July 18-20, 2014 • Hyatt Regency • Denver, CO
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July 18-20, 2014 • Hyatt Regency • Denver, CO A Special Report Prepared By The Washington Times Colorado summit a conservative magnet BY VALERIE RICHARDSON Sarah Palin, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, Sen. Mr. Andrews said with a grin, “but the Coalition Road to Majority conference, THE Washington TIMES Tim Scott of South Carolina, former fact remains that my generation came of RightOnline, the Values Voter Summit, Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Rep. age in the ’60s and ’70s, and it’s time for BlogCon and the Conservative Leader- DENVER | Five years ago, John Andrews Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, and us to hand the torch to Americans who ship Conference, among others. was casting about for a signature event former Rep. Allen West of Florida. will make or break America in the 21st The phenomenon has become so un- to put the newly founded Centennial Tea Party Patriots founder Jenny Beth century.” mistakable that The Atlantic ran a June Institute on the map, when he realized Martin will be there, but Mr. Andrews Although Barack Obama owned the 2012 article, “Why Are There So Many that there is probably no place politicos said the summit is aimed at all conserva- youth vote in 2008 and 2012, Mr. Andrews Conservative Conferences?” would rather visit in the summer than tives, whatever their stripe. One summit said, it’s the conservative message that is Mr. Andrews has a simple explana- Colorado. The humidity is low, the bugs are scarce and it’s a swing state. Mr. Andrews and former Sen. Bill Armstrong, the presi- dent of Colorado Christian University, envisioned a Western version of the Con- servative Political Action Conference, with a few tweaks. “Bill Armstrong and I said to each other, ‘We could do something like that,’ except that it would be different in three ways,” said Mr. Andrews, director of the conservative Centennial Institute think tank. “It would be in the summer, not the winter; it would be in the Rockies, not on the Potomac, and it would have that broader recognition that important as politics and elections are, most im- portant of all is the understanding of the American idea in the hearts and minds of our people.” Never mind that Mr. Andrews, a for- mer Colorado Senate president, was 66, an age at which most people are put- ting on the brakes. In 2010, the Centen- nial Institute launched the first Western Conservative Summit, a gathering of conservative politicos and intellectuals. GETTYIMAGES Its theme: “Right turn, right now.” The Western Conservative Summit has grown tenfold in the past five years, forcing it to move from the Colorado suburbs to the capital. Mr. Andrews hoped to draw about 300 The theme for this year’s conference, which starts Friday with an expected 3,000 attendees, is “right turn, right now.” attendees to a hotel in suburban Douglas County. Instead, 600 people signed up, forcing him to move the event to down- workshop, “Fight on the Right,” tackles suited to the under-30 crowd. tion: “There’s just no substitute for being town Denver. the tension among tea partyers, the Re- “I think personal choice and personal together.” Five years later, Mr. Andrews expects publican establishment, libertarians and responsibility and self-reliance and taking “The energy that fills the room when as many as 3,000 attendees when the social conservatives. hold of your own future to meet your own a lot of people have come together for a three-day Western Conservative Sum- “That’s healthy. You’re not going to aspirations, which is a conservative and common purpose to hear a powerful mes- mit convenes Friday. This year’s theme: have a governing coalition unless you not a progressive or a liberal approach, sage, and the networking that goes on, the “America at Its Best.” have some disagreement and some con- has all kinds of possibilities with this next friendships, the contacts that get forged,” Once again, the summit has outgrown structive tension,” said Mr. Andrews, “but generation,” he said. “We just have to do a he said. “The realization that, ‘Hey, what its venue. The Denver Hyatt Regency’s there is a danger that a circular firing better job of getting the message across.” I’m doing and what you’re doing, if we combine them, we get synergy, we get one and one to add up to three. That’s It would be in the summer, not the winter; it would be in the Rockies, not why coming together in person and doing on the Potomac, and it would have that broader recognition that important it over a three-day span, not just doing it on one particular evening, there’s some as politics and