi river flood was basically the equivalent of a modern day katrina which displaced 1.59 americans. the secretary of commerce went to the mississippi river valley and was able to coordinate with local -- all the local leadership at the time to get tent cities and vaccination and education and what a portable water all to the cities, but it was all paid for by private funds. so he was an incredible hero and one of the first disciples of the conservative movement. and republicans have really forgot we had a great hero and herbert hoover. back to millennialist.

some say we just can't cut the youth vote. some say they fight winston churchill may start voting with their pocketbooks but, around here if they're not a liberal when they are their 20 day down at the heart. i've been a conservative by the time they're 42 don't have a brain. and this would be great if that were true. but it ignores our best history. our best history was set by ronald reagan. ronald reagan brought an entire generation unit into the republican party and this is the revolution. he won the vote in 1880 and decisively by 20.9294. it's just simply not true that republicans won't vote -- that youth won't vote for republicans and even the very first millennialist when they came to the polls, the first eligible to vote in 2000 what their ticket evenly between al gore and george bush.

i think it is fair to say that because you don't have as much experience as older generation, their political views are formed as much by the failures we have known in my lifetime as they are by any vision that is espoused by a particular politician. i think reagan was aided by the failures of the carter investigation, but he also is able to communicate conservatism's though beautifully an entire generation rally to this vision. and i think that's also a barack obama was able to do. the youth -- the first at breaking in 04 because they believed john kerry's mantra that it was at the wrong time in the wrong place and in 2005 the failures of the federal government to really respond to hurricane katrina also affected

them as well as candles in 2006 in the house of representatives. and i think it is republican brand damage they tribute away from the republican party as much as really the soaring rhetoric of barack obama that captured what is the dose of the millennial generation, which is desire to rise above partisanship, appeal to service and the resolve that government could work again. one more thing about the challenge facing republicans. we need youth especially because the republican party has just shot in the youth category over the last 10 years. it is also shocked and almost every other category that's been pulled. in 26 categories, economic, religious, ethnic, 26 categories to gallup polled republican identification chunk in 25 and

we remain the same in not one other group which was weekly churchgoers. so i think we're far away from the permanent maturity we were seeking, but i think we have an opportunity to come around to win back more than just millennialist because i think the message of this book in the way to reach millennialist will also reach with a broader portion of the other trade. so what my book is is an attempt to characterize the millennial generation, who they are, what makes them tick, with exciting to them, what they think about government. and it's also an attempt to communicate conservative ideas to this generation so we can connect to them. what i try to do is describe issues where they are already there in terms of the ideas was as in the conservative movement we just need to connect the dots. but i'm also trying to do this on issues when they're not

there, how do we make the case demand? whoever candidate is i hope will look to it because i try i had a professor from san jose state university last night monitoring the group they did in san francisco when he got a characterize millennialist quite well. of course he was admittedly very liberal as you can imagine he was the chair of the department. he deals as millennialist every game he thought a characterize the them well. the truth is we have an enormous opportunity because there's a very, very good science on meals have been disappointed by barack obama. they didn't turn out in the numbers in 2010 as they were expected to even in the previous cycle in 2006 they turn out in greater numbers. and barack obama's approval rating is down 18 percentage point since she and her two dozen nine when he took office.

let's be very clear. it's still high in this group. down 18 percentage points at something. so who are the millennialist cliques there are basically three things you need to know about millennial that were a little counterintuitive for republicans and conservatives. the first is that they have a positive view of government. i'm going to read a statement. q-quebec how you answer this. agree or disagree. when something is run by the government, it is usually managed inefficiently wastefully. [inaudible conversations] only 42% of all males agree with that statement. so said differently, 58% think that the government is good at running things. so that's what we're working on it. you know, this is not to say

they think government should grow. it's not to say they believe government should have a greater role in the lives of individuals they just don't think it's evil. they think it should work. so unfortunately, britain's government is the problem line isn't going to resonate with this generation. and incidentally, while millennialist have a very good view of right and to the extent they are aware of him and the breaking foundation has done an incredible job of promoting reagan to this generation, they don't have the same visceral reaction when the republican party and volkswagen the way people who my parents generation and older to because they simply didn't experience him firsthand. incidentally the hoover libraries going to take a few pages from your book on promoting the brand of ronald

reagan for herbert hoover. secondly, their politics is pragmatic, not ideological. 40% of them call themselves moderate. 29% liberal, 29% conservative. they simply don't buy into rigid ideology. and i think this is how barack obama's rhetoric appeals to them. remember he is not for red states are states. he was for the united states of america. and he is also for making government work again. and i loved this. this is the government can work. the third thing you should know is that they are the millennialist. they are the least traditional generation in american history. did hear these two traditional family structure. more have been raised in single-parent households. they are the least religious generation. they are least affiliated with

