Seven years ago Erick Erickson took the reins at RedState to transform the conservative blog into one of the most influential sources of news on the right. He’s led online activists to challenge Republicans and conservatives, unafraid to go to battle on a range of issues. Today he hosts the Erick Erickson Show on WSB Radio in Atlanta and frequently appears on CNN as a political contributor. He was in Washington this week for CPAC and hosted his radio show from Heritage’s Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio. We spoke to …
In this week’s Heritage in Focus podcast, leading historian and expert on the conservative movement, Lee Edwards, discusses the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and the state of conservatism. Click here to listen. What is the importance of CPAC? What’s Heritage’s role this year? What advice should guide conservatism moving foward? Listen to Dr. Edwards answer these questions and more! To get regular updates on Heritage in Focus podcasts, visit our RSS feed or subscribe on iTunes. To listen to more Heritage Foundation podcasts, visit our podcast page.
February 6 is Ronald Reagan’s birthday. While the right has long looked to Reagan as the standard-bearer of conservative leadership, over the past few years, even liberals are waxing Reaganesque. For instance, before he was the class warrior in the mold of Teddy Roosevelt, President Obama invoked the Gipper to support his millionaire tax. As Reagan historian Steven Hayward remarked, “Ever so slowly, liberals are attempting a subtle revisionism” of our 40th President. Let’s set the record straight. Just take a look at Ronald Reagan’s greatest achievements as evidence of …
From “Born to Run” to “Born in the USA,” “Darkness on the Edge of Town” to “Human Touch,” Bruce Springsteen has brought his brand of rock from the streets of New Jersey to the farms of the heartland, speaking to the American experience as a poet with a six-string. For more than 40 years, he has carried the torch of rock-and-roll to millions of fans, and now he’s headed back on tour, this time with a new song that, believe it or not, speaks to conservative values. Sure, it might seem …
Martin Luther King Day has arrived once again, and like clockwork, liberals are invoking King’s name to support their causes. In an e-mail to activists, Obama’s former “green czar,” Van Jones, calls King the “original Occupier.” He urges activists to use MLK day meet-ups to energize left-wing campaigning for 2012. Despite these efforts, conservatives should not surrender King’s legacy to the left. Conservatives, of course, have reservations about certain aspects of King’s legacy. For one, he became too close, later in his career, to the welfare state. He was enamored …
Today is John Dewey’s birthday, and though it’s been almost 60 years since this major Progressive figure passed away, thoughtful conservatives should acquaint themselves with his writings, since they had a profound impact on our society. Dewey, who is best known for his work on education’s role in democracy, wrote extensively on numerous topics, including philosophy, psychology, art, and politics during the course of a long academic career at the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, and Columbia University. Dewey’s great themes are progress, democracy, and the experimental method …
In 2010, North Carolina public school officials proposed changing the high school U.S. History course curriculum to cover events only from 1877 forward. Forget George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, the Constitution, and the Civil War—nothing meaningful happened in America before 1877. But, what a difference a year makes. Thanks to the Founding Principles Act, North Carolina high school students will continue to learn not only the key people and documents in American history prior to 1877 but also the philosophical underpinnings of America. Signed it into law on June 23, …
News organizations were aflutter to report on the controversies at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this past weekend. Several socially conservative groups boycotted the meeting. Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney were greeted with jeers and boos. One conference attendee was removed after calling the former Vice President a war criminal. Is conservatism imploding? It depends. If the conservative consensus rests on support for specific policy proposals, then it is possible to find an issue to splinter the coalition. But, if conservatism is grounded “not as much at the level …
Rep. Jim Jordan (R–OH) is a man who doesn’t like to lose. His high school wrestling record was an astonishing 150–1. That bodes well for the Republican Study Committee (RSC), a group of conservative lawmakers Jordan will lead in the 112th Congress. Jordan joined the RSC’s outgoing chairman, Representative Tom Price (R–GA), at an American Enterprise Institute event, Conservatism in the 112th Congress, hosted by President Arthur Brooks this week. Looking ahead to his chairmanship in January, Jordan said he recognizes that “when you are leading the conservative group,” you …
During his 1964 acceptance speech, Barry Goldwater described his movement to the audience with these words: This party, with its every action, every word, every breath and every heartbeat has but a single resolve, and that is freedom — freedom made orderly for the Nation by our constitutional government; freedom under a government limited by the laws of nature and of nature’s God; freedom — balanced so that order, lacking liberty, will not become a slave of the prison cell; balanced so that liberty, lacking order, will not become the …
