‛Not a place to find liberals’ Centennial Review Centennial Institute

Centennial Review
September 2010 Colorado Christian University
- Denver Post, July 11 8787 W. Alameda Ave.
To Revitalize America, Lakewood, CO 80226
Summit Snapshots: “Crazy Great” Remoralize the Family
Who Came: Over 850 people from a dozen states took part during the three days. By Timothy S. Goeglein Return Service Requested
Politics is downstream from culture, Principled Ideas from the Centennial Institute Publisher, William L. Armstrong
Summiteers heard greetings from U.S. Senate candidates Ken Buck and Jane Norton,
Governor candidates Dan Maes and Scott McInnis, Congressional candidates Cory not the other way around. The Volume 2, Number 7 • September 2010 Editor, John Andrews
Gardner, Ryan Frazier, and Scott Tipton, plus numerous local candidates. breakdown of family, marriage, and
The election stakes are a freedom revival
parenting is a crisis government
or economic ruin, warned Fox News
can't fix. It's up to us. TO REVITALIZE AMERICA, Such a faith can never deliver because politics cannot
contributor Dick Morris at Sunday brunch. Who Helped: Twenty-four conservative partner groups including Heritage Foundation, adequately or fully address or resolve the most pressing
Focus on the Family, KNUS Radio, Independence Institute, and Tea Party Express all REMORALIZE THE FAMILY moral and cultural concerns facing us.
pitched in, along with a volunteer corps of CCU students and staff. By Timothy S. Goeglein It is not that politics is unimportant. Quite the opposite:
Who Raved: Nearly everyone. 93% of comment sheets rated the conference as Excellent, Politics is both useful and central, and Christians need to
the rest as Good. “Invaluable,” “inspirational,” “exceptional,” “superb,” “insightful,” The late U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick be more involved than ever in the civic life of our country.
“fantastic,” “superb,” and “crazy great” were among the superlatives used. Besides several Moynihan of New York was among The first duty of Christian citizenship is to vote, and we
Western Conservative Summit 2010 • Full Program Now on Video the most thoughtful liberals of our have never needed men and women of faith more actively
days of Denver Post coverage and a Fox News mention, the Summit was noted on local TV
and radio, Facebook, YouTube, and two national columns. time. He came to see the hollowness engaged in American civic and political life than now.
Relive the Summit on DVD • Order Today of Great Society liberalism, and Moral imagination is lacking in our public square, and this
Starring on Fox News before she was 30, Student Jacob Delargy: Unexpected Lesson in Patriotism warned that America was beginning to is a vacuum that men and women of faith are uniquely
As a future soldier, the words I remember most are: “What price are you willing to pay for "Right Turn, Right Now" was the theme when 850 lovers of liberty from a dozen states rallied with the Centennial “define deviancy down.” equipped to fill.
Mary Katharine Ham enlivened the Summit Hon. Michele Mr. Dennis Prager Institute in Denver, July 9-11. All 15 hours of this historic weekend are now available in a professionally produced six-
with insights on the youth vote. freedom?” They were from the last man from whom I would expect to receive a lesson in Bachmann DVD set, or as individual disks. Moynihan often spoke Right while But in our lifetime we have seen the net result of the over-
patriotism – the former PLO operative, now an American and a Christian, Kamal Saleem. voting Left. “The central conservative extension and over-promise of what politics can achieve.
Too few of us today are willing to make a conscious decision to stand guard for freedom. Full set is $20 post paid. Separate disks for each keynote speaker (pictured) are $5. Separate disk for Arthur Brooks,
Jerry Boykin, Frank Gaffney, Tom Tancredo, Foster Friess, and Mary Katharine Ham is $5. Separate disk for Joseph
truth,” he once said, “is that it is culture, not politics, that American evangelicals by and large remained outside
Whether it be with a microphone, a pen, a computer, or a rifle, we all have a part to play.
Phillips, John Eastman, Tea Party Panel, Greg Brophy, Kamal Saleem, and Lee Strobel is $5. determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth the political arena until Jimmy Carter emerged, our first
Delargy is a CCU sophomore and ROTC cadet. He posted this on our ’76 Blog.
is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.” contemporary evangelical president. He gave reason for
Professor Gregory Schaller: Now Maintain the Momentum Order online at www.Centennialccu.org • Or use envelope provided Are we conservatives focused like a laser beam on millions of fellow men and
These conservatives had a positive agenda to restore our sacred faith, protect the Mr. Dick Morris Ms. Michelle Or write Centennial Institute, 8787 W. Alameda Avenue, Lakewood CO 80226 the culture? Or have we succumbed to the trap of Politics is downstream women of faith to give the
political system a fresh look.
entrepreneur, revitalize our nation, protect our fundamental liberties, reestablish our
leadership in the world, and defend our nation. What we seek to conserve is important.
Malkin preoccupying ourselves with politics as the answer
to our most pressing social concerns?
from culture, not the Carter succeeded at bringing
John Eastman of Chapman Law School
America is indeed “the last best hope.” Coming down from the Summit weekend, we must general. These are the institutions that can most effectively
address our most pressing social problems, and not more
Chuck Colson, who was Moynihan’s colleague in the Nixon
White House all those years ago. Burke was right: Morals and Moynihan was correct in saying that conservatives other way around. evangelicals into politics in the
told how the founders' grievances against maintain the momentum for accountability. Schaller teaches political science at CCU and is a election of 1976. But when
government. manners are actually more important than laws, because the believe politics has definitive limits. It does, and we
George III remain relevant today. Centennial Institute Fellow. This also ran on our ’76 Blog. evangelicals measured Carter’s rhetoric versus the reality of
former are rooted in personal responsibility and are the fabric push beyond those limits at our peril. The high degree of
Government cannot cause a family to fall in love again; prowess liberals ascribe to politics is an article of faith, not his policy promises, they became quickly discouraged and
Columnist Jay Ambrose: Summiteers Marching toward Something Big government cannot repair a broken marriage; government of the cultural tapestry of any great and confident nation. made a historic pivot to another political possibility.
Maybe we've come to a non-violent revolutionary moment in America. The Summit im- really a truth. Culture is in fact preeminent. Conservatives
cannot parent a single child, much less millions. David Brooks of The New York Times entitled a recent column, must always remember that politics is downstream from When Ronald Reagan famously told the National Religious
pressed me not just because of the recitation of principles, but because of the mood. The “The Limits of Policy.” He warned that “when we’re arguing
audience and speakers struck me as cheerful, positive and informed more by an idea of More Washington-directed solutions will not work, and culture, and not the other way around. Broadcasters during the heat of the 1980 campaign that,
attempts to force them to will make already difficult matters about politics, we should be aware of how policy fits into the although they could not endorse him, he endorsed them,
mission than anger at the other side. Dennis Prager told the crowd that liberals were mostly larger scheme of cultural and social influences. Bad policy Misplaced Faith
good people. Don't attack them, he said. It's their fallacious arguments you want to deal worse. In fact, more government is a trap, and does not Reagan tapped into a deeply discouraged evangelical base.
offer the solutions to the human need that is so great and so can decimate the social fabric, but good policy can only This is the reality, yet too much of the Left and Right presume He welcomed them into the Republican fold, and the New
with. Michele Bachmann talked about self-sacrifice, unity and dedication to one another
profound in our land. modestly improve it.” This is a near-perfect summation of that the most pressing problems of our time can best be Right changed the political landscape for the next 30 years.