organized religion. only a quarter can identify with the market-based religion. however, 67% say they pray every day. so they believe in god, have values and call themselves spiritual, but they don't identify with organized religion. as much as previous generations. they also have the fewest hangups about orientation of any generation. this is where a majority believe same-sex marriage. so, given these guidelines, how do we as republicans and conservatives connect to them and sell our message, especially in 2012, which the next big opportunity to make our case to the millennialist and the american home? i think what we need to do is look at the issues that are most important to the country right now and that is quite obviously

if you're paying attention to the debates in washington right now, we all know were talking about spending, debt, deficits come entitlement reforms and jobs. this generation is 37% unemployed. this is the high you share amongst this age group in three decades. now, while 55% of them still in president obama personally, they can see his policies have been tried and viscerally they concede they have a irked and employment has gone up. they know this in their minds. many are still in apparent sofas or their friends sofas. i think as republicans we can say his policies were tried and failed but we need to make sure we don't demonize him personally so we have to make a pragmatic case, not an ideological one and not a personal one.

also, every time i talk about spending we should be talking about how the spending in washington is generational theft. we need to connect to specifically to them. is there fiscal future were talking about here. they are the ones who have to pay for it. every single dollar that washington is spending, me and people younger than me will have to pay it back with interest. and that is on a spare that there fiscal future, our economic disparity being around and i think republicans have had the chance in 20 chalked to make a very strong case that it is the republican party who took the bold decisions and took the bold political decisions to represent really went hoping changes in politics is normal in washington. another issue area where i think millennialist are already there in terms of a republican

policies represent and we just need to make the case's education. the millennial generation -- here's another data point about them. they are the most diverse generation in american history. they are 40% nonwhite, 20% have at least one immigrant parent. it's the promise of america and of american individualism is everyone will have an equal opportunity to rise above the circumstance is of their birth based on their own talents that they will have a good education in order to do that. that is something we decided a long time ago, that the government will provide a good education, but that 30% of millennialist aren't graduating from high school and the majority of the 30% are disproportionately black and hispanic. 50 years after brown versus board of education that is

basically still a segregated school system based on cassette coats and hats and coats. wealthy zip codes in the last -- the pores of those. this offends the sensibilities of this generation and you know it because they are the ones who have flocked to the charter school movement. ..

>> the real reforms happening in education are happying in states with republican governors and republican legislatures, chris christie in new jersey. bill from tennessee, and in michigan, rick snyder just passed sweeping reforms that are going to affect every kid in the school system in detroit. this is just something to me that the my len yals get, and i think we just need to start really screaming it from mountain tops when we have the next opportunity in the next presidential election cycling. the other issue that always ranks highly is the environment, and i argue in my book that we need to make a strong case for congress servetive environmentalism. it's not only the republican party with a pretty good history

with environmentalism. teddy roosevelt, richard nixon. i think that we can talk about climate change, and we can acknowledge that climate change is happening, but it's also an inexact science. we know the cover of "newsweek" in 19 # 75 showed the globe was going to freeze over. we can acknowledge and talk about it in a reasonable way without embracing the left's solutions which would levy enormous tax burdens on middle class for energy consumption, and frankly, it would only reduce the carbon emissions in the united states by a minimal amount over the next 100 years without touching india and china, so i think the deal with conservative environmentalism is to put forth an agenda that says the government has an important role in protecting the environment, but it cannot and should not be trusted to deliver

a low-carbon energy independent future. this has to come from individuals working together and driven by the realities of the marketplace. i talk about a couple other issues in the book which i'm happy to do more in q&a. i talk about a new republican feminism. there is a wonderful new crop of women leaders in the republican party that the national scene has not necessarily taken note of. we've seen michel ebackman and czar ray pais palin, but there's one of a border state of new mexico. you are close by, but in new york, they have no idea. i also talk about social issues a bit in the book and how it relates to this generation and the legacy of the republican party. i also talk about immigration. now, immigration is one where, you know, we're going to have to

work a little harder. they may not be there already where i think on fiscal issues and education they will basically there. they get it. we need to connect the dots. i think we need to do a better job on immigration and islamist supremacy now the overseas operation and make a case for american exceptionalism. this is the first generation in american history that doesn't sub vibe to american individualism. we can make the case for it by explaning where the hang up is. they think american individualism means americans are better than everyone else and we can go it alone, and that's not what it means, it's not an expression of american jinglism, but the brilliance and the system in america that allows individuals to become the best they can be better than

