The Leadership Institute and being a Conservative

On March 31^st, I had the pleasure of attending the Leadership Institute’s Campaign Management School in Arlington, VA.  After finishing the 4 day course, I was nothing but impressed with the professionalism of the staff and the incredible amount of knowledge that was shared with all who attended.  The class was a diverse group. Including people who flew in from Alaska, Florida and even one student from Nigeria!  The class was also comprised of a few people who are currently running or planning on running for office, future campaign managers and congressional staffers.  I not only learned a lot in the class, but I was able to make some great connections and met a lot of interesting people who shared many of the same beliefs. 

The lecturers were extremely insightful, helping everyone in the class to figure out how to better run a campaign, successfully organize volunteers, involve the community and so on.  Although all of the lectures taught us a lot, a few of them stuck out.  These included the talk given to us by Morton Blackwell, president and founder of the Leadership Institute, which taught us how to deal with bad media/information during the campaign.  Paulo Sibaja’s lecture on building coalitions and grassroots movement was also extremely engaging.  Paulo was very knowledgeable and entertaining, full of stories and examples.  Lastly, Matthew Hurtt’s lecture on earned media was very educational and the speaker went above and beyond to make sure that all the attendees were engaged and learned the most from the class.  Matt’s experience was very impressive, including the fact that he ran for public office at the age of 19 in his hometown. 

LI, as it is commonly referred, prided itself in being a school to help train young Conservatives, regardless of party affiliation.  Their mission is simple; “…to increase the number and effectiveness of conservative activists and leaders in the public policy process.” We even had a classmate that was an independent!  J  After getting out of class one day, I reflected on why I was a Conservative, and even more importantly, what does it mean to be a conservative.  After thinking about it for a while, I concluded that my definition of a conservative is a simple one:  A person that believes that economic freedom, limited government involvement, a strong national defense and the traditional American values.  I understand that there a lot more issues that help define conservatism, but this is my generic version.  My next question was “Why am I a conservative?”  I believe that was simple to answer.  I believe that the way for America to regain its strength and get back to the top is through the values held by conservatives.  If the government continues to step in and try to overstep its boundaries, like in the case of the Affordable Healthcare Act, better known as Obamacare, then we will not be able to continue to move “forward” like we should.