elections are, most important of all is the understanding power in that.” of the American idea in the hearts and minds of our people. In the summit’s first year, drawing top Republicans to Denver was tricky. THE WASHINGTON TIMES THE WASHINGTON 2,000-seat ballroom isn’t big enough to squad will deprive the right of opportuni- A highlight of the weekend is the Most of the speakers were local, but | hold everyone for the biggest draws, so ties in Colorado and nationally this year.” presidential straw poll, which the sum- now, “We’ve begun to get prominent several events will be held across the Keeping the conference young is a mit began in its second year. Last year, national speakers who seek us out and street at the Colorado Convention Cen- priority for Mr. Andrews, who is 70 but Mr. Cruz won the poll, and he may be say, ‘Can I address your delegates?’” Mr. ter’s Bellco Theatre. as spry as a shortstop. He invites students tough to beat this year, given that he’s a Andrews said. That includes Friday’s opening night from Colorado Christian University to in- featured speaker. “Year by year, the reputation is grow- with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Louisiana troduce the speakers, and 120 people ages The Western Conservative Summit is ing,” he said. “We feel flattered when Gov. Bobby Jindal and Washington Times 16 to 20 will be attending this year as part ascending at a time when conservative- people say, ‘This is the CPAC of the West. columnist Ben S. Carson. The program of the just-launched Young Conservatives themed conferences are all the rage. This is the CPAC of the summertime.’ I also includes a plethora of other promi- Leadership Conference. In addition to CPAC, there’s the Red- don’t think we’re there yet, but I think it’s Thursday • July 17 • 2014 17 • July Thursday nent Republicans: former Alaska Gov. “Maybe I’m a youthful, energetic 70,” State Gathering, the Faith and Freedom something to aspire to.” 2 A Special Report Prepared By The Washington Times America hasn’t peaked yet By John Andrews from Saigon. Oil prices soared and the of Colorado Christian University, in es- take our eye off the opportunities (and economy flatlined. Soviet adventurism tablishing Centennial Institute as CCU’s dangers) of tomorrow. “Contrition is BS.” Press secretary spread. Jimmy Carter wrung his hands think tank. It’s been a good ride. Nor do we accept the presentism that Ronald Ziegler’s acid tone shocked and proclaimed malaise. Was America His personal connection to the GOP, would discard timeworn landmarks: me – and he didn’t use the initials. It washed up? and mine, are no secret. But parties or the Bible, the American Founding, “the was 1973, a bad year in a bad decade for Within a decade, however, America candidates have nothing to do with the permanent things,” as T.S. Eliot called America. I was a young speechwriter was back. The resilience of our free university’s academic mission and our them. We know that if America is to be in the Nixon White institutions, the institute’s policy mission. Rather we a nation at all, she must forever be a na- House, assigned FROM OUR OPINION WRITERS toughness and no- seek to impact the culture in support of tion under God. The USA must define to gather input bility of our national such standards as traditional family val- its future by faith, family, and freedom – from Ziegler and character, the honest ues, sanctity of life, compassion for the or have no future. national security advisor Henry Kiss- self-criticism and self-correction of our poor, a biblical view of human nature, From this unfashionable but un- inger for a TV address that we hoped open public square, together disproved limited government, personal freedom, yielding stance, we have seen CCU’s would put the president’s Watergate the diagnosis of terminal decline from a free markets, natural law, original intent core curriculum honored in the top 2% troubles behind him. demoralized left. of the Constitution, and the heritage of nationally by the American Council But the press secretary, channeling Uncle Sam, his head again held high, Western civilization. of Trustees and Alumni. We’ve placed Nixon’s own defiance, wanted no part of signaled the world that our best days It’s from these wellsprings that our graduates in positions of influence Kissinger’s scenario: a contrite chief ex- were still ahead. They were then, in renewal has been nourished in Amer- across the spectrum of careers, from ecutive asking for the American people’s Reagan’s time, and they still are today ica’s comeback since the bicentennial business to law to health care, from forgiveness as JFK had done after the – despite the ascendancy of a president nadir in 1976.