Email, booktv booktv cspan. Org. Up next, Mallory Factor provides a history of the conservative movement through the works of people who shaped it, people like al regnery, Newt Gingrich and ralph reid. This is about 45 minutes. As we begin, i do want to point out one aspect. Our host finish our best guest today is also a parttime fox news commentator. Millions of americans, of course, know bill oreilly as the factor. Mallory, in this case, has been a factor long before the factor was cool. [laughter] he is the john c. West professor of International Politics and American Government at the citadel, he is the host and cofounder of the new york meeting, a nationallyrecognized gathering of elected officials, journalists, Business Leaders and conservative authors in new york city, and he also founded the similar charleston meeting which meets in South Carolina. He previously authored the New York Times best seller which hes too modest to advertise. Shadow bosses, government unions, control america and rob the taxpayers blind. He is a member of the council on Foreign Relations and served as vice chairman of the council on Foreign Relations task force on terrorism financing. He has frequently testified before the house and Senate Committees on terror financing, regulation of the Financial Services industry and other economic issues. He also served as chairman of the Free Enterprise fund, a free market, as he says, due tank advocating economic growth, lower taxes and limited government. And they also brought the challenge to sarbanesoxley legislation before the supreme court. And, of course, today were featuring him on big tent where we learn about our own movement, leaders in it, and those and their recollections leading up to where we are today. Please join me in welcoming our good friend, Mallory Factor. Mallory . [applause] john, thank you so much. I mean, what a great introduction. And, again, thank you for hosting this meeting. What a better place to spook about the conservative movement than at the to speak about the conservative movement than at the heritage foundation. I want to thank them for their support of the big ten project. Many people at heritage were instrumental and deserve my thanks starting with ed feulner for contributing forward to big tent. Thank you, ed, for forever urging me onward. General ed meese for contributing the critical chapter on reagan. Lee edwards for his keen observations on the early version of this manuscript. Most of all, im grateful for heritages fine work in conserving and renewing principles of the american founding. My friends, i grew up in bridgeport, connecticut, the home of Phineas Taylor barnum, the greatest circus show han in history. Showman in history. Let me paint a picture for you of how i was as a boy and the circus came to town. A hilllong train a milelong train pulled into the train station. Trucks moved the loads onto the fairgrounds, and local kids began to gather to watch the roust abouts unpack. Finally they set out the three huge rings and raised the big tent which seemed, to us, impossibly big. It held the promise of a thrilling spectacle of flying trapeze acts, tight rope walkers, a human cannonball, fire breathers and lion tamers. And then, just then when it seem ed as if things couldnt get any more exciting, the roust abouts set up the side show acts. The parade of human curiosities, the freak show. These were the real mysteries of the circus that children yearned to see, and yet that also haunted them later. Bearded ladies, siamese twins, the living skeleton, the giantist anna swan, zip the pinhead, the lionfaced man. My friends, this show would certainly offend modern sensibilities. But it was wildly successful. As p. T. Barnum put it, nobody ever lost a dollar by underestimating the taste of the American Public. [laughter] the American Public is still interested in side shows. Thats why every day the Mainstream Media portrays the conservative movement as a side show. And they present a parade of horribles, candidates who are portrayed as uncaring about the needs of women and minority groups. Politicians who are said to promote xenophobia and fear of immigrants. And rich old white men who are seemingly focused on lowering their tax rates and preserving their wealth instead of paying their fair share. Day after day the media tells stories like these in lurid detail. Through these reports the entire conservative movement is depicted as a parade of human oddities, just as shocking and just as fascinating as a circus side show. And many conservatives fear that the mediareported freak shows may turn the next generation away from conservativism. In considering the situation, its important to start with the observation that on many levels america is a conservative nation. Earlier this year the Washington Post reported that conservatives outnumbered liberals in 47 of 50 states. But note, note, my friends, conservatives, not republicans. In fact, 38 of americans selfidentify as conservatives. But less than 25 selfidentify as republicans. As we all know, theres a widespread dissatisfaction with the republican brand among conservatives. Reasons include a tax by the establishment party, disappointment with the partys choice of candidates and the Republican Partys endorsement of certain Big Government policies. The Republican Party started out as a movement gathered around an idea, the idea of ending slavery. The Republican Party began as an Abolitionist Coalition of northern whigs, free soil democrats, the American Party and other antislavery groups. At a meeting in ripen, wisconsin, in march of 1854, abolitionists expressed their alarm at the spread of slavery into the kansas nebraska territories, and they floated a name for a new Political Party; the Republican Party. This is march of 1854. Just eight months later the new party had taken over the house of representatives and many statehouses as well. Circus promoter p. T. Barnum himself was elected in 1855 as a republican to the connecticut statehouse. And in 1860, just six short years after the party was