Free Republic

If ignorance is bliss, progressive kids at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are among the most blissful when it comes to the ABCs of free speech. The Student Coalition for Progress recently petitioned to have the campus Young Americans for Freedom chapter deemed a hate group and its members subjected to “intensive diversity training.” YAF, for the record, is largely a Reaganite bunch. But apparently spreading love of free markets and other conservative ideas creates “a hostile environment on campus.” Triggering the whiners was a visit from conservative columnist Ben Shapiro, who spoke about how “safe spaces” limit free speech —...

Students at the University of Wisconsin, Madison are demanding that their school’s administration put members of a conservative club “through intensive diversity training.” An online petition being circulated by the school’s “Student Coalition for Progress” condemns the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chapter on campus for hosting Ben Shapiro, whom they claim has “used his following and nationally syndicated media presence to deny the realities of systematic and institutional violence against Black and Brown people, sexual assault survivors, Muslims, LGBTQIA+ people, people with low income[s], people with differing abilities, undocumented immigrants, and anyone that [sic] is systematically targeted along identity...

A pair of incidents remind us that we are still living in a democracy and peaceful pushback can work, even on a college campus. Both stories involve Young Americans for Freedom. Two years ago, Virginia Tech cut off funding to the campus chapter of YAF when the group invited former U. S. treasurer Bay Buchanan, sister of conservative columnist Pat Buchanan, on campus to speak on immigration reform. Now, "After a long battle, Virginia Tech administrators reversed the Student Budget Board's decision and returned funding to VT YAF," Emily Jashinsky writes in the Winter 2016 issue of Libertas. Libertas is...

Liberal friends curious about how conservative professors actually teach might consider asking them. That’s what Jeisi Zhao of the Young America’s Foundation did in an interview with George Mason University economist Walter Williams. “I teach micro-economic theory, and in my classroom I never talk about the kind of things that I talk about in my syndicated column or on radio,” Dr. Williams told Zhao. “In my classroom, I never talk about these things because they are my preferences and values, and I think it is academic dishonesty for professors to teach students their values.” “I would never teach my preferences....

The Young America’s Foundation has once again compiled an invaluable compendium of this season’s commencement speakers and found, once again, that they overwhelmingly represent one point of view. Moreover, in our review of 127 of the arguably representative speakers they highlight, we note that one-third—41—have discernible political views. By the most expansive definition, one-third of these—10—can be called anything from apolitical to definitively conservative: • Gen. Philip M. Breedlove at the Georgia Institute of Technology, • Former President George W. Bush at Southern Methodist University • Former Secretary of labor , Elaine Chao, retired Admiral Thad Allen, at Georgetown •...

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...