>> thank you beth and john for being here tonight and all of you for coming. a tremendous thank you to the staff and volunteers of st. john's, especially in terms store manager and kindergarten teacher extraordinaire. [applause] a special thanks to the audio came and the ladies in the kitchen who put on a beautiful spread that i hope you all will enjoy and to c-span thank you to c-span for being here tonight. finally beth and john have agreed to stay and find some books and you will be lining up down the hall toward the stairs. but he is driving home tonight he tells me two and a half hours so let's not keep them for too long shall we? thank you all and good night.

[applause] allright our next speaker is the executive director of the center for a vision and values think tank. he is a "new york times" best-selling author and frequent contributor to msnbc, c-span and the fox and a columnist for the townhall magazine and the american spectator. he has worked in many think

tanks and his public speaking bring him a national reputation for his work on conservative principles and the american presidency. paul is well qualified to tell us what it means to be a real reagnaught. [applause] >> thank you and hello everybody. my greetings to phyllis and it took an operation. but she is -- for those of you that are familiar with her background i'm sure most of you are, but if she is one of the true heroes of the conservative movement. i mean, i could stand here and spend my time talking about her contributions and what she did but i was saying i believe this is the 50th anniversary of the book a choice not an e-echo of

1964 and that was on behalf of barry goldwater in the campaign and it was also the year that ronald reagan gave his time for choosing speech october 27, 1964. and those were absolutely pivotal to the conservative movement. barry goldwater got creamed that here. it wasn't even close. but if watched tv for once to something else much bigger and it felt far more significant. so the conservative movement lost and 64 in the long run if one. and it won because people like phyllis schlafly, ronald reagan and others create and so we know more about what is a ronald reagan conservative. that has been my specialty. i've written more books on ronald reagan than i have any other subject and any other person. in washington and wherever else you hear of republicans and people running for office and you ask them what they believe, and they say i believe that

ronald reagan believed. they would say i am a ronald reagan conservative. you hear that over and over again including people that call themselves conservatives but clearly are not conservatives. a couple of weeks ago and i will try to be nice so i don't take shots at people that i heard somebody a couple of weeks ago described himself as a conservative and who clearly was not created a part of the reason for that is why so many republicans want to emulate ronald reagan just look at the political success. it was absolutely stunning. here is somebody that was twice elected governor of california in a landslide including 19661 against the popular democratic incumbent. 1980 runs against democratic incumbent president and as you've noticed, the trend in america more recently has been the american public agree elect the president. they generally get two terms.

well because of ronald reagan against jimmy carter in 1980 that didn't happen. ronald reagan beat carter so soundly he took 44 out of the 50 states. pretty remarkable especially for a very clear conservative republican. ronald reagan in 1984 was elected by winning 49 out of 50 states. does anyone know the state that he lost black >> minnesota. >> minnesota which was the home state of the challenger walter mondale. so he won in 198 1984 in the electoral colleg1984 and theeles 525-13. combine the electoral college victory 80-84 was 1014-62. >> ronald reagan a conservative republican twice won california. he was california.

massachusetts. and name a conservative republican that is going to win massachusetts twice. new jersey, twice, new york, twice. my home state of pennsylvania twice. enormously successful. today the gallup poll does the presidential poll every presidents' day they ask americans to the favorite president was really ronald reagan has one of more than any otheother president president sy started doing it. it beats lincoln and washington and fdr, all of them. there was a poll in 2005 by tie-in and aol that asked americans who is the greatest american of all time not the greatest presidents of all time but who is the greatest american of all time. 2.4 million responded. very popular. one more.

2013, february after barack obama second inaugural that should be at the height of the popularity either way obama got re- elected with less electoral college votes and less popular votes. first and only president that has happened with. he got reelected with 49 states and obama had 26 states. the poll done in february of 2013 asked right after the second inaugural if the presidential election was held between ronald reagan and barack obama who would you vote for and he won by 58%. that's higher than the percentage against carter. and ronald reagan also won in that survey among the voters ages 18 to 25. which was the youth group that elected barack obama. so you can see why so many would

