Free Republic

Speaking in New Hampshire last Friday night, Ted Cruz recalled a snarky aside written by New York Times columnist David Brooks, identifying Cruz and Karl Marx as the two people who "believe that power can be wielded directly by the masses." Being lumped in with Marx is a bit unusual for him, Cruz noted, but he's thrilled to be dismissed as a wacky populist by an Establishment shill like Brooks. Cruz, the junior Senator from Texas and first official Republican presidential candidate for 2016, was keynoting the New England Freedom Conference, put on by Young America's Foundation, a far-right group...

Young America’s Foundation (YAF) will welcome Senator Ted Cruz, Breitbart’s Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow, John Stossel, Katie Pavlich, and hundreds of students to New Hampshire for the first Freedom Conference of 2015. High school and college students will travel to Nashua, New Hampshire, on March 27 and 28 for inspiration, camaraderie, and training on how to take the ideas of individual freedom, free markets, and strong national defense to schools across the country. Students from as far away as California, North Carolina, Florida, and Texas will be attending this event. Many in the Conservative Movement suggest that we need to chase...

The New England Freedom Conference Streaming Agenda  Friday, March 27 7:35 p.m. The Honorable Ted Cruz     Saturday, March 28 9:00 a.m. Katie Pavlich, bestselling author, Townhall columnist, Fox News contributor and YAF alumna 10:00 a.m. Steve Lonegan, director of Monetary Policy, American Principle in Action 11:00 a.m. Dr. Larry Schweikart, bestselling author and professor of history, University of Dayton 12:35 p.m. Robert Spencer, bestselling author and director, Jihad Watch 2:00 p.m. John Stossel, host of Stossel, Fox Business Channel 3:00 p.m. Student Panel: Young People Fighting the Free Speech Battles on CampusRobert Lucido, Amherst CollegeEmily Jashinsky, George Washington...

All along Young America’s Foundation has said that college campuses nationwide seem to be less and less objective—well now even Michael Bloomberg agrees. At a commencement ceremony at Harvard yesterday, Bloomberg stated that colleges are supposed to be a place where students learn how to think, not where they are told what to think. Just last week, Young America’s Foundation released its 22nd annual “Commencement Speakers Survey” which reveals that 43 liberal speakers and only 9 conservatives are scheduled to speak or have already spoken at this year’s commencement ceremonies at America’s top 100 colleges. Campuses are using commencement addresses...

I am a historian who is writing a book about the conservative movement in the 1960s and early 1970s. If you were active back then and want to talk to me, I'd be really interested in your memories and views of the movement. I am especially interested in any first-person narratives of the 1969 YAF convention which sounds like it was very memorable. My email address is sethoffenbach@gmail.com or seth.offenbach@bcc.cuny.edu Thank you for any help and I will obviously be willing to offer you any verification that I am a legitimate historian if you need.

A Christian university blocked conservative students from forming a Young Americans for Freedom chapter on campus last week.Azusa Pacific, a private Christian university near Los Angeles, California, took issue with “divisive language” on the website of YAF, an advocacy group for college-aged conservatives. University officials also feared that replacing the existing conservative student club with a YAF-affiliated one would limit membership options for students.A spokesperson clarified that while students were free to associate with YAF, no official relationship would be permitted to exist. “They can associate with YAF, we’re just not wanting a formal chapter on our campus,” said Rachel...

Editor's Note: This column was authored by Dr. Stephen Smoot, of Young America's Foundation. Newsweek rhetorically asked America recently, “Why are Obama’s critics (read conservatives) so dumb?” We have to admit that we do fall short of our erudite betters on the Left in the field of expression. Why can’t conservatives rise to their enlightened level of discourse? What is most galling to me is the fact that we cannot even come up with our own witty attacks. Our most visible conservative has to stoop to copying our intellectual betters! Such as when David Letterman referred to Sarah Palin...

“Rep. Paul's refusal to support our nation’s military and national security interests border on treason" In a statement evocative of William F. Buckley, Jr. when he excoriated Robert Welch and the John Birch Society as being “far removed from reality and common sense”, the Young Americans for Freedom, a conservative/libertarian youth group founded in 1960, has given Ron Paul (Crank – TX) the boot from its board of directors. “Rep. Paul has strayed to the left of Obama and allied himself with the radical anti-war left by laying the blame on America for the unprovoked attacks of Sept. 11th. Additionally,...

Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) was booted off the Advisory Board of the conservative group Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) over what the group calls his "delusional and disturbing alliance with the fringe Anti-War movement." According to a post at the organization's web site: “It is a sad day in American history when a one-time conservative-libertarian stalwart has fallen more out of touch with America’s needs for national security than the current feeble and appeasing administration,” said YAF’s Senior National Director Jordan Marks. Paul has served on the Advisory Board for the conservative organization for more than two decades, and was...