anyone else. it's not because i'm better than any other woman born in another country, but our system because it protects my liberties allows me in most cases to become more. back to the title american individualism. when i began to think about how to connect conservative ideas to the next generation, i found what i was looking for close to home, and i realized as i was going through my great grandfather's book, american individualism, that herbert hoover actually embodied the ideals of the millenial generation 80 years before the first millenials were born. he was a technology, and herbert hoover lived in an age where technology was booming. radio waves, he was responsible

for regulating radio waves and streamlining them. he was the first individual to appear on television. he was at the forefront of new mining technologies, and he learnedded them in the heart of the silicon valley at stanford university before the silicon embodied technology in this new age. he was a globalist. he navigated the globe five times by steamship before the advent of aviation. he visited six continents, and this generation, too, is globally oriented because of the internet. they care a lot about public services. millenials, the highest percent of them say they volunteered once in the last year, they value service, not necessarily political service, but community service and service to others. he should hoover was considered

the great humanitarian dedicating his life to service and the most meaningful thing he could do is serve his fellow, mankind. the last thing they have in common is they believed government can work, believed government can be a part of the solution, and they want government to work. he also believed that government could be a partner. he didn't believe that the government was evil. his term as secretary of commerce was really defined by streamlining and standardizing the modern economy. you know, many people don't know this, but the reason we get eggs in half dozens and dozens, the reason milk comes in quarts and liters and bricks are the same size and tires of cars are the same size and bed shoots are standardized because they were not before hoover, and as an engineer he decided if you standardize things, you can streamline the economy and make

it way more efficient. he believed that government shouldn't control industry, but it could help industry be more first time for -- for the sake of increasing the standard of living and frankly, the productivity of the modern economy. in 1922, herbert hoover wrote this book called "american individualism." he had lived abroad for roughly 20 years, and his experience had been one of hands-on experience with the political revolutions that were sweeping the globe in the early 20th century. he had had a first front row seat in china's boxer rebellion, one of the last foreigners to escape china on a german mail boat. he was involved deeply in russia during the revolution where he watches them destroy his mining properties and factories and watched the rise of germany in

europe where he took a firsthand role in saving and bringing food relief in bull -- belgium. he was confirmed when returning to the united states is these "isms" were bad that were sweeping the world, fascism, socialism, communism might be tried on for size in america and we might experiment with the ideas. it was not an abstract fear. the socialist party in america in the late teens had about 6% in the popular election. he wanted to try to characterize what the american system was and why it worked to inoculate it from trying on these isms of europe, and he calls the american system american individualism because it cementerred around --

centered around the individual and protected the ideal of equality of opportunity, not equality of outcomes, but equality of opportunity, and he knew that his story wouldn't be able to happen anywhere else in the world. he was born in west branch, iowa, a frontier town. he was the first president incidentally born west of the mississippi. he was orphaned at 9 years old, lived with relatives he didn't know, and rose to the successes of an international businessman. towards the end of his campaign in 1928, he gave a speech called rugged individualism. now, this speech was basically a campaign disstalllation of the ideas of american individualism, and he talked about how america had a choice of two futures in 1928. america had a choice of sticking with the american system of

individualism. i'm going to actually read the quote. he said, "a choice between the american system of rugged individualism and the european my philosophy of opposing doctrines, eternallism and every step of the country poisens the roots of liberalism. political equality, free speech, free assembly, free press, and equality of opportunity. this is not the road to more liberty, but to less liberty." now, i am struck by how relevant that is to our modern debates. these are the themes we hear in the tea party rallies. this is the choice of two futures that paul ryan talks about with the path to prosperity. i think if we make the case, the next generation, if given the

choice, these two futures, will choose the american system, individualism, and for as fractured as the conservative movement can be, and we all know that it can be frabbing -- fractured. the conservative movement is a very diverse family. there's neoconservatives, my dad toasted at my wedding, western conservatives. there's goldwater conservatives. there are libertarian conservatives. we have all these kinds of conservatives, and the genius of ronald reagan, in my view, is that he was able to bring harmony to the group of voices within the conservative movement and unite us and focus us what we had in common, not on what divided us, and he was able to provide a cohesive fusionism and

it was aided by the interest in defeating communism, and he made all the factions realize if we focus on what we have in common, defeating communism, we will get there, but if you are 80% my ally, you are not 20% my enemy, and the 11th commandment helped also. i think we need to invoke this aspect of reagan today. if we focus on the challenge and the choice we have up in 2012, this choice of two futures, and if we focus on the fiscal responsibility, growing the economy, getting jobs back to the american people, and we channel the essence of american individualism, i think this will create a new fusionism that connects to the next generation, unite the various tribes of conservativism, and attract a new generation to the republican party.