like to be like ronald reagan and say i'm a conservative. they like to emulate a political success first and foremost. but that said that gets to the question of what did ronald reagan belief? so i endeavored a couple of years ago because a number of books on his face and the cold war and a whole bunch of different things and ther theree conference is being done and my friend said everybody is always calling themselves a reagan conservative you should go out and lay out what exactly is the conservative? what does a reagan conservative belief? okay. i will try to do that. ronald reagan himself was asked what is a conservative? in february of 1977 and ronald reagan was speaking at cpac probably more times than anybody else for the next 1415 years. he didn't miss a single cpac

begin tired he was president. as president he spoke to cpac every single year and he said conservatism can mean different things to those who call themselves conservatives. right? you ask anybody in the room for a definition on conservatism and you will get almost as many different definitions and answers as there are people in this room. so, he tried to get somewhat of a definition. he said it's like what they said about pornography it's harder to find that i know it when i see it. that's what he said of conservatism. it's hard to define conservatism but i know one when i see one. he said the common sense and the common decency of the ordinary men and women working out their own lives in their own way is the heart of american conservatism today. keep in mind this is february,

1977. jimmy carter had just been inaugurated president. after defeating gerald ford, a republican who never won the presidential election and replaced the republican richard nixon who was pushed out of office who resigned in disgrace and the republican party at the time was completely ripped apart by nixon and rockefeller republicans, the kind of political republicans, conservative republicans, a lot of the same divisions that you see today among the team are the libertarians all of these things were still there in fact i would say that it was worse than. in fact it was so bad that ronald reagan whose 11th commandment was thou shalt not speak ill of another republican ran against gerald ford in 1976 and tried to take the republican nomination away from him. that's how bad it was.

so he's definition in 1977 the common sense and common decency of ordinary men and women to conservative wisdom and principles are the riot from the willingness to learn not just from what is going on now with what has happened before. and think about that that might sound like common sense, which i think it is but the progressives don't think that way. they think that what has happened in the past, what our ancestors did and what were their norms and so forth can be completely irrelevant and should flat out to be completely rejected. they called it the democracy of the dead. the idea that our ancestors should have something to say. our ancestors should have a vote in what we believe and how we think because they lived. the previous thousands of years

a conservative would just toss that out the window and say we have been to college the last four or five years in my university we figured out we know better than them. they were neanderthals. the baby leave to those things because they were stupid and intolerant. but we know better today. it says even if i think i do no better right now maybe there is a good reason why baby leave what they belief the past two or three or 4,000 years. maybe i should humble myself and at least consider my ancestors believed. the pentacles of conservatism are sound because they are based on what men and women have discovered an experience and not just one generation or a dozen but in all of the combined experiences of mankind. when we say that we know something about the political affairs and what can be stated as principles we are saying the

principles that we hold dear are those that have been found through experience to be ultimately beneficial for individuals, families, communities and nations. let me give you an example of this elephant in the living room. i have in my about my latest book the 11 principles of a reagan conservative and one of them is only. reagan spent a lot of time talking about family and about marriage. and ronald reagan was never asked if he supported same-sex marriage because in ronald reagan's time, the idea was completely unthinkable and anybody in the 70s were the 60s were the 80s who would have advocated same-sex marriage would have been hauled off to the lunatic asylum. no one was even thinking about that. so he was never even asked about that. but he would again and again to talk about the idea for

marriage. he said marriage is that loving lifelong relationship between husband and wife that his marriage. he said they should look to the divinthatdivine institution basn biblical and natural law and he even went so far to take and imagine a president saying this and the trouble he would get into that the ultimate model is the holy family of mary joseph and jesus. but he said the family is the mother and fathe the father ande lifelong relationship with the child. the conservatives on an issue like marriage would think about what our ancestors had to say and what look at marriage from a tradition and natural law perspective. conservatism is first and foremost about conserving. you wouldn't expect a conservative to redefine marriage. i would say you can still call

yourself a conservative if you are conservative on 95 for 100 differen95 or 100different issue position on marriage would be that you wouldn't endeavor to try to redefine something that fundamental. a progressive beliefs that there is no absolute and that you can always change the definition of everything and that everything is always evolving and changing and performing. the progressives would have no problem redefining marriage in a libertarian who might come from another perspective altogether might have no problem with it as well. but a conservative would stop and say wait a second. this is something that is literally as old as the garden of eden and even the romans and greeks didn't do that. it's been based on tradition, biblical and natural law and samuel l. alito said it isn't even as old as a cell phone.