as Americans. She told of four chaplains in World War II who went down heroically on a
where American is as we step off into a new century. addressed through politics. The reasoning goes something Traditional-values voters became the mainstay of the GOP,
Ex-terrorist Kamal Saleem hushed the
troopship. From such earnestly conveyed feelings, I had an image of an emotionally bal- The Dream and the Nightmare, Myron Magnet’s magisterial
anced, powerful, alert, energized, morally informed, widely inclusive force awakened from Hope is just ahead, but it will depend on what the great American like this: “If we could just get the right political calculus and the Republican Party’s firmest, truest foundational base.
room with his question, "What price are history of the Great Society, powerfully shows how all the into place—if we could just elect the right men and women
you willing to pay for freedom?" slumber by an overly leftist administration and marching toward something pretty big. Am- promises—the dreams—of the politicians and the social historian Gertrude Himmelfarb calls a “remoralizing” of Disillusionment with President Reagan did not materialize
brose writes a twice-weekly column for Scripps Howard Syndicate. This ran July 13. our basic institutions and our basic assumptions. We need to office—then we could begin to right the listing ship of
engineers of the 1960s ultimately ended in a spectacular state and the fate of our country.”
nightmare, inflicting on countless millions of Americans only to focus like a laser beam on healthy families, marriages, and Timothy S. Goeglein is vice president for external affairs in the Washington, D.C.,
Centennial Institute parenting. This is a miscalculation of the first order. If we are not office of Focus on the Family. A graduate of the University of Indiana, he was
Relive the Summit on DVD • Order Today more misery and worsened conditions.
careful—and regardless of how the elections turn out this
formerly a print and broadcast journalist, a staffer in the U.S. Senate, and a top
Western Full set of six is $20 post paid. Separate disks for Bachmann, Prager, Malkin, and Morris are $5. Time to Remoralize If these are healthy, a healthy cultural and social life will surely assistant to President George W. Bush. This essay is adapted from his lecture at
follow. Government overreach will be less of a temptation. November—the net result will be millions of disappointed, Colorado Christian University on April 8, 2010.
Conservative Separate disk for Arthur Brooks, Jerry Boykin, Frank Gaffney, Tom Tancredo, Foster Friess, and Mary Katharine Ham is $5.
With more government comes more potential for tyranny. disillusioned Americans who are being encouraged to put Centennial Institute sponsors research, events, and publications to enhance
Separate disk for Joseph Phillips, John Eastman, Tea Party Panel, Greg Brophy, Kamal Saleem, and Lee Strobel is $5. We'll be better defended against misplaced utopian faith
Summit 2010 Intentions may be good, but they result in “strangling their faith in politics as “answers” to the “problems” that public understanding of the most important issues facing our state and nation. By
Order online at www.Centennialccu.org • Or call 303.963.3424 in politics. The challenges will still be great, but if we are proclaiming Truth, we aim to foster faith, family, and freedom, teach citizenship,
Right Turn. Right Now. Or write Centennial Institute, 8787 W. Alameda Avenue, Lakewood CO 80226 community spirit and works of charity,” in the words of successful, a new American renaissance may await us. ■ most concern us in 21st-century American life. and renew the spirit of 1776.
Centennial Review, September 2010 ▪ 4
 free enterprise a wider hand, and find the proper balance Among Americans of Hispanic ethnicity, the out-of- Vo i c e s o f C C U
between local and central governments, we will recalibrate wedlock birth rate is 56 percent. Among white Americans,
America onto a better path.
This analysis is a powerful and pressing one; it is the correct
and right one, as far as it goes. But it is not a complete vision.
That is because the most pressing problems in our country
that number is 29 percent, leaving America with an out-
of-wedlock birth rate of nearly 40 percent overall. The
numbers tell a sobering story. They quantify the brokenness
and fragmentation that William J. Bennett was writing about
WHY NOT SHARE THE WEALTH?
By Gary Ewen
One day in my class the question arose,
“What’s wrong with a little governmen-
Centennial Review
when he said “the hearth is broken.” Western Conservative Summit 2010 Special Report • August 2010
are cultural and moral matters rooted in the institutions of tal redistribution of wealth?” I gave
family, marriage, and parenting. Problems in this realm are Forty percent of all American marriages end in divorce, a good economist’s answer, but it was
by and large not problems that government can fix, but they and 75 percent of second marriages. Fatherlessness is of obvious that several students continued
are problems government can and will likely exacerbate by epidemic proportions in many American communities, to wonder.
over-reaching, which is a recurring and dangerous problem
during progressive eras like the current one.
and is probably the most pressing social problem in urban
America today.
The next week, I returned their graded
quarterly exams. Apart from a handful
of A’s, most of the students had earned
‛This is going to be fun’
- Summit closing speaker Dick Morris, talking of America’s right turn
Two Revolutions Fatherless Generation low marks. I told them that since the
class had done so poorly on the exam, I was going to take
Our country has had two revolutions: the American
Revolution and the sexual revolution. Both profoundly
Patrick Walsh, who has taught English in a public high
school in Alexandria, Virginia, for nearly 40 years, regularly some of the points away from the “A” students and give
them to the students who had scored lower.
Hundreds rally for liberty at conservative summit
impacted our country. But the latter one has resulted in a writes on education for The Washington Post. “Focusing on a Western Conservative Summit 2010, Centennial Institute’s first annual rally in the Rockies, made waves July 9-11
social and moral decay that, if not arrested, could ultimately ‘racial achievement gap’ is too simple,” he said in a column A cheer went up, but not everyone was happy. One young
woman said she had studied 16 hours for the exam. She with a stellar speaker lineup, overflow crowds, and sizzling enthusiasm for the conference theme of “Right Turn,
negate the original one and destroy our liberty. Our last year. “It’s a gap in familial support and involvement didn’t think it was fair of me to take points from her and Right Now.” This special report gives you a feeling for the weekend’s excitement in pictures, words, and personal
Founders rightly warned that we could not have freedom too.” Walsh is right. If we want a healthy economic climate, give them to students who had put forth less effort. The glimpses. A video record of the full 15 hours is now on sale. Plans for Summit 2011 will be announced soon.
without virtue. Today's deficit of moral excellence strikes at a healthy educational climate, a healthy cultural climate other top students nodded their agreement. I asked the
the core of our national DNA. It is a spiritual dearth of the overall, it can all be traced back to the health or illness of rest of the class how much time they had spent studying.
in the way it did with President Carter. Why? Probably
first magnitude. The culture is “chewing up our kids and the American family. The family is the central institution of The average was between two and three hours.
because the reality of what is possible in the politics of any
chewing up our families,” as the president of Focus on the American culture—both the bedrock and the foundation. A spirited discussion ensued regarding my plans to
presidency became apparent by the end of Reagan’s two
Family, Jim Daly, puts it. “level the playing field.” The higher-achieving students
terms. Government cannot One of his students
urged Patrick Walsh
concluded that, since there was no reward for hard work,
The Reagan presidency Kirk: To have order in the The great conservative thinker Russell they would simply study less for the next exam.
proved that, even when the Kirk posited that social and cultural cause a family to fall to ask the class
I then revealed to the class that I had never really intended
most prominent conservative commonwealth, first have crises were ultimately spiritual or moral
“just how many of
crises. He said that, if you wanted to in love again, repair a us have our fathers
to redistribute their grade points. I merely wanted to il-
lustrate for them what’s wrong with sharing the wealth.