founded, republican Abraham Lincoln was elected to the white house. While the Republican Party started out as an ideadriven movement, todays Republican Party is an established Political Party. For both parties ideology is far less important than party politics. Even though ideas motivate and invigorate the grass roots. The grassroots. In contrast to our two political parties, the conservative movement is and always has been an ideadriven movement. Conservativism has several important intellectual pillars. Now, if you follow the Mainstream Media, you can probably rattle those pillars off, and the Mainstream Media would say racism, sexism, homophobia, company phobia, economic inequality and militarism. And president obama personified this viewpoint when he talked during his first president ial campaign about small town americans who, and i quote, cling to their guns and religion of have antipathy toward people who arent like them. But this is not what conservativism is about. The conservative movement is not about people who refuse to embrace progress and have been left behind. The movement is actually about the people who hold tight to Core Principles and hold essential truths that are needed to save our beloved nation from tyranny. We all know what the real core pillars of the movement a are. One, the respect for religion and tradition of past generations. Two, the maintenance of the rule of law. Three, protection of individual freedom and liberty. And, four, belief in a higher law above mans law. The ideas that hold conservativism together are rooted in mans most important values. These values, these are the values that the american nation was founded upon; belief in order and liberty, freedom and a nation under god. The american founding was an assertion by colonials that they were entitled to the rights granted to to englishmen. It was an evolution rather than a revolution. And in the book, big tent, speaker gingrich in his contribution reminds us of this. And these same pillars have brought new generations into the movement for decades. A movement has to have some pillars, we all agree on, or the whole tent falls down. When leaders in our movement fall away from Core Principles, which they sometimes do, we must step back, reexamine our course and select new leaders. But what is conservativism really . Conservativism is a political conservativism as a political and social philosophy is ancient. The personal human impulse to defend and fight for ones most cherished convictions is natural and is timeless. Conservativism as a guiding philosophy for social life, education, cultural institutions and government is natural and ancient. The word conservativism comes from the latin prefix con which means with, which combined with [inaudible] means to guard, keep or save. It conveys the idea of attentively guarding something for the purpose of safekeeping. Perhaps because of association with guarding, many people confuse conservativism with blindly holding tradition. But traditionalism fails to capture our movement adequately. Conservatives recognize that tradition may be wrong or without meaning. Tradition may be missing essential truths and moral substance toward which conservatives strive. Tradition may need correction. Conservatives have reverent and respect for tradition but are not inseparable from it. Conservatives have numerous reasons that they fight. Conservatives want government that functions according to the rights given to us by our constitution and respect for our Anglo American political heritage. Conservatives want a government that is ordered and maintains the rule of law. Conservatives want government to protect freedom, liberty and property and not to choose winners and losers. Conservatives want government to leave people alone to the greatest extent possible to allow them the to use the fruits of their liberty to build their livelihoods. And to let people worship as they see fit. Conservatives understand that there are objective truths that must be defended, sides that must be taken, battles that must be fought. Conservative rells stand in stark con principles stand in stark contrast to the democratic partys slogan at the 2012 convention, which youll probably all recall government is the only thing we belong to. If the American People start believing government is the only answer, it will be a wretched ending, indeed, for our Great American experiment. Conservatives first came together as a modern movement in the 1950s and 60s. This is well established history and almost, im sure, all of you in this room understand that. The modern conservative movement has emerged as a big tent with three central poles; National Security conservatives, social conservatives and economic conservatives. The idea of a big tent harkins back to the hearkens back to atwater. In 1989 regarding conflict with the Republican Party, he said our party is a big tent, we can house many views on many issues. While atwater was speaking of party, the conservative movement and should also be seen as a big tent. Conservativism is advocated by people with a wide range of views on defense spending, National Security, foreign policy, legalization of drugs, abortion, marriage, immigration and numerous other issues. We debate all these issues among ourselves, often clashing fiercely with those in our movement who disagree with us about policy. In this vibrant this vibrant and lively internal debate within the conservative Movement Stands in stark contrast to the orthodoxy of the left. Which seemed to adopt the position of no enemies to the left. On the left special Interest Groups join in a grand can coalition grand coalition. Each group that gets legislation that benefits them in return for their support of other coalitions members interest. This approach assures that all the groups on the left get theirs of the government pie their piece of the government pie, whatever cost it is to the nation. The idea behind the big tent was originally p. T. Barnums innovation. It was p. T. Barnum who started the quintessentially American Circus with