This weekend 
marks the 50th anniversary of the Sharon Statement, which officially launched Young Americans for Freedom and the young conservative movement nationwide. Read more in today's Washington Times, Investors Business Daily, and American Spectator. Read commentary on the anniversary from Wayne Thorburn here.
Young America's Foundation and The Fund for American Studies are co-sponsoring an event today at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. that will feature panel discussions and a dinner banquet.
You can watch the event live on C-SPAN at this site from 2:00 p.m. ET until 5:00 p.m. ET:
2:00 p.m. ET to 3:30 p.m. ET - Panel Session: Reflecting on the Influence of Sharon
Speakers: Lee Edwards, Jim Kolbe, Al Regnery
Panel Chairman: Wayne Thorburn
3:30 p.m. ET to 5:00 p.m. ET - Panel Session: The Future of Freedom
Speakers: Michael Barone, Quin Hillyer, Richard Viguerie
Panel Chairman: Don Devine
http://www.c-span.org/flvPop.aspx?src=15days/e091010_yaf.flv&msg=You+are+watching+the+C-SPAN+Networks+LIVE&start=77.644&end=-1
It's been 50 years since the historic meeting at the Sharon Connecticut estate of William F. Buckley Jr., the drafting of the
Sharon Statement, and the founding of the
Young Americans for Freedom; this three hour conference video recalls the founding and history of the modern conservative and libertarian movements; including the Goldwater campaign, where we are now, and where we need to go.
This should be viewed by all conservatives and libertarians to recall and understand how we got where we are now, those of us (and I was one) who were members of YAF may gain a deeper understanding of our experiences.
“”Sharon Statement
“Adopted in Conference, at Sharon, Connecticut, in conference September 10 - 13, 1960.”
IN THIS TIME of moral and political crises, it is the responsibility of the youth of America to affirm certain eternal truths.
WE, as young conservatives believe:
THAT foremost among the transcendent values is the individual’s use of his God-given free will, whence derives his right to be free from the restrictions of arbitrary force;
THAT liberty is indivisible, and that political freedom cannot long exist without economic freedom;
THAT the purpose of government is to protect those freedoms through the preservation of internal order, the provision of national defense, and the administration of justice;
THAT when government ventures beyond these rightful functions, it accumulates power, which tends to diminish order and liberty;
THAT the Constitution of the United States is the best arrangement yet devised for empowering government to fulfill its proper role, while restraining it from the concentration and abuse of power;
THAT the genius of the Constitution - the division of powers - is summed up in the clause that reserves primacy to the several states, or to the people in those spheres not specifically delegated to the Federal government;
THAT the market economy, allocating resources by the free play of supply and demand, is the single economic system compatible with the requirements of personal freedom and constitutional government, and that it is at the same time the most productive supplier of human needs;
THAT when government interferes with the work of the market economy, it tends to reduce the moral and physical strength of the nation, that when it takes from one to bestow on another, it diminishes the incentive of the first, the integrity of the second, and the moral autonomy of both;
THAT we will be free only so long as the national sovereignty of the United States is secure; that history shows periods of freedom are rare, and can exist only when free citizens concertedly defend their rights against all enemies…
THAT the forces of international Communism are, at present, the greatest single threat to these liberties;
THAT the United States should stress victory over, rather than coexistence with this menace; and
THAT American foreign policy must be judged by this criterion: does it serve the just interests of the United States?””