president of the contemporary
era came to power, and despite
order in the soul. have order in the commonwealth, broken marriage, or living with us.” Not Redistribution demotivates people by decoupling effort Michele Bachmann, congresswoman from
Minnesota, roused the summiteers with her
The Battle, a new book by Arthur Brooks of
AEI, focused his warning on the threat to
America must resist Islamic aspirations for
dominance through jihad and sharia, said
a single hand went from reward. Suddenly my students could see how the
his best efforts in so many important and historic ways (such you had to have order in the soul first. The breakdown parent a single child. Friday keynote on defending liberty. free enterprise from big government. retired Lt. Gen. William Boykin.
of the American family, the breakdown of marriage, the up. He commented overreach of government today is eroding the American
as the elevation of William Rehnquist to be chief justice of work ethic.
later, “It hit me that
the United States, the nomination of Antonin Scalia to be breakdown of parenting: These are the urgent spiritual
these kids understood what I know too well. The lack of a At Colorado Christian University we’re concerned about
a justice on the Supreme Court, the famous tax cuts, etc.), crises which underlie our cultural crisis and ultimately this war on achievement. We teach that all the so-called
father in their lives had undermined their education.” And
politics came to be seen as having definitive, measurable impact our political and civic lives. “secrets of success” will not work unless you do. ■
When Moynihan wrote his famous analysis “The Negro presumably so much else, too.
limits when it comes to impacting the culture.
Similar examples abound: A recent NBC program, Dateline, Dr. Gary Ewen is dean of the School of Business
That recognition was and is a good and healthy thing. The Family: The Case for American Action” for President and Leadership at Colorado Christian University, Centennial
said that in the city limits of Detroit there are 400 liquor
boundary line between culture and politics should remain Johnson in 1965, out-of-wedlock births among those where he also continues to serve as a professor of man- Institute
families was 25 percent. Today, that number is a staggering stores and zero supermarkets. The Manhattan Institute’s agement and leadership studies. He holds a bachelor's Colorado Christian University
ever before us. As the late Irving Kristol, godfather of
Heather MacDonald has found that “around 80 percent of degree from Illinois State University, a master's from
neoconservatism, wrote, “Political problems, even many 73 percent. Only 37 percent of black children now live with Colorado State University, a doctorate from Regent University, and is a U.S. Army Former congressman Tom Tancredo "Peace through strength," Reagan's Colorado Springs columnist Michelle
Chicago’s black youth are born to single mothers, creating a
social problems, are at heart ethical and cultural problems. a mother and father in two-parent families. That should veteran. deconstructed liberalism, a week before watchword, must now be ours, urged Frank Malkin joked that the rollicking crowd at
dysfunctional culture that is failing to civilize young males.”
And improving the attitudes and virtues of a nation is, cause us all to weep.
his late entry into the governor's race. Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy. Saturday lunch was no "angry mob."
Most of America’s major cities now have gangs comprised
at best, a slow, halting process.” Kristol’s analysis, like
of tens of thousands of young boys and men who never nationhood, and if this transcendent dimension is stripped
Moynihan’s, was prescient. Recognizing the limits of
spent a single night in the same home as their natural-born away, you strip away the very foundations of a great country.
politics, while giving the greater emphasis to culture, is now CENTENNIAL REVIEW is published monthly by the Centennial Institute at father. We are testing that proposition.
the preeminent conservative task. Colorado Christian University. Designer, Danielle Hull. Illustrator, Benjamin
Hummel. Subscriptions free upon request. Write to: Centennial Institute, 8787 Roger Scruton, the Anglo-American conservative writer, So what is the way forward toward a healthier culture? It is
Yet many conservatives believe America’s most pressing W. Alameda Ave., Lakewood, CO 80226. Call 800.44.FAITH. Or visit us online at
observes that in addition to external enemies, we in the West to actively re-energize what Edmund Burke called “the little
problems are rooted in the central battle over the size and www.CentennialCCU.org.
confront “a belligerent atheism at home,” which is among platoons,” those voluntary associations which the American
scope of government. It is widely held that if we can just Please join the Centennial Institute today. As a Centennial the greatest threats to our way of life. Herbert London, philosopher Robert Nisbet termed the “intermediary
re-limit government, cut taxes, decrease regulations, give donor, you can help us restore America’s moral core and prepare
tomorrow’s leaders. Your gift is tax-deductible. Please use the chairman of the Hudson Institute, makes a related point institutions” of family, church, synagogue, fraternal groups, Freedom is inborn, because we are each Foster Friess, investment wizard turned Adversity is easier, said radio host Dennis
precious to God, proclaimed author and policy innovator and philanthropist, argued Prager after a standing ovation. Playful
envelope provided. Thank you for your support. in contending that there exists a “spiritual dimension” to neighborhoods, healthy communities, and civil society in
- John Andrews, Director Hollywood actor Joseph C. Phillips. for market reforms to replace Obamacare. booing, now on YouTube, resulted.
Centennial Review, September 2010 ▪ 2 Centennial Review, September 2010 ▪ 3
 free enterprise a wider hand, and find the proper balance Among Americans of Hispanic ethnicity, the out-of- Vo i c e s o f C C U
between local and central governments, we will recalibrate wedlock birth rate is 56 percent. Among white Americans,
America onto a better path.
This analysis is a powerful and pressing one; it is the correct
and right one, as far as it goes. But it is not a complete vision.
That is because the most pressing problems in our country
that number is 29 percent, leaving America with an out-
of-wedlock birth rate of nearly 40 percent overall. The
numbers tell a sobering story. They quantify the brokenness
and fragmentation that William J. Bennett was writing about
WHY NOT SHARE THE WEALTH?
By Gary Ewen
One day in my class the question arose,
“What’s wrong with a little governmen-
Centennial Review
when he said “the hearth is broken.” Western Conservative Summit 2010 Special Report • August 2010
are cultural and moral matters rooted in the institutions of tal redistribution of wealth?” I gave
family, marriage, and parenting. Problems in this realm are Forty percent of all American marriages end in divorce, a good economist’s answer, but it was
by and large not problems that government can fix, but they and 75 percent of second marriages. Fatherlessness is of obvious that several students continued
are problems government can and will likely exacerbate by epidemic proportions in many American communities, to wonder.
over-reaching, which is a recurring and dangerous problem
during progressive eras like the current one.
and is probably the most pressing social problem in urban
America today.
The next week, I returned their graded
quarterly exams. Apart from a handful
of A’s, most of the students had earned
‛This is going to be fun’
- Summit closing speaker Dick Morris, talking of America’s right turn
Two Revolutions Fatherless Generation low marks. I told them that since the
class had done so poorly on the exam, I was going to take
Our country has had two revolutions: the American
Revolution and the sexual revolution. Both profoundly
Patrick Walsh, who has taught English in a public high
school in Alexandria, Virginia, for nearly 40 years, regularly some of the points away from the “A” students and give
them to the students who had scored lower.
