I conceived of the project because there is a lot going on in our country right now and it is unsettling times for a number of americans. Everything having to do with the covid crisis, to the lockdowns, to the killing of george floyd and subsequent protests and riots, and the president ial election. So a lot of people are taking the opportunity to really reexamine first principles, and trying to figure out where we stand as a nation. And people on the right at the end of the president s term comes into focus are asking themselves what is conservatism . Has the president made an impact on the overall trajectory of the conservative movement and the Republican Party . So i want to take this opportunity to reexamine those fundamental questions. Back in 1964, there was a seminal book called the federalist papers which examined the definition of conservatism. That was put together by frank meyer, bill f. Buckley, a lot of conservative luminaries. And it came out in 1964, about six months before the president ial election when Barry Goldwater was a republican candidate. And it designed to really be a book to pull together disparate strands on the right and hopefully bring them into one camp that would eventually coalesce into a vibrant Political Movement. It did not succeed in 1964, but they did succeed at least at the ballot box with the election of Ronald Reagan. So i feel like we are in a time of transition on the right right now and we are figuring out where we are going to go. And it might not translate into an electoral victory in november, but really what we are doing is looking at the Bigger Picture in sort of examining the roots of where america should go as a country and what conservatism has to say about that. Susan if one searches top conservative magazines on the internet, there is a group called thought company, which ranks your public agent number three and wrote this description. It is the magazine for the disenfranchised conservative, the one who was uncomfortable with the rash of false conservatives who have come to dominate the movement. Does that definition square with how you think of yourself . Mr. Burtka i think that is pretty accurate. We were founded i n2002 as a group of conservatives opposed to the war in iraq he wanted to advocate for realism and restraint in American Foreign policy. And at the time that went against the grain of republicans in d. C. , specifically those connected to the bush and ministration. The focus is even broader than Foreign Policy. It was to reexamine the questions that we believe have been ignored by elites in both parties since the end of the cold war. Theres a confidence, a hubris after the end of the cold war, so we wanted to examine questions not only relating to Foreign Policy, but also relating to the economic structures in our country. We wanted to essentially advocate for conservatism in an america that promotes a healthy middleclass and strong and vibrant local communities and families. So we continue to do that. I would say that with the election of donald trump in 2016, we have then been able to shift from being off on the side, sort of critical of where things are, to being more of a major player in terms of participating in the national conversation. Because with the election of donald trump, interestingly enough, at least in the conservative intellectual world, reopened a host of new questions. It has allowed us a real opportunity to shape the future of the right. Susan how are you organized and funded . Mr. Burtka we are funded by donorsupported predominantly. 92 of revenue comes from donors. We have a 2. 5 million budget. We produced a print magazine six times a year. We have about 30 stories a week on the website. Then we also do a number of educational programs. We have about 10 conferences and panel events a year across the country on different issues that we focus on in the magazine. And we also have a constitutional follows program that we host for young, midcareer professionals on the hill. Susan and who are some of the people that our viewers would recognize that are associated with the american conservative . Mr. Burtka that is a great question. In terms of our advisory board, we have fox news host Tucker Carlsen on the advisory board. We have a scholar at the American Enterprise institute. We have someone from hills oak college. We have a nice mix. We have our founders, pat buchanan, and a number of other voices that we have pulled on along the way. Susan in your essay and contribute into this seminar, you go through a brief history of the modern conservative, American Conservative Movement. And i want to do some of that with you during our hour together. You wrote, and it caught my attention, before we can understand the nature of american conservatism and its relevance for today, we must first define what we mean by america and what we mean by conservatism. Ok, so i will bite. Lets start with conservatism. What is it . Mr. Burtka to me, conservatism is an active thing, it is a practice more than it is an idea. From my perspective, conservatism is the practice of conservation and cultivation. So then the question is what course are we conserving . As americans, i think it is conserving the great traditions throughout our countrys history. That goes back to the founders. Even before that to the first settlers that came to this country. It also goes back to the great statesman. There has been a tendency within conservatism to say that conservatism or america is only an idea, and it is an idea it we can replicate and export all over the world. Unfortunately we have attempted to do that through our Foreign Policy quite often and it has gone awry. So i think conservatism is more than just an idea. It is really the stories and the people that have taken part in the wonderful history that we have here in america. And it also stretches back to the judeochristian foundations of western thought, and