ultimately, my book was a culmination of a quest that i undertook in search of a republican-rooted philosophy that will appeal to a broad section of americans including millenials. a major source of my inspiration proved to be a book written almost 100 years ago by my great grandfather, may be surprising, but i think that millenials will be surprised to discover new ideas in the republican party and find the hope and change that they've been waiting forment thank you very much. [applause] [applause] [applause]

>> margaret has agreed to answer ten minutes worts of questions. if you have a question, we have a microphone so speak into the microphone. that would be great. >> ms. hoover -- >> stay seated. >> no, that's okay, my knee just went out. i'm of that generation now. [laughter] you mentioned the genius of unled reagan bringing the voices together in the republican party. as i see the candidates today running for the republican party, i don't see genius. i don't detect genius among the group that has that same ability. do you? >> where's our ronald reagan? [laughter] i think the republican field is still immature. i think it is broadening.

i don't think anybody who will ultimately be in the race is in yet, and what i hope is that whoever the candidate is really takes the ideas and characterizations of this generation that i tried to crystallize in my book to heart because i hope -- i hope that a reagan emerges. we all do. >> yes, right over here. >> as you were elaborating about the youth, and i think that point was very well taken that there's a lot of youth out there that are lost and have no idea what's going on in politics. i'm thinking two people that the republican party ought to embrace because they have the charisma to reach out to the people that you're addressing, and that's rubio and bobby

gindella and i'm sure there's more out there, but those two people to me probably have the ability to reach the very group you're talking about. >> i absolutely agree with you, but there's more than just them. i think paul ryan is remarkable. nobody can explain the intracay sighs of the completely boring budget policy in a absolutely understandable and accessible way and paul ryan is also one of those people who when he talks about it, he's not deeply ideological, but very pragmatic, and you understand, and i think he can connect the next generation. couldn't agree more about rubio. one of my first political donations was a $200 check when working politics in washington, not making any money, and i gave bobby a $200 check while i was working in congress. i couldn't agree with you more. we have a slew of fresh faces. there's suzanna martinez and

others. nikki hall lee and the governor of new mexico, and brian, your neighbor next door, a new republican-his panic governor. i think we have in 2010, we elected a new slate that they will be getting their stripes. they'll be getting wise and cutting their political teeth, and they will be ready in 2016. i hope that we're able to -- i still think some folks will still come to the table in 2012, and i think because of the disappointment with president obama, the reality of situation with the economy and the fact that so many of them are unemployed, i think we have even if we don't have ronald reagan, i think we have a real chance of making a case and making connections with this generation. >> right here.

>> i just want to say i was at your grandfather's library, and it was beautiful. i never realized what a wonderful man he was until i visited it, but my question is do you think that the tea party might divide the republican party as ross perot did in 1992? >> today is a particularly good day to ask that question. there's particular schisms in washington that certainly threaten that fate. i genuinely hope not. i genuinely hope that folks who -- the -- it is remarkable to me that 87 republicans came to washington and in a year, we've been able to shift the direction that the country is going in in terms of spending, and i am a huge fan of the tea party because without the tea party, this wouldn't have

happened. it -- [applause] we certainly hope we can look at our successes and we can also realize that we need to get over the finish line because we don't have the bully pulpit of the presidency, and we will probably lose the communications battle if we allow the government to default, and we can consider it an enormous win we got to this point, and it's a first step in really correcting the fiscal course for the next generation. >> right over here. >> thank you for visiting. i'm curious if there's any candidates or, not candidates, but anyone in the party that's been talked about that has not stepped forward as a candidate that you might consider a possibility? >> i have lots of young friends who joke that we have fantasy

candidates, you know? maybe our fantasy candidates will come to the fore front. personally, i love paul ryan. i think paul ryan really embodies the future of the republican party. chris christie also doze as well as marco rubio. i personally hope that paul ryan will come forward. >> [inaudible] >> rick perry has a wonderful story to tell about what he's done in texas. i think the flirtation of rick perry also remits wanting in the republican field that i think is also an expression that many folks maybe like yourselves, are not comfortable with the field of candidates as it is now, and, you know, we hope the rest of you who are thinking about getting in will hear us loud and clear. please get in. the republican party needs you. >> [inaudible] >> yes, thank you for enlighten ugh us on the millenials today.