Hundreds rally for liberty at conservative summit
impacted our country. But the latter one has resulted in a writes on education for The Washington Post. “Focusing on a Western Conservative Summit 2010, Centennial Institute’s first annual rally in the Rockies, made waves July 9-11
social and moral decay that, if not arrested, could ultimately ‘racial achievement gap’ is too simple,” he said in a column A cheer went up, but not everyone was happy. One young
woman said she had studied 16 hours for the exam. She with a stellar speaker lineup, overflow crowds, and sizzling enthusiasm for the conference theme of “Right Turn,
negate the original one and destroy our liberty. Our last year. “It’s a gap in familial support and involvement didn’t think it was fair of me to take points from her and Right Now.” This special report gives you a feeling for the weekend’s excitement in pictures, words, and personal
Founders rightly warned that we could not have freedom too.” Walsh is right. If we want a healthy economic climate, give them to students who had put forth less effort. The glimpses. A video record of the full 15 hours is now on sale. Plans for Summit 2011 will be announced soon.
without virtue. Today's deficit of moral excellence strikes at a healthy educational climate, a healthy cultural climate other top students nodded their agreement. I asked the
the core of our national DNA. It is a spiritual dearth of the overall, it can all be traced back to the health or illness of rest of the class how much time they had spent studying.
in the way it did with President Carter. Why? Probably
first magnitude. The culture is “chewing up our kids and the American family. The family is the central institution of The average was between two and three hours.
because the reality of what is possible in the politics of any
chewing up our families,” as the president of Focus on the American culture—both the bedrock and the foundation. A spirited discussion ensued regarding my plans to
presidency became apparent by the end of Reagan’s two
Family, Jim Daly, puts it. “level the playing field.” The higher-achieving students
terms. Government cannot One of his students
urged Patrick Walsh
concluded that, since there was no reward for hard work,
The Reagan presidency Kirk: To have order in the The great conservative thinker Russell they would simply study less for the next exam.
proved that, even when the Kirk posited that social and cultural cause a family to fall to ask the class
I then revealed to the class that I had never really intended
most prominent conservative commonwealth, first have crises were ultimately spiritual or moral
“just how many of
crises. He said that, if you wanted to in love again, repair a us have our fathers
to redistribute their grade points. I merely wanted to il-
lustrate for them what’s wrong with sharing the wealth.
president of the contemporary
era came to power, and despite
order in the soul. have order in the commonwealth, broken marriage, or living with us.” Not Redistribution demotivates people by decoupling effort Michele Bachmann, congresswoman from
Minnesota, roused the summiteers with her
The Battle, a new book by Arthur Brooks of
AEI, focused his warning on the threat to
America must resist Islamic aspirations for
dominance through jihad and sharia, said
a single hand went from reward. Suddenly my students could see how the
his best efforts in so many important and historic ways (such you had to have order in the soul first. The breakdown parent a single child. Friday keynote on defending liberty. free enterprise from big government. retired Lt. Gen. William Boykin.
of the American family, the breakdown of marriage, the up. He commented overreach of government today is eroding the American
as the elevation of William Rehnquist to be chief justice of work ethic.
later, “It hit me that
the United States, the nomination of Antonin Scalia to be breakdown of parenting: These are the urgent spiritual
these kids understood what I know too well. The lack of a At Colorado Christian University we’re concerned about
a justice on the Supreme Court, the famous tax cuts, etc.), crises which underlie our cultural crisis and ultimately this war on achievement. We teach that all the so-called
father in their lives had undermined their education.” And
politics came to be seen as having definitive, measurable impact our political and civic lives. “secrets of success” will not work unless you do. ■
When Moynihan wrote his famous analysis “The Negro presumably so much else, too.
limits when it comes to impacting the culture.
Similar examples abound: A recent NBC program, Dateline, Dr. Gary Ewen is dean of the School of Business
That recognition was and is a good and healthy thing. The Family: The Case for American Action” for President and Leadership at Colorado Christian University, Centennial
said that in the city limits of Detroit there are 400 liquor
boundary line between culture and politics should remain Johnson in 1965, out-of-wedlock births among those where he also continues to serve as a professor of man- Institute
families was 25 percent. Today, that number is a staggering stores and zero supermarkets. The Manhattan Institute’s agement and leadership studies. He holds a bachelor's Colorado Christian University
ever before us. As the late Irving Kristol, godfather of
Heather MacDonald has found that “around 80 percent of degree from Illinois State University, a master's from
neoconservatism, wrote, “Political problems, even many 73 percent. Only 37 percent of black children now live with Colorado State University, a doctorate from Regent University, and is a U.S. Army Former congressman Tom Tancredo "Peace through strength," Reagan's Colorado Springs columnist Michelle
Chicago’s black youth are born to single mothers, creating a
social problems, are at heart ethical and cultural problems. a mother and father in two-parent families. That should veteran. deconstructed liberalism, a week before watchword, must now be ours, urged Frank Malkin joked that the rollicking crowd at
dysfunctional culture that is failing to civilize young males.”
And improving the attitudes and virtues of a nation is, cause us all to weep.
his late entry into the governor's race. Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy. Saturday lunch was no "angry mob."
Most of America’s major cities now have gangs comprised
at best, a slow, halting process.” Kristol’s analysis, like
of tens of thousands of young boys and men who never nationhood, and if this transcendent dimension is stripped
Moynihan’s, was prescient. Recognizing the limits of
spent a single night in the same home as their natural-born away, you strip away the very foundations of a great country.
politics, while giving the greater emphasis to culture, is now CENTENNIAL REVIEW is published monthly by the Centennial Institute at father. We are testing that proposition.
the preeminent conservative task. Colorado Christian University. Designer, Danielle Hull. Illustrator, Benjamin
Hummel. Subscriptions free upon request. Write to: Centennial Institute, 8787 Roger Scruton, the Anglo-American conservative writer, So what is the way forward toward a healthier culture? It is
Yet many conservatives believe America’s most pressing W. Alameda Ave., Lakewood, CO 80226. Call 800.44.FAITH. Or visit us online at
observes that in addition to external enemies, we in the West to actively re-energize what Edmund Burke called “the little
problems are rooted in the central battle over the size and www.CentennialCCU.org.
confront “a belligerent atheism at home,” which is among platoons,” those voluntary associations which the American
scope of government. It is widely held that if we can just Please join the Centennial Institute today. As a Centennial the greatest threats to our way of life. Herbert London, philosopher Robert Nisbet termed the “intermediary
re-limit government, cut taxes, decrease regulations, give donor, you can help us restore America’s moral core and prepare
tomorrow’s leaders. Your gift is tax-deductible. Please use the chairman of the Hudson Institute, makes a related point institutions” of family, church, synagogue, fraternal groups, Freedom is inborn, because we are each Foster Friess, investment wizard turned Adversity is easier, said radio host Dennis
precious to God, proclaimed author and policy innovator and philanthropist, argued Prager after a standing ovation. Playful
envelope provided. Thank you for your support. in contending that there exists a “spiritual dimension” to neighborhoods, healthy communities, and civil society in
- John Andrews, Director Hollywood actor Joseph C. Phillips. for market reforms to replace Obamacare. booing, now on YouTube, resulted.
Centennial Review, September 2010 ▪ 2 Centennial Review, September 2010 ▪ 3
 ‛Not a place to find liberals’ Centennial Review Centennial Institute

Centennial Review
September 2010 Colorado Christian University
- Denver Post, July 11 8787 W. Alameda Ave.
