Lunch Session

Scheduled to speak are:

South Carolina governor Mark Sanford
Former MD Lt. Governor Michael Steele
US Congressman Walter Jones

The camera is still not working. It's very odd, it just acts if I haven't turned the switch on. I'll keep playing with it, but for the time being, there's no more pictures. Now I'm going to go eat and take notes for the lunch session!

Okay, we're eating while they're talking. And there's another seminar that starts right after this session is over. If you missed this conference, you really did miss a lot of really good speakers and great conservative stuff. Make your plans now to come next year.

The first speaker (during the salad) was Congressman Walter Jones who was elected in 1994 as part of the Republican revolution.

We need to put integrity back into politics. We have got to get corruption out of politics. If you want to test a man's character, give him power. The mandate needs to be to reduce government -- because if you reduce government, you can reduce taxes.

There are four issues we need to focus on: tax relief, education, defense, and integrity and corruption. If you really want to test a man's character, give him power. We need a mandate to reduce federal government, which can allow you to reduce taxes. In 1995 we were 4.9 trillion dollars in debt. Today it's 9 trillion. And it's growing by 1.64 BILLION a day. People are simply not demanding accountability.

Illegals shouldn't get a free ride in our education system. We're spending $7.4 billion to educate illegal aliens. We're spending $3.4 billion providing medical services to illegal aliens. We should not reward illegal activity (much applause).

I've never voted for a budget because it authorizes foreign borrowing and that's wrong. When you add up all the obligations of government, right now, including all it's liabilities, the accumulated debt of the US government is $50 TRILLION.

Conservatives, both Republican and Democrat, are the only hope for this nation's future. We must hole representatives accountable. "America is on the wrong road today." Only the truth will sustain a nation.

Note: This man was VERY passionate about his ideals and beliefs.

During the main course, we got to listen to Michael Steele, former Lt. Governor of Maryland.

And during the dessert, South Carolina governor spoke.

Very clear battle with freedom on one side and government on the other. We live at a pivital point in human history. Every other threat in history has been external. Today's biggest problem is internal. With great power comes great responsibility. One man with great passion is a majority. Referenced William Wilburforce who dedicated his life to ridding England of slavery. Referenced Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks' single act of courage changed our nation.

I'm here to encourage you all and to tell you all that you can each make a difference in this pivital point in American history. With Katrina, we didn't unearth poverty, we unearthed dependence. He invoked the life cycle of a Democracy, putting emphasis on the dependency that leads to bondage and slavery.

Contract the reaction to Katrina with the people in this country 200 years ago: the individual was the sole repository of power in our government system that was created. The only power in the government existed by the sole consent of the governed. There has been an awful lot of consent over the last 200 years.

We need to find a way to increase involvement in this movement. We need to find more time of our own; or just get someone else involved by talking to them. Education represents the great frontier of the conservative movement. Until we get our arms around this monopolistic system that does not produce results, we're going to have mighty problems. But don't give up on the small things.

But always remember that to win a war, it takes casualties. Too many people in the political sphere won't even consider allowing themselves to be a casualty. He spent a lot of time losing. If more people would have the courage and be willing to take risks -- even if you might lose. Churchill: "Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm."

Continue to focus on taxes and spending because that is where the rubber hits the road. The bottom line matters. Remember that this is a movement, not a transaction. It took Wilburforce his entire life to complete his movement. And look for ways to be happy warriors.

It is my belief that if we all work together as conservatives, we can make remarkable differences in the history of this world.

They also released the results of a straw poll taken throughout the weekend:

For President
Rudy 34.8%
Thompson 23.7%
Gingrich 14.2%
Huckabee 8.4%
Romney 7.1%
Tancredo 5.2%
Hunter 2.4%
McCain 1%

For Governor
Smith 62.4%
Orr 24.7%
Graham 8.5%

(Still developing)

Posted by: Ogre at 04:30 PM

Comments

Posted by: Steph at April 28, 2007 05:09 PM (AC9Dc)

Posted by: Ogre at April 28, 2007 09:52 PM (n3PbV)

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