i'm going to step back and maybe wait at least a few generations if not a few centuries or few thousands of years before i'm willing to go and throw out everything from the past and redefine it. it wouldn't be a conservative thing to do. it would be a progressive thing to do. they redefine life and when life begins, when life starts. all that stuff. but the conservatives don't. you can ask me more about that in the q-and-a if you like. i don't have a lot of time. so, in the buckeye layout 11 principles of the ronald reagan conservative. they are freedom, faith and family come to think that he and dignity of human life, american exceptionalism, the founding vision. this was quoted more than anything by far.

ronald reagan quoting madison, washington, hamilton, adams. you take befor the four or five presidents before him four or five after and it doesn't even come close. barack obama recently quoted and mentioned the founders july 4 a few years ago referred to them as, quote, then of property and wealth when he referred to the founders. lower taxes, limited government, peace through strength and belief in the individual. i have about eight minutes. >> you have two minutes. spoon a two-minute warning. >> let me say this. reagan emphasized in that speech which is an amazing speech and we've reprinted and no one even knows about it they said they need to be complete conservatives.

if you are a true conservative he will be an economic and social conservatives and reagan argued that you can argue both, especially if you communicate in an effective way and still win the elections. so, he said that conservatives need to do it. so, just a couple examples. lower taxes and limited government. those are economic conservative issues. they believe in lower taxes, period. even in favor upper-income tax rates of 50, 60, 70% of the federal income tax started in america in 1913 and it was put in place by this anybody know which president? woodrow wilson 1913. it started off the highest rate for the federal income tax in 1913 by 7%. on the incomes of $500,000 a

year or more. bby the time to woodrow wilson left office in 1921 it was 73%. it went from seven to 73%. if you are to get up to 95%. he considered 99.5% on income over $100,000 a year. i footnote all this stuff and i wouldn't say it if it wasn't true. when ronald reagan came in he took it down to 28% and the economy took off. the different income groups and races and gender and everything. unemployment numbers completely plummeted, the economy took off and did extremely well. limited government and the conservatives believe in limited government. if you are going to come up with one definition of the conservatives i think almost everybody would note the conservatives believe in the small or limited government.

but this is an important way to keep in mind especially if you are arguing libertarians. they are not antigovernment. they are not against government. baby leaves the government has a bold preserving order and having rules and providing for the basic necessities. conservativeconservatives are at anti-excessive government and against excessive government, big government, the nanny state. they don't let th fund the govet out of control and the last one, ronald reagan was a huge proponent and belief in the sanctity of the dignity of human life and the importance of each and every individual. reagan said the first and fundamental of all human freedoms is the right to life. they said without the right to life, there can be no other rights. without the freedom to exist in the first place, there can be no other freedoms. if you don't have the freedom to live and the rights to life, then you can't have the freedom

of speech, press assembly. he said without those rights, without that right to life, no other rights have meaning and he said that the individual -- it is a latin term is a sacred reality. every individual he said is made in the image of god. it is a different view from the secular progressive view of the world that sees each and every new individual as another mouth to feed and another drain on the limited resources and another addition to the over population. ronald reagan said every individual has a soul. think about this. because every individual has a soul, each and every individual is more important than the state because states don't have souls. they make the individual eternal. they don't have souls. they come and go in for every state especially the communist

atheistic one for the right and the soul to eternal life is the ultimate abomination. so right there they argued the economic conservative issues into the social conservative issues he did it at the time socially when everyone told him everyone is against you on the abortion issue, women won't vote for you in 1984 he said i don't care it's the right thing to say. he won the 44 out of the 50 and the state in 1984 and he has been held up today as a republican conservative model. >> let's take some questions. fire away. >> you should see the things people say about me online. i'm used to that and i have seven kids. [laughter] so i get beat up all the time. >> in your personal opinion are there any political leaders at the forefront or on the sidelines that have these

characteristics of a conservative? >> i think there's a bunch right now. we didn't have one in 2008 or in 2012 as the nominees and they lost. but i think in 2016, there are so many good ones but the prospects in the conservative movement look better than ever. i would put in that list marco rubio, ted cruz, i think rand paul is pretty much i have 11 principles there and he hits pretty much 11 of them in fact he read the book and endorsed it. his father was a libertarian. rand paul is libertarian leaning but i think that rand paul is more conservative and libertarian. why can't i think of chris, helping with the first name. mickey ailey and also martinez as well.