To Revitalize America, Lakewood, CO 80226
Summit Snapshots: “Crazy Great” Remoralize the Family
Who Came: Over 850 people from a dozen states took part during the three days. By Timothy S. Goeglein Return Service Requested
Politics is downstream from culture, Principled Ideas from the Centennial Institute Publisher, William L. Armstrong
Summiteers heard greetings from U.S. Senate candidates Ken Buck and Jane Norton,
Governor candidates Dan Maes and Scott McInnis, Congressional candidates Cory not the other way around. The Volume 2, Number 7 • September 2010 Editor, John Andrews
Gardner, Ryan Frazier, and Scott Tipton, plus numerous local candidates. breakdown of family, marriage, and
The election stakes are a freedom revival
parenting is a crisis government
or economic ruin, warned Fox News
can't fix. It's up to us. TO REVITALIZE AMERICA, Such a faith can never deliver because politics cannot
contributor Dick Morris at Sunday brunch. Who Helped: Twenty-four conservative partner groups including Heritage Foundation, adequately or fully address or resolve the most pressing
Focus on the Family, KNUS Radio, Independence Institute, and Tea Party Express all REMORALIZE THE FAMILY moral and cultural concerns facing us.
pitched in, along with a volunteer corps of CCU students and staff. By Timothy S. Goeglein It is not that politics is unimportant. Quite the opposite:
Who Raved: Nearly everyone. 93% of comment sheets rated the conference as Excellent, Politics is both useful and central, and Christians need to
the rest as Good. “Invaluable,” “inspirational,” “exceptional,” “superb,” “insightful,” The late U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick be more involved than ever in the civic life of our country.
“fantastic,” “superb,” and “crazy great” were among the superlatives used. Besides several Moynihan of New York was among The first duty of Christian citizenship is to vote, and we
Western Conservative Summit 2010 • Full Program Now on Video the most thoughtful liberals of our have never needed men and women of faith more actively
days of Denver Post coverage and a Fox News mention, the Summit was noted on local TV
and radio, Facebook, YouTube, and two national columns. time. He came to see the hollowness engaged in American civic and political life than now.
Relive the Summit on DVD • Order Today of Great Society liberalism, and Moral imagination is lacking in our public square, and this
Starring on Fox News before she was 30, Student Jacob Delargy: Unexpected Lesson in Patriotism warned that America was beginning to is a vacuum that men and women of faith are uniquely
As a future soldier, the words I remember most are: “What price are you willing to pay for "Right Turn, Right Now" was the theme when 850 lovers of liberty from a dozen states rallied with the Centennial “define deviancy down.” equipped to fill.
Mary Katharine Ham enlivened the Summit Hon. Michele Mr. Dennis Prager Institute in Denver, July 9-11. All 15 hours of this historic weekend are now available in a professionally produced six-
with insights on the youth vote. freedom?” They were from the last man from whom I would expect to receive a lesson in Bachmann DVD set, or as individual disks. Moynihan often spoke Right while But in our lifetime we have seen the net result of the over-
patriotism – the former PLO operative, now an American and a Christian, Kamal Saleem. voting Left. “The central conservative extension and over-promise of what politics can achieve.
Too few of us today are willing to make a conscious decision to stand guard for freedom. Full set is $20 post paid. Separate disks for each keynote speaker (pictured) are $5. Separate disk for Arthur Brooks,
Jerry Boykin, Frank Gaffney, Tom Tancredo, Foster Friess, and Mary Katharine Ham is $5. Separate disk for Joseph
truth,” he once said, “is that it is culture, not politics, that American evangelicals by and large remained outside
Whether it be with a microphone, a pen, a computer, or a rifle, we all have a part to play.
Phillips, John Eastman, Tea Party Panel, Greg Brophy, Kamal Saleem, and Lee Strobel is $5. determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth the political arena until Jimmy Carter emerged, our first
Delargy is a CCU sophomore and ROTC cadet. He posted this on our ’76 Blog.
is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.” contemporary evangelical president. He gave reason for
Professor Gregory Schaller: Now Maintain the Momentum Order online at www.Centennialccu.org • Or use envelope provided Are we conservatives focused like a laser beam on millions of fellow men and
These conservatives had a positive agenda to restore our sacred faith, protect the Mr. Dick Morris Ms. Michelle Or write Centennial Institute, 8787 W. Alameda Avenue, Lakewood CO 80226 the culture? Or have we succumbed to the trap of Politics is downstream women of faith to give the
political system a fresh look.
entrepreneur, revitalize our nation, protect our fundamental liberties, reestablish our
leadership in the world, and defend our nation. What we seek to conserve is important.
Malkin preoccupying ourselves with politics as the answer
to our most pressing social concerns?
from culture, not the Carter succeeded at bringing
John Eastman of Chapman Law School
America is indeed “the last best hope.” Coming down from the Summit weekend, we must general. These are the institutions that can most effectively
address our most pressing social problems, and not more
Chuck Colson, who was Moynihan’s colleague in the Nixon
White House all those years ago. Burke was right: Morals and Moynihan was correct in saying that conservatives other way around. evangelicals into politics in the
told how the founders' grievances against maintain the momentum for accountability. Schaller teaches political science at CCU and is a election of 1976. But when
government. manners are actually more important than laws, because the believe politics has definitive limits. It does, and we
George III remain relevant today. Centennial Institute Fellow. This also ran on our ’76 Blog. evangelicals measured Carter’s rhetoric versus the reality of
former are rooted in personal responsibility and are the fabric push beyond those limits at our peril. The high degree of
Government cannot cause a family to fall in love again; prowess liberals ascribe to politics is an article of faith, not his policy promises, they became quickly discouraged and
Columnist Jay Ambrose: Summiteers Marching toward Something Big government cannot repair a broken marriage; government of the cultural tapestry of any great and confident nation. made a historic pivot to another political possibility.
Maybe we've come to a non-violent revolutionary moment in America. The Summit im- really a truth. Culture is in fact preeminent. Conservatives
cannot parent a single child, much less millions. David Brooks of The New York Times entitled a recent column, must always remember that politics is downstream from When Ronald Reagan famously told the National Religious
pressed me not just because of the recitation of principles, but because of the mood. The “The Limits of Policy.” He warned that “when we’re arguing
audience and speakers struck me as cheerful, positive and informed more by an idea of More Washington-directed solutions will not work, and culture, and not the other way around. Broadcasters during the heat of the 1980 campaign that,
attempts to force them to will make already difficult matters about politics, we should be aware of how policy fits into the although they could not endorse him, he endorsed them,
mission than anger at the other side. Dennis Prager told the crowd that liberals were mostly larger scheme of cultural and social influences. Bad policy Misplaced Faith
good people. Don't attack them, he said. It's their fallacious arguments you want to deal worse. In fact, more government is a trap, and does not Reagan tapped into a deeply discouraged evangelical base.
offer the solutions to the human need that is so great and so can decimate the social fabric, but good policy can only This is the reality, yet too much of the Left and Right presume He welcomed them into the Republican fold, and the New
with. Michele Bachmann talked about self-sacrifice, unity and dedication to one another
profound in our land. modestly improve it.” This is a near-perfect summation of that the most pressing problems of our time can best be Right changed the political landscape for the next 30 years.
as Americans. She told of four chaplains in World War II who went down heroically on a
where American is as we step off into a new century. addressed through politics. The reasoning goes something Traditional-values voters became the mainstay of the GOP,
Ex-terrorist Kamal Saleem hushed the
troopship. From such earnestly conveyed feelings, I had an image of an emotionally bal- The Dream and the Nightmare, Myron Magnet’s magisterial
anced, powerful, alert, energized, morally informed, widely inclusive force awakened from Hope is just ahead, but it will depend on what the great American like this: “If we could just get the right political calculus and the Republican Party’s firmest, truest foundational base.
