Reflections

On the evening of January 18, more than 120 people showed up to attend the ISI Young Alumni Association’s monthly series, “Conservatism on Tap.” This monthly event brings together young conservatives in DC, generally from the ages of 21 to 40, most of whom were involved with ISI as students and are no longer privy […]

So I got into town in Nashville and stayed on the outskirts of the city (way out in the burbs about 30 minutes south of downtown) with my friend Dustin and his fiance. They have a nice home and they are getting ready for their wedding in the summer of 2007. Dustin and I are […]

On Sunday, December 3rd, I drove from Atlanta to Chattanooga, Tennessee. I entered the “Volunteer State” and counted them up: I’ve officially been in 39 of the 50 states in the Union. Once I entered Tennessee, my destination of Chattanooga was barely over the border. It is also the city my mother was born in […]

Ok, more like cold-lanta during my final few days there, but “Hot-lanta” takes on many meanings in reference to the city of Atlanta. This city really made quite an impression on me. First, it’s HUGE. The downtown area has really grown. The last time I was here was in 1996 for the summer Olympics. I […]

I spent most of this past week in Georgia, where we did ISI soirees at Mercer University (Macon), the University of Georgia (Athens), Georgia Tech (Atlanta) and the University of West Georgia (Carrollton). A lot already seems to be happening. At Mercer University, a Christian school in Macon, GA, Nathan Edmondson put together an ISI […]

On November 27, we did an ISI soiree at Florida State which was sponsored by the Institute for Conservative Studies at FSU. They are a very well-funded conservative organization that has been around since 1988. About 15 or more people came, including a few students from Tallahassee Community College. Thanks again to Troy Irwin for […]

On Saturday, October 28, ISI held a day-long symposium on “America and the Idea of Ordered Liberty” (arent’ they all named this?) at Tufts University. The event was dominated by that breed of paleoconservatives. Who are “paleoconservatives”? Well, think Pat Buchanan. Paleo-cons are more anti-authoritarian, stressing tradition, civil society, and federalism, along with familial, religious, […]

Maggie and I with students at Franciscan University, in front of the statue of my name sake, St. Francis of Assisi. Get social with us!

On Wednesday, our trip took a turn to the right. That’s right, some campuses are on the right, and there are some right of center organizations working to impact America’s college campuses. My day began by visiting The Leadership Institute. At LI, I gave a talk to about 65 of their field reps who are […]

My colleague Kenneth and I have been traveling through the Commonwealth of Virginia this week. We started out by driving down to Fredericksburg, where we met up with Andrew Lamar, the state chairman of the Virginia Federation of College Republicans. Andrew is a great guy, very personable and very well-connected around the state. He traveled […]