libertarian students backing and a probable presidential candidate from texas. fully 50% of all the votes cast in all the republican presidential primary states in the last cycle by people 30 and under were cast for ron paul. [applause] the party establishment said, "let's not get too close to these people. we do not really want them." party establishments tend to want voters. they just do not want them in their clubs. they do not want them participating in decision making. this year, rand paul becomes a hero to grass-roots republicans across the country, and an aging former presidential candidate of the old establishment tells the

press, "we don't want people like him because he appeals to young people." let me tell you something -- political movements and political parties have two choices in this world -- they grow or they die. they bring people in, or they drive people out. [applause] our movement,f from the very beginning, has been that it has been a movement based upon ideals and principles, and from the beginning -- from the very beginning -- we have attracted who was drawn to the banner we represent. if we ever stop doing that, we do not deserve to grow. we will not deserve as a political movement to remain viable.

party adoptsican exclusion is policies, it will win. it will not succeed. if, like movements and parties in the past, will be looking back at its glory days -- it, like movements and parties in the past, will be looking back at its glory days. fortunately, many republicans and conservatives recognize this need. i would like to go back -- this is our 40 conference. several speakers today have talked about the fact that our first conference -- there were maybe 125 people. they came to see this guy ronald reagan. it was a family gathering. for some years, it went on that way, but each year, a few more people came in. modern conservative movement, however, did not reaganith either ronald

or barry goldwater. it began its most successful movements to -- it began as most successful movements do not as a product of community organizers but of writers, intellectuals thinkers. it stars and leaders were not barry goldwater and ronald reagan but people like william f. buckley jr., who after assaulting those who no doubt considered themselves his betters, went on in 1955 to found the national review. russell kirk who wrote the seminal "conservative mind," and found a congenial publisher in chicago of all places. milton friedman, george whom hung outl of in chicago and challenged the economics of the day and eventually help us turn the world upside down.

some years ago, i talked to the author of "commanding heights," a work in which he points out that the 1950's marked the triumph of collectivism the world over. the era of the five-year plan, government enterprise, and the faith in the wisdom of the state the dominated thinking not just in the soviet union and the socialist countries and scandinavia, in britain as well, and, yes, even in the united states. those were the days for believers in economic and political freedom the world over -- those were dark days. chambers' assessment proved wrong, in large part because of the work of the intellectuals, whoers, and publishers, were thinking even as he penned those words. even as the forces of

collectivism seemed dominic, a small but growing band of intellectuals were sowing the seeds that would eventually produce the modern republican movement -- even as the forces of collectivism seemed dominant. that one little book sparked a movement of ideas that changed the world. it was not long before others joined to launch two groups he had not even heard of until he began researching his book, which aided in the revolution to come -- the amount peleus society and the philadelphia society -- the mount pelier society and the philadelphia society. even as liberal establishment figures of the day were scoffing at the very idea of an american conservative movement,

believers in liberty and capitalism more organizing, reading, and learning, and some of them were beginning to think that just maybe the ideas of those they so admired might be molded into a political movement. within the republican party, a revolt began to smoulder after the 1952 nomination fight that pitted the conservative robert taft of ohio against the man credited with winning the second world war, dwight david eisenhower. eisenhower won that political battle as well, of course, but it energized men and women who would figure in the development of a new political movement, chief among them a housewife from illinois, who is here with us this weekend named phyllis schlafly. in 1960, the young americans for freedom forum at bill buckley's home in connecticut. stan evans, who is with us this weekend and received an award the other evening, and is a

former chairman of the american conservative union, authored the statement at that organizing meeting, the statement which to this day stands as the best and most concise statement of conservative values written in the modern times. the movement was growing. at that year's convention, there was an attempt to nominate arizona senator barry goldwater for vice president. goldwater was the new conservative hero. he had written a conservative political manifesto called " conscience of a conservative," and like some today had the courage to stand up on the senate floor and say what he believed. he became a hero to the right when he described the domestic program of the eisenhower establishment as nothing more than a dime store new deal. goldwater withdrew his name that year but delivered a speech in which he challenged

