Reports from the Defending the American Dream Summit

On Right Wing News, John Hawkins has posted a first-hand report with lots of photos from the Defending the American Dream Summit (organized by Americans for Prosperity) and the Restoring Honor rally, held last weekend in Washington, D. C. There were huge crowds at both events (although the rally on the Mall was a couple of orders of magnitude bigger).

Wichita blogger Bob Weeks was at the AfP event and has reports on speeches by Dick Morris and George Will. Morris spoke about the challenges conservatives will face when Republicans take back Congress this November:

First, we have to make sure the people we elect based on pledges to reduce spending keep their word.

Then, the states will come begging to Washington for a bailout. We need to say no, Morris told the audience. States should have a way to declare bankruptcy and get out from under public sector union contracts.

Will had interesting things to say about a variety of topics:

On education, he said we need an education system that "equips people to compete in a free society." He criticized the short school year in the U.S., as compared to other countries. He told the audience that a major problem with schools is the teachers unions. The increased spending on schools has not worked. 90 percent of the difference between schools can be explained by characteristics of the students' families, he said. "Don't tell me the pupil-teacher ratio, tell me the parent-pupil ratio."

Even with as many problems as there are, he said that an "aroused citizenry" like that in the room tonight can fix the problems. He's not pessimistic, he said, because Obama has stimulated a "new clarity" from the American people.

There is a tension today between freedom and equality, two polar values. Liberals today stress equality of outcomes, and believe that the multiplication of entitlement programs to produce this equality serves the public good. But conservatives stress freedom, and that multiplication of entitlement programs is "subversive of the attitudes and aptitudes essential for a free society of self-reliant, far-sighted, thrifty and industrious people."

Will quoted Winston Churchill: "The American people invariably do the right thing, after they have exhausted all the alternatives."

C-SPAN has video of the Restoring Honor rally, featuring speeches by Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin. St. Louis Cardinals fans should note that manager Tony LaRussa took the stage to introduce first baseman Albert Pujols, who received an award for his charitable work.

Big Journalism has an item on the crowd estimates for the rally and an aerial photo taken from the top of the Washington Monument.