room with his question, "What price are history of the Great Society, powerfully shows how all the into place—if we could just elect the right men and women
you willing to pay for freedom?" slumber by an overly leftist administration and marching toward something pretty big. Am- promises—the dreams—of the politicians and the social historian Gertrude Himmelfarb calls a “remoralizing” of Disillusionment with President Reagan did not materialize
brose writes a twice-weekly column for Scripps Howard Syndicate. This ran July 13. our basic institutions and our basic assumptions. We need to office—then we could begin to right the listing ship of
engineers of the 1960s ultimately ended in a spectacular state and the fate of our country.”
nightmare, inflicting on countless millions of Americans only to focus like a laser beam on healthy families, marriages, and Timothy S. Goeglein is vice president for external affairs in the Washington, D.C.,
Centennial Institute parenting. This is a miscalculation of the first order. If we are not office of Focus on the Family. A graduate of the University of Indiana, he was
Relive the Summit on DVD • Order Today more misery and worsened conditions.
careful—and regardless of how the elections turn out this
formerly a print and broadcast journalist, a staffer in the U.S. Senate, and a top
Western Full set of six is $20 post paid. Separate disks for Bachmann, Prager, Malkin, and Morris are $5. Time to Remoralize If these are healthy, a healthy cultural and social life will surely assistant to President George W. Bush. This essay is adapted from his lecture at
follow. Government overreach will be less of a temptation. November—the net result will be millions of disappointed, Colorado Christian University on April 8, 2010.
Conservative Separate disk for Arthur Brooks, Jerry Boykin, Frank Gaffney, Tom Tancredo, Foster Friess, and Mary Katharine Ham is $5.
With more government comes more potential for tyranny. disillusioned Americans who are being encouraged to put Centennial Institute sponsors research, events, and publications to enhance
Separate disk for Joseph Phillips, John Eastman, Tea Party Panel, Greg Brophy, Kamal Saleem, and Lee Strobel is $5. We'll be better defended against misplaced utopian faith
Summit 2010 Intentions may be good, but they result in “strangling their faith in politics as “answers” to the “problems” that public understanding of the most important issues facing our state and nation. By
Order online at www.Centennialccu.org • Or call 303.963.3424 in politics. The challenges will still be great, but if we are proclaiming Truth, we aim to foster faith, family, and freedom, teach citizenship,
Right Turn. Right Now. Or write Centennial Institute, 8787 W. Alameda Avenue, Lakewood CO 80226 community spirit and works of charity,” in the words of successful, a new American renaissance may await us. ■ most concern us in 21st-century American life. and renew the spirit of 1776.
Centennial Review, September 2010 ▪ 4
 free enterprise a wider hand, and find the proper balance Among Americans of Hispanic ethnicity, the out-of- Vo i c e s o f C C U
between local and central governments, we will recalibrate wedlock birth rate is 56 percent. Among white Americans,
America onto a better path.
This analysis is a powerful and pressing one; it is the correct
and right one, as far as it goes. But it is not a complete vision.
That is because the most pressing problems in our country
that number is 29 percent, leaving America with an out-
of-wedlock birth rate of nearly 40 percent overall. The
numbers tell a sobering story. They quantify the brokenness
and fragmentation that William J. Bennett was writing about
WHY NOT SHARE THE WEALTH?
By Gary Ewen
One day in my class the question arose,
“What’s wrong with a little governmen-
Centennial Review
when he said “the hearth is broken.” Western Conservative Summit 2010 Special Report • August 2010
are cultural and moral matters rooted in the institutions of tal redistribution of wealth?” I gave
family, marriage, and parenting. Problems in this realm are Forty percent of all American marriages end in divorce, a good economist’s answer, but it was
by and large not problems that government can fix, but they and 75 percent of second marriages. Fatherlessness is of obvious that several students continued
are problems government can and will likely exacerbate by epidemic proportions in many American communities, to wonder.
over-reaching, which is a recurring and dangerous problem
during progressive eras like the current one.
and is probably the most pressing social problem in urban
America today.
The next week, I returned their graded
quarterly exams. Apart from a handful
of A’s, most of the students had earned
‛This is going to be fun’
- Summit closing speaker Dick Morris, talking of America’s right turn
Two Revolutions Fatherless Generation low marks. I told them that since the
class had done so poorly on the exam, I was going to take
Our country has had two revolutions: the American
Revolution and the sexual revolution. Both profoundly
Patrick Walsh, who has taught English in a public high
school in Alexandria, Virginia, for nearly 40 years, regularly some of the points away from the “A” students and give
them to the students who had scored lower.
Hundreds rally for liberty at conservative summit
impacted our country. But the latter one has resulted in a writes on education for The Washington Post. “Focusing on a Western Conservative Summit 2010, Centennial Institute’s first annual rally in the Rockies, made waves July 9-11
social and moral decay that, if not arrested, could ultimately ‘racial achievement gap’ is too simple,” he said in a column A cheer went up, but not everyone was happy. One young
woman said she had studied 16 hours for the exam. She with a stellar speaker lineup, overflow crowds, and sizzling enthusiasm for the conference theme of “Right Turn,
negate the original one and destroy our liberty. Our last year. “It’s a gap in familial support and involvement didn’t think it was fair of me to take points from her and Right Now.” This special report gives you a feeling for the weekend’s excitement in pictures, words, and personal
Founders rightly warned that we could not have freedom too.” Walsh is right. If we want a healthy economic climate, give them to students who had put forth less effort. The glimpses. A video record of the full 15 hours is now on sale. Plans for Summit 2011 will be announced soon.
without virtue. Today's deficit of moral excellence strikes at a healthy educational climate, a healthy cultural climate other top students nodded their agreement. I asked the
the core of our national DNA. It is a spiritual dearth of the overall, it can all be traced back to the health or illness of rest of the class how much time they had spent studying.
in the way it did with President Carter. Why? Probably
first magnitude. The culture is “chewing up our kids and the American family. The family is the central institution of The average was between two and three hours.
because the reality of what is possible in the politics of any
chewing up our families,” as the president of Focus on the American culture—both the bedrock and the foundation. A spirited discussion ensued regarding my plans to
presidency became apparent by the end of Reagan’s two
Family, Jim Daly, puts it. “level the playing field.” The higher-achieving students
terms. Government cannot One of his students
urged Patrick Walsh
concluded that, since there was no reward for hard work,
The Reagan presidency Kirk: To have order in the The great conservative thinker Russell they would simply study less for the next exam.
proved that, even when the Kirk posited that social and cultural cause a family to fall to ask the class
I then revealed to the class that I had never really intended
most prominent conservative commonwealth, first have crises were ultimately spiritual or moral
“just how many of
crises. He said that, if you wanted to in love again, repair a us have our fathers
to redistribute their grade points. I merely wanted to il-
lustrate for them what’s wrong with sharing the wealth.
president of the contemporary
era came to power, and despite
order in the soul. have order in the commonwealth, broken marriage, or living with us.” Not Redistribution demotivates people by decoupling effort Michele Bachmann, congresswoman from
Minnesota, roused the summiteers with her
The Battle, a new book by Arthur Brooks of
AEI, focused his warning on the threat to
America must resist Islamic aspirations for
dominance through jihad and sharia, said
a single hand went from reward. Suddenly my students could see how the
his best efforts in so many important and historic ways (such you had to have order in the soul first. The breakdown parent a single child. Friday keynote on defending liberty. free enterprise from big government. retired Lt. Gen. William Boykin.
of the American family, the breakdown of marriage, the up. He commented overreach of government today is eroding the American
as the elevation of William Rehnquist to be chief justice of work ethic.
later, “It hit me that
the United States, the nomination of Antonin Scalia to be breakdown of parenting: These are the urgent spiritual
these kids understood what I know too well. The lack of a At Colorado Christian University we’re concerned about
a justice on the Supreme Court, the famous tax cuts, etc.), crises which underlie our cultural crisis and ultimately this war on achievement. We teach that all the so-called
father in their lives had undermined their education.” And
politics came to be seen as having definitive, measurable impact our political and civic lives. “secrets of success” will not work unless you do. ■
When Moynihan wrote his famous analysis “The Negro presumably so much else, too.
limits when it comes to impacting the culture.