The very moment that Ron Paul won the straw poll, I was handed a press release from Young Americans for Freedom: "NATION'S OLDEST CONSERVATIVE/LIBERTARIAN ACTIVIST GROUP EXPELS RON PAUL FROM ADVISORY BOARD." YAF's senior national director Aaron Marks was quoted saying Paul was "clearly off his meds," and that YAF was "more aligned with Obama" than Paul on national security. I walked outside to celebrating members of Paul's Young Americans for Liberty. They interrupted hugs and high-fives to have a laugh at this. "Why be this inflammatory?" laughed Jeff Frazee, executive director of YAL. "It's a publicity stunt, but it's...

I hesitate writing anything about Ron Paul on this site and elsewhere because his rabid supporters become unhinged if you offer the tiniest bit of criticism about their hero. In this, they are reminiscent of Obamabots. All I can say is thank goodness there aren't enough of them to get Ron Paul elected to anything except the House seat he currently enjoys holding. His presidential ambitions are a running joke, seeing as he got about 2% of the primary vote in 2008. And the GOP is not ready for his crudely isolationist foreign policy ideas nor his radical libertarian economic...

A prominent conservative activist group has given Ron Paul the boot. The Young Americans for Freedom has voted the Texas congressman off its national advisory board in the aftermath of his straw poll win at CPAC over his positions on national security issues. Continue Reading "It's a sad day in American history when a one-time conservative/libertarian stalwart has fallen more out of touch with America's needs for national security then our current socialist presidential regime," said the group's national director Jordan Marks. The dispute between Paul and the the group seems to stem from Paul's anti-war activities and the prominence...

Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) , a conservative libertarian group founded in 1960 at the estate of William F. Buckley, expelled Rep. Ron Paul, Texas Republican, from their advisory board on Saturday. The organization released the following statement on Saturday afternoon: The National Board of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF)—America's oldest conservative-libertarian activist group—has, per curium, voted to purge Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) from YAF’s National Advisory Board. YAF’s concern with Rep. Paul stems from his delusional and disturbing alliance with the fringe Anti-War movement. “It is a sad day in American history when a one-time conservative-libertarian stalwart has fallen...

Via Twitter, C-SPAN has announced that it plans to cablecast both Sarah Palin's keynote address Friday and Dick Cheney's Saturday speech from YAF's Reagan 100 Celebration at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara. - JP

WASHINGTON -- Allegations of a pro-gay takeover, boycotts, embezzlement and terrorist-loving board members. Sounds like a Hollywood version of a conspiracy thriller, but it's not. It's the buzz around this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, the nation's single largest annual congregation of conservative leaders. Conservatives riding a new wave of momentum thanks to the strength of the Tea Party movement and big wins in the November midterm election should be riding high ahead of this year's CPAC,scheduled to take place in Washington on Feb. 10-13. But the conference, which has met for 38 years, has found itself beset by conflict...

Conservative activists across the cyber world are rallying behind a Palm Beach State College student whose Young Americans for Freedom organization was booted out of a campus club event last week. The group's Florida chapter posted a video on its website showing a police officer asking PBSC student Christina Beattie to remove her table at a campus rush event, where student clubs recruit new members. Beattie and the organization's Florida president, Daniel Diaz, were displaying literature critical of President Obama's healthcare legislation, stimulus program and the nation's "unsustainable welfare state." While the group said its first amendment rights were violated...

(Lake Worth, FL) On Tuesday September 7, 2010 at around 11:00am one Palm Beach State College (PBSC) student and two Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) members, state chairman Daniel P. Diaz and state vice chairman Eddie Shaffer, were shut down and had campus police called on them after tabling and recruiting during club rush at the College. The PBSC student, Christina Beattie, had received prior permission from college administrator Olivia Ford-Morris to promote her organization on campus via telephone and email communication. On the day of club rush, officials approached the group and after seeing information about the organization and...

EEK!There is a conservative student group at our sacred campus club rush. Remove them immediately!Such was the attitude of Palm Beach State College administrator Olivia Ford-Morris at the sight of a Young Americans for Freedom table. You can see and hear the extreme urgency in the attitude and voice of Ms Ford-Morris accompanied by campus security guards in this video as she demands the students at the YAF table "Pull it up!" Although Ford-Morris claimed she didn't remember receiving either an e-mail or a phone call from YAF about getting a table for club rush, evidence is now contradicting that...

C-SPAN and Others Cover 50th Anniversary of Sharon Statement Permanent link 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...

A group of high school students attending a conservative leadership conference in Washington, D.C. said they were ordered by a security guard to stop singing the national anthem during a June 25 visit to the Lincoln Memorial. “They told them to stop singing,” said Evan Gassman, a spokesman for the Young America’s Foundation. “I was taken aback. You wouldn’t expect a display of national patriotism to be censored." ... “If their idea of civil disobedience is singing the national anthem, then so be it,” Gassman said. “Let them disobey.” The crime was "singing it loudly".