conservatives to grow up, sees the republican party, and turn it into a vehicle for conservative victory -- grow up, seize the republican party. four years later, date did -- they did just that by nominating goldwater himself after vanquishing the new york governor nelson rockefeller who was then the icon of the old republican establishment. goldwater lost that election, but his candidacy changed american politics. if the eisenhower election produced phyllis schlafly, the cold water election produced ronald reagan. while it is tempting to say that the rest is history, the political successes that followed produced a better world that created new problems, with which a new generation of conservatives must contend today. ronald reagan brought an optimism to the conservative political movement, born both of his own amiability but more importantly, from his deep

believe that the values that motivated him and us were not only worth fighting for but were true. he knew that we were right and they were wrong. that is something most politicians do not know when they get up to deliver a policy speech. ronald reagan knew. he knew that our ideas work and that there is to knock -- there's -- theirs do not. that was and remains today a solid reason for optimism. he also had the common sense of the average american. he proved time and time again that if you are willing to frame your ideas well and communicate them effectively, they will gain the public's support they deserve. no one sends his son quite as has doneno one since quite as well, but the path he chartered for us is to political

victory and will lead this country to a place as great as we see it. there are always those who say that, "you know, we lost because of our ideas and values and what we really ought to do is change them." i remember some years ago, bill krystal wrote that the only reason to be in politics was to gain and hold power. wrong -- that is not the only reason we are involved in political activity. we are involved because of the ideas and the values we share. we are involved because we know we are right and they are wrong. [applause] the pure politician interested only in gaining, holding, and

exercising power has the freedom to say, "if these ideas are not selling, why don't we just change them? i don't care that much anyway." we do not have that luxury, but we know deep down as ronald reagan did that we do not have to change them. again, we know that we are right and they are wrong. [applause] what we need to do -- and this is our job if we believe in our values and the democratic process in which we operate -- what we need to do is look at how effectively we are communicating those values and how we can get our views, our vision, our values, our policies before those who are not as obsessed with politics as we are but have the common sense to make the right choice when they have access to the information they need to make that choice.

successful political movements out, ass yergin pointed intellectual movements, but they achieve electoral success when the ideas are made attractive to their fellow citizens by political leaders who can communicate effectively and organize for political victory. our critics are in power today, but what they are trying to do will not work in this country. it has not worked anywhere else any time, and it is not going to work this time. that is why a speaker earlier this week said, "i think we've got them right where we want them." because try as they might, they are going to fail. they thought they had the world in their grasp in the 1950's, and they think they've got it again today. but even the least political of our fellow citizens will eventually grasp that they are on a road that is going to lead somewhere that none of us want to go.

our job is to hasten that realization, to show them a aster way and gathere them in disillusionment amounts -- mounts. we conservatives have done it before, and we can do it again. ours is a vibrant movement. we understand the institutions that guarantee freedom, and we will never give up in the struggle to achieve a free and prosperous society we know that vision will produce. we conservatives have our differences -- we always have. we are a fractious bunch. i always say that when the movement began and three of us got together in a room, there was bound to be an argument. we do not and never have marched in lockstep, and we never will. it would be boring if we did. but together, we have prevailed in the past, and we will in the future. we have done so in the past by

applying our principles to the ever-changing issues political leaders face in a dynamic and free society. we have succeeded not by gathering in a dark corner to denounce the state of the world but by recruiting and welcoming those who will stand with us. a party or movement, as i said at the beginning, that can do that will survive, grow, and in. one that does not will be pushed aside by one that does. that is why over the years, this conference and those who attend it will welcome young people and others willing to join in the effort to build a better world. it is why we strive not to change our values but to spread their appeal, and it is why we recognize that most of those who oppose us today may turn out to be allies tomorrow when they figure out that the road they are on is taking them know where -- nowhere