VIDEO: YAF Activists Revisit Sharon Statement

May 17, 2016 marked the 5th anniversary of a historic merger that occurred in 2011 between two principled organizations that have been dedicated to boldly promoting conservatism for decades, Young Americans for Freedom and Young America’s Foundation.  Young Americans for Freedom, now the chapter affiliate of Young America’s Foundation is surging on campuses across the country, with activists committed to continually advancing conservative ideas.  Check out the top five campus victories achieved by our chapters since the merger. This week we are commemorating the union of these two leading organizations by reflecting on Young Americans for Freedom’s founding document the Sharon Statement, adopted in 1960 in William F. Buckley’s living room located in Sharon, Connecticut. In a time where conservative students’ beliefs are under attack and being challenged more than ever, these Young Americans for Freedom activists understand the importance of going back to the basics and reflecting upon the timeless principles that serve as the foundation of the Conservative Movement we know today. The text of the Sharon Statement is copied below: In this time of moral and political crises, it is the responsibility of the youth of America to affirm certain eternal truths.  We, as young conservatives, believe:  That foremost among the transcendent values is the individual’s use of his God-given free will, whence derives his right to be free from the restrictions of arbitrary force;  That liberty is indivisible, and that political freedom cannot long exist without economic freedom;  That the purpose of government is to protect those freedoms through the preservation of internal order, the provision of national defense, and the administration of justice;  That when government ventures beyond these rightful functions, it accumulates power, which tends to diminish order and liberty;  That the Constitution of the United States is the best arrangement yet devised for empowering government to fulfill its proper role, while restraining it from the concentration and abuse of power;  That the genius of the Constitution—the division of powers—is summed up in the clause that reserves primacy to the several states, or to the people, in those spheres not specifically delegated to the Federal government;  That the market economy, allocating resources by the free play of supply and demand, is the single economic system compatible with the requirements of personal freedom and constitutional government, and that it is at the same time the most productive supplier of human needs;  That when government interferes with the work of the market economy, it tends to reduce the moral and physical strength of the nation; that when it takes from one man to bestow on another, it diminishes the incentive of the first, the integrity of the second, and the moral autonomy of both;  That we will be free only so long as the national sovereignty of the United States is secure; that history shows periods of freedom are rare, and can exist only when free citizens concertedly defend their rights against all enemies;  That the forces of international Communism are, at present, the greatest single threat to these liberties;  That the United States should stress victory over, rather than coexistence with, this menace; and  That American foreign policy must be judged by this criterion: does it serve the just interests of the United States?