the traveling canvas tent that could be set up in town after town after town on the american frontier. When the crowds grew, p. T. Barnum just added more poles and expanded the tent to fit in more patrons. The conservative movement has taken p. T. Barnums lead and enlarged the tent. But the result has been frequent conflicts that reveal the deep intellectual and cultural riffs between major constituencies in the conservative movement. My friends, the conservative movement is a truly big tent, big tent of people sharing common principles but with wildly different world views. The movement includes paleocons and neocons, evangelicals and atheists, traditionalists and libertarians, the tea party and the establishment just to name a few. Many of these groups really and truly dislike each other. I mean, it is amazing how much they dislike each other. But they come together in support of the conservative movements pillars. But not frequently enough. Our conservative movement is noble in many ways. But in one way it certainly falls very short. Many conservatives would rather burn heretics from different wings of the movement than unite and fight the infidels who are actively attempting to tear down our beloved country. The american conservative movement, conservatives of one stripe put in place litmus tests on certain issues important to them and keep our other conservatives that dont agree with them. The result is the movement often seems fractured and divided in the media and in the popular imagination. Over the course of american history, conservatives have had a difficult time electing candidates to congress in the white house who have shared their principles because conservatives have never been represented by a single Political Party. Even todayed, yes, even today even today, yes, even today conservatives are split. 19 of democrats selfidentify as conservative. 35 of independents selfidentify as conservative. And, my friends, 30 of republicans dont. To have the opportunity the govern, conservatives had the come together as a Political Movement and then align with a Political Party to get candidated elected. As a practical matter, conservatives rely on the Republican Party, and they rely on it to to get conservative politicians elected. And this usually involves compromise on some issues. Although, my friends, it does not mean it has to involve throwing out Core Principles. The movement became closely associated with the Republican Party during the election of president Ronald Reagan in 1980. Although the conservative movement and the Republican Party remain closely aligned, its a very uneasy partnership. Conservatives complain that the Republican Party doesnt represent the tenets of the conservative movement faithfully, and the Republican Party finds conservative groups focused on ideology and their troublesome, and theyre problematic for the party. Theres an emerging narrative leading up to the 2016 election thats being advanced by both the media and the Republican Party. The narrative holds that tea party libertarians, National Security conservatives and social conservatives and this depends on who youre talking to, of course that theyre ruining the chances of the Republican Party taking the white house possibly ever again. At the most basic level, these conservative groups pose a great challenge to the Republican Party, because these groups are focused on ideology rather than party politics. But, of course, you know as i do , at times these socalled troublesome groups include everyone in the big tent except, possibly, the Republican Party loyalists themselves. Many grassroots conservatives fear that americas tasting an imperial presidency and that tyranny now is more possible than any other time in our history. This position is probably one of the hard for progressives to understand and the hardest for the Republican Party to deal with. Another tough issue for the Republican Party is social conservatives. The media and even some other conservatives attack social conservatives, and they attack them very hard when they express views inconsistent with their liberal world view. But whatever the elites both republicans and democrats may think of social conservatives, social conservatives todayed represent the core of today represent the core of the Republican Party. The Republican Party in its present configuration cannot win elections without them. Evangelicals constituted a whopping 27 of the electorate in 2012. With other types of religious conservatives contributing an additional 1012 . You may recall the media uproar in the over the comments about gays by duck dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson. The outrage led to robertson being suspended by the a e network. But the broad support from prominent conservatives from all wings of the conservative movement resulted in robertson being taken off suspension, and that was only about a week after the controversy resulted. Erupted. This example showed that when the broad conservative movement defends the statements of conservatives, the conflict dissipates, and the media backs down. This stands in contrast to the example of two republican senator yall candidates in 2012. You all remember aiken and murdoch. They were abandoned by many wings of the conservative movement as well as the Republican Party. Question is, are the Phil Robertson case and the Aiken Murdoch cases different because of the statements each made . Maybe. But its also possible that the main difference in conservative unity was that aiken and hur dock were murdoch were candidates more office, and robertson wasnt. Other wings of the conservative movement didnt like aiken and murdoch. They didnt like them to begin with. And they fought hard against them in primaries. So when the opportunity arose, these other wings quickly came out against these candidates in hopes of replacing them with other candidates who would represent their particular ideology better. As we all know too well, many of the worst public divisions in the movement result from conservative wings fighting each other