Similar examples abound: A recent NBC program, Dateline, Dr. Gary Ewen is dean of the School of Business
That recognition was and is a good and healthy thing. The Family: The Case for American Action” for President and Leadership at Colorado Christian University, Centennial
said that in the city limits of Detroit there are 400 liquor
boundary line between culture and politics should remain Johnson in 1965, out-of-wedlock births among those where he also continues to serve as a professor of man- Institute
families was 25 percent. Today, that number is a staggering stores and zero supermarkets. The Manhattan Institute’s agement and leadership studies. He holds a bachelor's Colorado Christian University
ever before us. As the late Irving Kristol, godfather of
Heather MacDonald has found that “around 80 percent of degree from Illinois State University, a master's from
neoconservatism, wrote, “Political problems, even many 73 percent. Only 37 percent of black children now live with Colorado State University, a doctorate from Regent University, and is a U.S. Army Former congressman Tom Tancredo "Peace through strength," Reagan's Colorado Springs columnist Michelle
Chicago’s black youth are born to single mothers, creating a
social problems, are at heart ethical and cultural problems. a mother and father in two-parent families. That should veteran. deconstructed liberalism, a week before watchword, must now be ours, urged Frank Malkin joked that the rollicking crowd at
dysfunctional culture that is failing to civilize young males.”
And improving the attitudes and virtues of a nation is, cause us all to weep.
his late entry into the governor's race. Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy. Saturday lunch was no "angry mob."
Most of America’s major cities now have gangs comprised
at best, a slow, halting process.” Kristol’s analysis, like
of tens of thousands of young boys and men who never nationhood, and if this transcendent dimension is stripped
Moynihan’s, was prescient. Recognizing the limits of
spent a single night in the same home as their natural-born away, you strip away the very foundations of a great country.
politics, while giving the greater emphasis to culture, is now CENTENNIAL REVIEW is published monthly by the Centennial Institute at father. We are testing that proposition.
the preeminent conservative task. Colorado Christian University. Designer, Danielle Hull. Illustrator, Benjamin
Hummel. Subscriptions free upon request. Write to: Centennial Institute, 8787 Roger Scruton, the Anglo-American conservative writer, So what is the way forward toward a healthier culture? It is
Yet many conservatives believe America’s most pressing W. Alameda Ave., Lakewood, CO 80226. Call 800.44.FAITH. Or visit us online at
observes that in addition to external enemies, we in the West to actively re-energize what Edmund Burke called “the little
problems are rooted in the central battle over the size and www.CentennialCCU.org.
confront “a belligerent atheism at home,” which is among platoons,” those voluntary associations which the American
scope of government. It is widely held that if we can just Please join the Centennial Institute today. As a Centennial the greatest threats to our way of life. Herbert London, philosopher Robert Nisbet termed the “intermediary
re-limit government, cut taxes, decrease regulations, give donor, you can help us restore America’s moral core and prepare
tomorrow’s leaders. Your gift is tax-deductible. Please use the chairman of the Hudson Institute, makes a related point institutions” of family, church, synagogue, fraternal groups, Freedom is inborn, because we are each Foster Friess, investment wizard turned Adversity is easier, said radio host Dennis
precious to God, proclaimed author and policy innovator and philanthropist, argued Prager after a standing ovation. Playful
envelope provided. Thank you for your support. in contending that there exists a “spiritual dimension” to neighborhoods, healthy communities, and civil society in
- John Andrews, Director Hollywood actor Joseph C. Phillips. for market reforms to replace Obamacare. booing, now on YouTube, resulted.
Centennial Review, September 2010 ▪ 2 Centennial Review, September 2010 ▪ 3
 ‛Not a place to find liberals’ Centennial Review Centennial Institute

Centennial Review
September 2010 Colorado Christian University
- Denver Post, July 11 8787 W. Alameda Ave.
To Revitalize America, Lakewood, CO 80226
Summit Snapshots: “Crazy Great” Remoralize the Family
Who Came: Over 850 people from a dozen states took part during the three days. By Timothy S. Goeglein Return Service Requested
Politics is downstream from culture, Principled Ideas from the Centennial Institute Publisher, William L. Armstrong
Summiteers heard greetings from U.S. Senate candidates Ken Buck and Jane Norton,
Governor candidates Dan Maes and Scott McInnis, Congressional candidates Cory not the other way around. The Volume 2, Number 7 • September 2010 Editor, John Andrews
Gardner, Ryan Frazier, and Scott Tipton, plus numerous local candidates. breakdown of family, marriage, and
The election stakes are a freedom revival
parenting is a crisis government
or economic ruin, warned Fox News
can't fix. It's up to us. TO REVITALIZE AMERICA, Such a faith can never deliver because politics cannot
contributor Dick Morris at Sunday brunch. Who Helped: Twenty-four conservative partner groups including Heritage Foundation, adequately or fully address or resolve the most pressing
Focus on the Family, KNUS Radio, Independence Institute, and Tea Party Express all REMORALIZE THE FAMILY moral and cultural concerns facing us.
pitched in, along with a volunteer corps of CCU students and staff. By Timothy S. Goeglein It is not that politics is unimportant. Quite the opposite:
Who Raved: Nearly everyone. 93% of comment sheets rated the conference as Excellent, Politics is both useful and central, and Christians need to
the rest as Good. “Invaluable,” “inspirational,” “exceptional,” “superb,” “insightful,” The late U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick be more involved than ever in the civic life of our country.
“fantastic,” “superb,” and “crazy great” were among the superlatives used. Besides several Moynihan of New York was among The first duty of Christian citizenship is to vote, and we
Western Conservative Summit 2010 • Full Program Now on Video the most thoughtful liberals of our have never needed men and women of faith more actively
days of Denver Post coverage and a Fox News mention, the Summit was noted on local TV
and radio, Facebook, YouTube, and two national columns. time. He came to see the hollowness engaged in American civic and political life than now.
Relive the Summit on DVD • Order Today of Great Society liberalism, and Moral imagination is lacking in our public square, and this
Starring on Fox News before she was 30, Student Jacob Delargy: Unexpected Lesson in Patriotism warned that America was beginning to is a vacuum that men and women of faith are uniquely
As a future soldier, the words I remember most are: “What price are you willing to pay for "Right Turn, Right Now" was the theme when 850 lovers of liberty from a dozen states rallied with the Centennial “define deviancy down.” equipped to fill.
Mary Katharine Ham enlivened the Summit Hon. Michele Mr. Dennis Prager Institute in Denver, July 9-11. All 15 hours of this historic weekend are now available in a professionally produced six-
with insights on the youth vote. freedom?” They were from the last man from whom I would expect to receive a lesson in Bachmann DVD set, or as individual disks. Moynihan often spoke Right while But in our lifetime we have seen the net result of the over-
patriotism – the former PLO operative, now an American and a Christian, Kamal Saleem. voting Left. “The central conservative extension and over-promise of what politics can achieve.
