Last Saturday, I was honored to have my organization Citizens United cosponsor a fantastic event with Bob Vander Plaats and the Family Leader in Ames, Iowa on the campus of Iowa State University. The Family Leadership Summit is an annual event which consistently draws large crowds of conservative activists and the top names in the conservative movement.
Senator Ted Cruz, Governor Rick Perry, Governor Bobby Jindal, Governor Mike Huckabee, Senator Rick Santorum and others had a chance to speak to a 1,000-plus crowd and take the opportunity to discuss the principles and values that make our beliefs as conservatives the only way to fix what’s broken in America today and restore the American Dream.
Each of the speeches had their own theme and message to conference attendees. Senator Cruz brought the crowd to their feet on numerous occasions taking shots at Obama and touting the message that we must “stand unambiguously for the commonsense conservative principles shared by the vast majority of Americans.” It is abundantly clear, particularly in the past few months, that Obama does not share the same core principles as the majority of Americans, and his favorability numbers prove it. Cruz closed his rip-roaring speech by announcing, “We need to stand for life, we need to stand for marriage, we need to abolish the IRS, we need to repeal Obamacare, and we need to repeal Common Core.”
Senator Rick Santorum took a much different approach than Senator Cruz when addressing the Christian conservative crowd and touted his message that conservative politicians must focus their efforts on appealing to blue-collar American workers. In the other major speeches, Governor Rick Perry discussed border security, Governor Bobby Jindal touted the necessity of repealing of Common Core, and Governor Mike Huckabee called for a “spiritual transformation” in the United States. Governor Huckabee also stated, “Every American needs to understand that God is not dead. I fear one thing – that we think politics alone can save this country,” which once again brought the enthusiastic crowd to its feet.
The Family Leadership Summit 2014 was a great success, and it was a privilege not just to be a sponsor of the event, but to have a chance to address the crowd. This is an important moment in our nation’s history and it is my firm belief that if we fail to cling to the principles and truths that this movement was founded upon, we will fail to turn this country around.