we appreciate the background on that. it was actually very helpful, but my question to you -- and first i wanted to state that i'm a proud what i call reagan republican because my first vote was 1980 when i was 18 years old and i voted for him twice. that's a commentary on our youth today because they are not going to the polls, and that's something you didn't speak to. my question, i guess, to you is asking what is it that the republican party can do to attract them to the polls? >> well, it's true they are not going to the polls for republicans, but they are going to the polls. they were 18% of the elector yat in 2008, and if they turn out in the same -- look, 50 million of them who were eligible to vote, and actually slightly more than half of them turned out. i mean, that's proportioned to the voting elector rat showing up. in terms of that demographic,

they are represented proportionally and slightly better. they are voting, just not voting republican, and what i think we need to do is read my book -- [laughter] and then make the case, and we're going to have an opportunity. look, they may not be tuned in right now. they may be tuned in to the extent they watch tv, but they will give the next president a fair hearing, and that is our window of opportunity to make the case, and we need to make it along the lines that i've outlined, and i think they'll hear us. i believe that we got to try, and that's the other thing. i mean, half the battle is showing up; right? we have to make an effort, be where they are which is online, and i will say the republican parties at least in the last few years realizes we got creamed by the technology of the democrats. they were involved with facebook

and others. i signed up when i for fun because you could text this thing and then president obama would text you and say thank you. i still get texts from president obama. i mean, i'm not getting texts from the rnc. we knew we got creamed, and we did some things to change it. every republican member of congress has a twitter account, and they are tweeting. they voted on this or that or met with such and such. that's a step in the right direction, and my hope is this will really work when we have a candidate because parties are redefined in the context of candidacies. once we have a candidate, it is my sincere hope there's an honest effort to reach out and connect to the next generation because we can make enrows, and we've got to. we have this time to do it. >> we have time for one last

question. >> thank you, ms. hoover. i'm a public schoolteacher, and i teach junior high and high school kids, and that upcoming generation, and i hear today -- [inaudible] they need a chance for a better future, but the party vilifies the teachers and educators, and the kids pick this up, and every time we try to advocate for our students, we're constantly being selfish or we're not trying -- we're trying not to be accountable, and i've seen over the years the destruction of education, and as a public school educator, i care about my kids. >> of course you do. >> these kids are sharp. they see it, and they are less than the republican party and

all politicians, i don't care what party you are, sit there and support us is this generation's going to be totally a-political. >> i say this in my book, and perhaps i should have said it in my remarks. america's teachers are america's heros. ms. laura bush, i think, did this brilliantly. she was a teacher herself, and she really put the focus on how important teachers are for our country, and how their service to the country is invaluable, so thank you for teaching, and the republican party is not vilifying teachers. let's be very clear. teachers are the heros. this is not about teachers, but about the systems that have been corrupted that look out for the interest of teachers more than the interest of students, and that is -- [applause]

and that is when you say we need to support teachers, well, i agree that we need to support teachers, but the question is do we support teachers by throwing more money at a system that absolutely proportionally if you compare the amount of money put into the public school system compared to the other oecd countries that rank in the top 25 and the amount of money they throw theirs, do we continue to throw money into a system that's broken or find a way to support teachers in a way that actually reforms the system so that students are getting a better education, they are getting more attention in the classroom? this is maybe a philosophical difference between us, but i think when we look at what we've deny -- been doing, it's not been working. we have a real opportunity to make serious reforms, life reform, tenure reform, collective bargaining in the

teacher unions are necessary, and we'll see results in michigan that passed all thee of those, and then we can talk. [applause] >> we are about out of time, but i just want to on behalf of the foundation say thank you, margaret, for coming. >> thank you, john. [applause] thank you very much. [applause] >> you can find out more by visiting the author's website, margarethoover.com. >> this is a sad day, i have to say in mrs. kennedy's life. this is the red room, and the reason i show this is because that was the first room she completed a restoration, but this was the day of her husband's funeral, and she insisted that she meet those who were coming from afar, those who were diplomats, diplomatic corp.

from abroad, and she stood with her brother-in-law and insisted on greeting everyone who came to pay their respects to her husband. on a more glittery note, again, we remember her for her state entertaining. in the short amount of time that she was in the white house, it was only a little over 1,000 days, she and her husband threw 16 state dinners. in the first term, first four years of the w. bush term, they held two. remind you 9/11 happened, security issues, but the bushes, the seconds bush's from texas were not interested in that, not interested in state entertainment or bringing people from abroad and entertaining them at the white house. the kennedys loved that lifestyle. they both came from the northeast. they both had highs