michele bachmann, sarah palen although i don't think that they would have a chance at the presidency but i think that haley and martinez arguably could at some point. bobby jindal for governor of louisiana, paul ryan, governor christie, christie is actually pretty good on most of these points. he's very good on the life issue, pretty good on the life issue, and also christie has with ted cruz and rand paul have which was the be not afraid attitude. they don't care what the media says about them and that's really, really important because no matter what they say they are never going to vote for you. they want us to nominate jeb bush or another john mccain or charlie crist or something like that. he has most of these people have been as well. but the media tries to pick out the moderate republicans that they tell us to nominate that

they think that they could beat. but i think that someone like marco rubio, rand paul, ted cruz the ticket with two of the three in 2016 with the hillary clinton. >> next question. >> down in the front packs. i'm maria from new hampshire so i will ask about the marriage issue and what would you say is a good argument to defend marriage more towards the standpoint where they say that it should just be something not decided by the state? because they decide whether the state gets involved no matter what and i will talk to libertarians libertarians believe in small government, limited government. if you render into the government the power heretofore reserved a law of nature which

is the ability to define marriage and i have news for you you support a huge government. you support massive government if you are willing to let the government define what is something that previously only nature and god defined and you call yourself a libertarian i don't know how you can call yourself a libertarian. that's like letting the government redefine air. you are giving the government massive power and the also the government will become a massive dispenser of benefits to same-sex couples and so forth. i would say as a conservative notice how i use the word redefining marriage. personally religiously i would object to from the legal and political standpoint it should have just done that. if the rights movement and the progressives had to mess with

marriage there wouldn't be able to this resistance from the conservatives. as a conservative i am against people redefining words that have always meant what they meant. i don't like that. i believe in absolutes. you don't call a wall something else and say it is no longer able. marriage has always meant what it meant so i would say redefine it as something else. another crucial thing, secularism and liberals and progressives will try to argue that conservatives are in color and if they are against same-sex marriage. but if you think of it the way that i framed this and the way that i talk about it if they just understood what the conservatives be lead and they know that conservatives are about absolute, they base their ideas usually on biblical and natural and other things and in a sensible libertarian or liberal ought to be able to come up and say no, no. he or she is not a bigot.

he or she is a conservative and a belief in biblical and natural law and these are conservative. they don't redefine things. why would you expect them to redefine marriage? i disagree with them but he isn't eight or. he is a conservative and a conservative would never redefine something as fundamental as marriage. so in a way if we all just better understood each other's ideology and understood what we believed then maybe they wouldn't attack us so vehemently in the first place. but as progressives look how they progressed on the abortion issue. margaret sanger started planned parenthood as the american birth control league around 1919 and 1920. she wrote an article for the nation in 1932 which my students read and in that she said people say that when we talk about the birth control that we support

abortion. we do not. she said there is nothing more abominable than aborting a child. there can be nothing more vicious than killing your offspring. we are completely against abortion. margaret sanger's american birth control leagu league which is pd parenthood than is initially just about birth control and not abortion. 50 or 60 years later it becomes america's largest provider of abortion services. what do they have to do? progress it had to progress to that. so what they were telling you about the unborn in 1920 date completely moved on to something else later. progressives are always evolving and moving the goalposts and redefining things and then after that, my little progressive friends were telling me 20 years ago just leave us alone. don't worry. if we want to have an abortion and is none of your business. the leave me wbeneath me we wouk you to pay for it. now here we are the government

subsidizes planned parenthood and the case state. did you hear what they were doing about this right now? now if you don't support the state forcing you to subsidize the contraception drugs and everything else they are saying that you are guilty of the war on women and they keep moving the goalpost. the progressives is always changing. they literally cannot tell you if you just laid out what i said the legalized abortion and forcing the state to pay the subsidized where are you going to be on this issue in 20 years? you know what they would say it would be the honest answer we don't know but we will tell you when we get there. >> i think there's another question down in the front. that was your question? >> 20 years ago that entirety of the party supported male and female marriage and the defense of marriage act and about 20 years later if you disagree with

them they call you every name in the book. where are they going to be in 20 years on marriage? answer, they don't know. they will tell you when they get there. ..