in primaries and the political arena. The truth is this for conservatives to win the right to govern, three core groups of the conservative movement, four policy conservatives, the social conservatives and the economic conservatives will have to Work Together to elect candidates. And for the foreseeable future, the conservative movement will have to use the Republican Party to get its candidates elected or simply lose. But there will continue to be many freak show moments when the interests of these different groups collide. In p. T. Barnums circus, this freak show was a hugely popular attraction. It was so popular, in fact, that p. T. Barnum couldnt get his patrons through the side show as fast as he would have liked. Some would linger there for hours. So he solved the rob by post the problem by posting a huge sign over the door that read to the egress. Curious patrons went through that door and found themselves outside, learning what you already know, that egress means exit. [laughter] yes, conservative leaders wish they could find such a simple way to show their troublesome factions to the egress. But the conservative leaders cant agree among themselves which groups should be cast out of the movement. The conservative movement remains a movement of ideas, but ideological purity may be with the enemy of victory may be the enemy of victory. Its role of conservatives to generate new ideas and policies. But conservatives also need to join together to get these policies implemented. Only by winning the right to govern can conservatives bring freedom and liberty to our nation. My friends, core conservative principles cannot be violated, but policy differences need to be tolerated. Governing according to conservative principles will allow our exceptional nation to thrive and prosper. That, my friends, is really the contribution that the conservative movement can make to our nation and the world. I want to thank you for being with me in the big tent. [applause]. Mallory couldnt have told you everything. He tried, but he couldnt. A lot of conservatives, like myself, looking around think that the tents could use a few more people appeared so we are looking at the other side. Who do you think from their coalition are people we should be reaching out to . I think we saw something very interesting happened recently of one of the contributors to the book from big tent tonight around two grandpa. Grandpa gave a speech at cpac and got a standing ovation. He gave the same speech almost at berkeley and got a standing ovation. We need people like that that can crossover and actually get involved in from a broader spectrum. And theyre other people like that. Scott walker, bobby jindal. But that is a perfect example of how you can do it any think we need more of that. Next question. Come on, gang. Thank you very much. If i could just make a correction. I work for ringling brothers. [laughter] thank you. It will take that under advisement. I am wondering if you could perhaps give them a mess dish that would encourage them to reach out as the gentleman said. The real message is that for corporate roles and we should be talking about those rather than a lot of policy detail and getting bogged down in fighting each other over that. Steve kane used in the speech yesterday and he was surprised at the four Core Principles resonated with the number of people. Congressman king used it. And he is not a contributor. Rudy came up with the principles we went the principles event throughout the 17 people from Haley Barbour to add follmer. From Michael Barone two. Five, don rumsfeld. We found that these were all these principles float throughout them. Even your ron burke who heads up the Ayn Rand Society foundation. These court rates resume and i think we get too caught up in trying to fight each other over policy differences. Another question . He said the American American revolution was more of an evolution in a revolution. I was wondering what are your thoughts on the relevance of the declaration and its ideals to the way in which the con duchenne and is the thinking conservative should be united on . That is a really good question. My wife is an attorney and she believes in black letter law. Other will believe in using the declaration. I think that is a question eon my ability. But i will tell you that we live in two nations we get a piece of work recently and they asked the people what they think about abortion and almost cases. You may have seen the research. Fascinating. 75 of people in the northeast that abortion should be available in almost every case. 60 of people in the senate disagreed with that. Marriage. 62 of northerners absolutely for it. 61 of southerners against it or not for it. It is just fascinating to see how we are really two nations and if you really Pay Attention to the declaration of independence come you can almost use it again so im not going to go there. That is why i was bringing that up. But it is shocking to me and ive lived in both nations. He is live in new york. I now live in South Carolina and we really have two different cultures in two Different Countries and its getting harder and harder to bridge that. And i dont know how we do it. I really dont. Curt said something wrote something many years ago that i think is so important for us to look at today and he talks about the four cities that are absolutely important to western civilization. He talks about jerusalem giving a divine mom. Talks about half of social order. Rome, dig of republic with the separation of powers. London, the universality of law. It then talks about culminating in philadelphia, which i think it has with the american experiment. And i think we are losing those four key western principles. I think this particular administration is helping us lose them faster. But i worry about that. By the way, the first chapter in the book he talks about that at great length and its really pretty interesting to read about that in the first chapter with alou is a Great American. Is there any great, thanks. In light of these comments and the Division