Too few of us today are willing to make a conscious decision to stand guard for freedom. Full set is $20 post paid. Separate disks for each keynote speaker (pictured) are $5. Separate disk for Arthur Brooks,
Jerry Boykin, Frank Gaffney, Tom Tancredo, Foster Friess, and Mary Katharine Ham is $5. Separate disk for Joseph
truth,” he once said, “is that it is culture, not politics, that American evangelicals by and large remained outside
Whether it be with a microphone, a pen, a computer, or a rifle, we all have a part to play.
Phillips, John Eastman, Tea Party Panel, Greg Brophy, Kamal Saleem, and Lee Strobel is $5. determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth the political arena until Jimmy Carter emerged, our first
Delargy is a CCU sophomore and ROTC cadet. He posted this on our ’76 Blog.
is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.” contemporary evangelical president. He gave reason for
Professor Gregory Schaller: Now Maintain the Momentum Order online at www.Centennialccu.org • Or use envelope provided Are we conservatives focused like a laser beam on millions of fellow men and
These conservatives had a positive agenda to restore our sacred faith, protect the Mr. Dick Morris Ms. Michelle Or write Centennial Institute, 8787 W. Alameda Avenue, Lakewood CO 80226 the culture? Or have we succumbed to the trap of Politics is downstream women of faith to give the
political system a fresh look.
entrepreneur, revitalize our nation, protect our fundamental liberties, reestablish our
leadership in the world, and defend our nation. What we seek to conserve is important.
Malkin preoccupying ourselves with politics as the answer
to our most pressing social concerns?
from culture, not the Carter succeeded at bringing
John Eastman of Chapman Law School
America is indeed “the last best hope.” Coming down from the Summit weekend, we must general. These are the institutions that can most effectively
address our most pressing social problems, and not more
Chuck Colson, who was Moynihan’s colleague in the Nixon
White House all those years ago. Burke was right: Morals and Moynihan was correct in saying that conservatives other way around. evangelicals into politics in the
told how the founders' grievances against maintain the momentum for accountability. Schaller teaches political science at CCU and is a election of 1976. But when
government. manners are actually more important than laws, because the believe politics has definitive limits. It does, and we
George III remain relevant today. Centennial Institute Fellow. This also ran on our ’76 Blog. evangelicals measured Carter’s rhetoric versus the reality of
former are rooted in personal responsibility and are the fabric push beyond those limits at our peril. The high degree of
Government cannot cause a family to fall in love again; prowess liberals ascribe to politics is an article of faith, not his policy promises, they became quickly discouraged and
Columnist Jay Ambrose: Summiteers Marching toward Something Big government cannot repair a broken marriage; government of the cultural tapestry of any great and confident nation. made a historic pivot to another political possibility.
Maybe we've come to a non-violent revolutionary moment in America. The Summit im- really a truth. Culture is in fact preeminent. Conservatives
cannot parent a single child, much less millions. David Brooks of The New York Times entitled a recent column, must always remember that politics is downstream from When Ronald Reagan famously told the National Religious
pressed me not just because of the recitation of principles, but because of the mood. The “The Limits of Policy.” He warned that “when we’re arguing
audience and speakers struck me as cheerful, positive and informed more by an idea of More Washington-directed solutions will not work, and culture, and not the other way around. Broadcasters during the heat of the 1980 campaign that,
attempts to force them to will make already difficult matters about politics, we should be aware of how policy fits into the although they could not endorse him, he endorsed them,
mission than anger at the other side. Dennis Prager told the crowd that liberals were mostly larger scheme of cultural and social influences. Bad policy Misplaced Faith
good people. Don't attack them, he said. It's their fallacious arguments you want to deal worse. In fact, more government is a trap, and does not Reagan tapped into a deeply discouraged evangelical base.
offer the solutions to the human need that is so great and so can decimate the social fabric, but good policy can only This is the reality, yet too much of the Left and Right presume He welcomed them into the Republican fold, and the New
with. Michele Bachmann talked about self-sacrifice, unity and dedication to one another
profound in our land. modestly improve it.” This is a near-perfect summation of that the most pressing problems of our time can best be Right changed the political landscape for the next 30 years.
as Americans. She told of four chaplains in World War II who went down heroically on a
where American is as we step off into a new century. addressed through politics. The reasoning goes something Traditional-values voters became the mainstay of the GOP,
Ex-terrorist Kamal Saleem hushed the
troopship. From such earnestly conveyed feelings, I had an image of an emotionally bal- The Dream and the Nightmare, Myron Magnet’s magisterial
anced, powerful, alert, energized, morally informed, widely inclusive force awakened from Hope is just ahead, but it will depend on what the great American like this: “If we could just get the right political calculus and the Republican Party’s firmest, truest foundational base.
room with his question, "What price are history of the Great Society, powerfully shows how all the into place—if we could just elect the right men and women
you willing to pay for freedom?" slumber by an overly leftist administration and marching toward something pretty big. Am- promises—the dreams—of the politicians and the social historian Gertrude Himmelfarb calls a “remoralizing” of Disillusionment with President Reagan did not materialize
brose writes a twice-weekly column for Scripps Howard Syndicate. This ran July 13. our basic institutions and our basic assumptions. We need to office—then we could begin to right the listing ship of
engineers of the 1960s ultimately ended in a spectacular state and the fate of our country.”
nightmare, inflicting on countless millions of Americans only to focus like a laser beam on healthy families, marriages, and Timothy S. Goeglein is vice president for external affairs in the Washington, D.C.,
Centennial Institute parenting. This is a miscalculation of the first order. If we are not office of Focus on the Family. A graduate of the University of Indiana, he was
Relive the Summit on DVD • Order Today more misery and worsened conditions.
careful—and regardless of how the elections turn out this
formerly a print and broadcast journalist, a staffer in the U.S. Senate, and a top
Western Full set of six is $20 post paid. Separate disks for Bachmann, Prager, Malkin, and Morris are $5. Time to Remoralize If these are healthy, a healthy cultural and social life will surely assistant to President George W. Bush. This essay is adapted from his lecture at
follow. Government overreach will be less of a temptation. November—the net result will be millions of disappointed, Colorado Christian University on April 8, 2010.
Conservative Separate disk for Arthur Brooks, Jerry Boykin, Frank Gaffney, Tom Tancredo, Foster Friess, and Mary Katharine Ham is $5.
With more government comes more potential for tyranny. disillusioned Americans who are being encouraged to put Centennial Institute sponsors research, events, and publications to enhance
Separate disk for Joseph Phillips, John Eastman, Tea Party Panel, Greg Brophy, Kamal Saleem, and Lee Strobel is $5. We'll be better defended against misplaced utopian faith
Summit 2010 Intentions may be good, but they result in “strangling their faith in politics as “answers” to the “problems” that public understanding of the most important issues facing our state and nation. By
Order online at www.Centennialccu.org • Or call 303.963.3424 in politics. The challenges will still be great, but if we are proclaiming Truth, we aim to foster faith, family, and freedom, teach citizenship,
Right Turn. Right Now. Or write Centennial Institute, 8787 W. Alameda Avenue, Lakewood CO 80226 community spirit and works of charity,” in the words of successful, a new American renaissance may await us. ■ most concern us in 21st-century American life. and renew the spirit of 1776.
Centennial Review, September 2010 ▪ 4