Wheaton YAFer Justus Hanson will recap his time at Young America’s Foundation’s National Conservative Student Conference each day of the event. Here’s his recap of Wednesday, July 27!
The second full day of the National Conservative Student Conference was great. The quality of the speakers that we have at these conferences never ceases to amaze me. We started the day by hearing from Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is one of the most well known figures of the Conservative Movement. It is only at a YAF conference that students could be able to ask questions and hear from someone who had just spoken on the stage last week in Cleveland!
Once again, I was able to represent Nebraska today! I had the opportunity to write a thank you note to a sponsor of students for this conference that lived in Nebraska. Not only is it super important that we thank our amazing sponsors, but we need to make sure that they know how they truly are changing students’ lives. Conservatism is kept alive by citizens like these that care enough about the future of our nation that they are willing to donate to Young America’s Foundation.
My favorite speaker from today was Dennis Prager of Prager University. His ability to present ideas in a clear and direct way was stunning. I and all of the students around me were struggling to write down all of the brilliant things that said as he went along simply because there were just too many of them. Almost every sentence out of his mouth was a statement that was intelligent and meaningful and countered the Left’s weak arguments. One of my favorite quotes from him was, “Socialism has never created wealth, it spends the wealth capitalism creates.”
Similar to yesterday, the diversity of speakers was shown today, considering the fact that we were able to hear from a Member of the British Parliament, Conor Burns. As an international relations major, I find it fascinating to be able to learn more about the governments of other countries—This study of comparing political systems lets us see the true beauty of our Constitution and Democratic Republic. Conor Burns’ influence in Brexit, as well as his optimism for the U.K. moving forward, was very inspiring to all of us students. We as young conservatives do not only believe that Americans are granted freedom, but we believe that all people have been granted certain unalienable rights by our Creator.
Can’t wait for the next day!