Within the country, maybe we could focus on your great concept of attacking the infidels before we burn the heretics within the conservative movement. Do you have any thoughts of how we can do that . Be maxed out. Not really. I think it would matter of us continuing to talk about what are our Core Principles and working together on. It is some of the hardest things to do. The age of murdoch versus the robertson example vividly shows everybodys trying to elect their guy and to the detriment of our country and to the conservative movement. I worry about it daily and weekend the left is far better organize. What i like to think about it some thing reagan is credited with when he talks about the person who agrees with you 80 of the time is a friend and ally. Hes not a 21st traitor. I think we have to keep reminding people about that because they think it is so important. In the book, ed meese who contributed a fair, from the heritage foundation, talks about that at great length and theres a lot there to be said. I dont know how we keep reminding people. Maybe we taught to every Single Member of congress and every state legislatures hand or something. I just dont know how we do it. As i understand it, you are teaching yes, ill be teaching at cambridge next year as well. My question relates to [inaudible] relates to your observation about young people over the years. Have you seen changes in their behavior to either encourage with regard to conservatism. Great question. Our president has said that he wants colleges and vocational schools to train will for jobs for society. I am waiting for college kids to come back telling them to train to be priestess. I think that they are recognizing that. Given what is happening in our society and that they see young people, younger people see that you need to have freemarket. You need to have individual freedom and liberty to keep the Great American experiment going. I used the rant pollock sample. Senator paul, the social conservatives this is an innovation of a general crowd that he put together a wordplay. I think we are doing something. We see something happening its very good and i think it goes well. With all these changes being made unconstitutional change is will be hard to unwind some of these things. I know thats not gradient or i hope it inserted a little bit. I think it goes to the last comment that the young people and how we are attacked and vulnerable. I think three things you talked about one being social issues that are the biggest divider. They talk about are the divided unsocial issues and i think where rant pollock got a standing ovation as he is a libertarian pretty much and i think as long as social issues are something that people dig their heels in about, i dont think government is to tell us what to do about social issues. I dont think they have any business in the area of most peoples lives. For the democrats is that because they know we are divided on it and they ran that between can you reduce to pry them apart. The recent rant pollock up a standing ovation and all the young people i know who are conservatives, they dont have problems with most social issues. They just feel the government should out of it. I agree with you completely. What i like to come back to, for those of you who worst in the face yuri and 76, the first evangelical president was to jimmy carter was 66 of the evangelical vote. Evangelicals got mad at them in four years later he lost with Ronald Reagan caring 64 of the evangelical vote. My point is social conservatives have to be kept within the big tent structure or we will lose, unless we completely reformulate, i dont know how thats going to happen. But i agree with you and i cant speak for senator paul. I know the man, but he is a social surrender to the best of my knowledge. But thats not an issue you just tries to ram to peoples throat i think thats that youre getting at. I agree with you thats important. My name is ken hagerty. They cant set that i did tear in your presentation, which i think might be useful is to ask about the concept of american exceptionalism. How do you relate the concept in all of the ideas in the freight of the term american exceptionalism to the outline you are presenting here quite interestingly enough we have 17 contributors in the book in one of those is Newt Gingrich. He talks about that in the book. He basically says were losing that because of the way we are stifling our market. Our government is involved in everything and it is by freeing people that we can keep this exceptionalism from this american experiment going. Obviously president obama said about american exceptionalism, i dont with a quote. That is the problem. I believe democrats and liberals are striving for uniform mediocrity. And feel that american exceptionalism is wrong. I dont. I believe in our country. I believe in american exceptionalism and they believe they have been a big tent held up by pools that are core pools were pillars that we can save our country and continue this Great American experiment. Thank you. Mark within for supporters of his argued that given the size of government ,com,com ma given the complexity of laws that she really need fundamental constitutional reform done and proposed at the state level. Even if weve got good people on Political Leadership associates, the permanent iraq received, the permanent government reform. What thoughts you have about that . I think eurocrats today are really politicians with tenure. Thats what happened. They havent become civil servant. We need reformation. I dont know how we are going to do it. The states become less and less important. These 50 places of experimentation are being shut down. I think it has to start in washington first. Washington is the key to unleashing these 50 places that can really produce innovation. Washington is where it have to start and filter down. Thank you. Copies of malory spoke are for sale. You can stand here and autograph them or you may wander outside and with you, too. We thank you for your kind attention and hope to see you in the future