grecoroman traditions going all the way back to aristotle to thomas aquinas, all the way throughout the medieval tradition and culminating in america. Susan and how do you define america . Mr. Burtka how do i define america . Well, i think it is important to understand that america, as i said, it is not only an idea, it is a place. It is a place that we call home in a place that we love. And there are basically, its a place and its an experiment in ordered liberty and virtue. And we have had successes and failures throughout our history. We have seen the scope of government grow, and contractor small periods of time. The important thing when we are looking at america from a conservative perspective is the goal is to really take the best of our traditions and apply them to the future. So its not only a backwardslooking exercise, it is a forwardlooking exercise trying to cultivate ideas from the past and implement them now in order to have a more just, equitable, virtuous, and free society. Susan on that note, you wrote the first task of conservatives is to take stock as it is, not as they imagine it to be. What are you saying there . Mr. Burtka what i am getting at there is much of the conservative movement had the goal of dismantling the new deal programs that were started under fdr, because they inevitably led to what conservatives like to call the Administrative State, or the Fourth Branch of government that is unelected and unaccountable to the people in a direct sense. And i think there are very much legitimate criticisms to make of the new deal and of the Administrative State. But i think the challenge is that our country, that our system of government as it is today has really been in place and evolved over the last 100 years. So i really do not think that the Administrative State is going anywhere. The task of pushing power back to the state is a daunting one, and i think it is something that we should continue working on, but i do not think thats the full task of conservatism. I think conservatives also need to look at where it is appropriate to use the structures as it exists today to serve conservative ends. So a couple areas that i would like to focus on are strengthening the american family, finding ways to support working mothers and fathers, whether that is through things like paid family leave policies or other policies to promote family formation. I think trade policy and Economic Policy are two other areas. I think the cost of globalization over the last 30 years, certainly it has come with some benefits, but i think the cost has been stagnant middleclass wages, and downward mobility for a lot of americans, which leads to civil unrest and populist discontent on the right and left. I think that is especially important to reexamine visavis china and their growing influence in the world today. I also think we have to take a look at the tech monopolies and the concentrated power that we have on wall street today. And traditionally speaking, conservatives have liked to cut taxes, which again i understand. Theres probably a lot of red tape that should not be there. But generally speaking, traditional conservatives do not really get a lot in return. One of the signature achievements of the Trump Presidency was the Corporate Tax cut, but it is really the corporations that are leading the charge in terms of a social agenda that is very much at odds with the traditional conservative perspective. So i would say the bargain that conservatives have struck with wall street and with the libertarian influence on the right has not always translated into protecting and preserving faith, family, and local communities. So i think it is time that there is reexamination done on the right. And i think the limited government and just pushing back against all things government is theres something to it, but i think it is an incomplete picture, so i think we need to take stock of all the influences currently exerting themselves on our country and really formulate a strategy that can strengthen the things we hold dear. And again, i think that is a strong middle class, vibrant families, and a path to upward mobility for all americans. Susan as you listen to your list of important topics, it sounds like there is some real Common Ground with progresses. Is that true . Do you differ on the prescription . Mr. Burtka yeah. I think when we are looking at the overlap between progressives and conservatives, particularly on sort of the populist right today, theres a bit of an overlap. And i think the progressives are very good at identifying problems that are really hurting the country. I think Bernie Sanders is really great at identifying very real problems that are Holding America back and keeping americans down. I think it is more a difference in terms of the solution to those problems. But yeah, im certainly open to dialogue with progressives on what the problems are, and that is something that we have done quite a bit, particularly on Foreign Policy, throughout our magazines history. Susan when you were describing what conservatism means to you, you talked about the need to, or desire to conserve the ideals of the founders. I wonder what you think about the energy within the black lives Matter Movement to reexamine our Founding Fathers and their role in the system they set up in government. Mr. Burtka yeah, that is a great question. Certainly a timely one with everything going on in the country. Where i am coming from is i think that its important that we take an honest look at American History. And there seems to be two tendencies right now. Theres the tendency on the left to say that American History needs to be erased. Looking at the 1619 project, the animating idea, or at least one of them, is that the American Revolution was fought to preserve slavery, essentially. So the tendency on the left is to cancel america or erase and break from the past and start over again. And theres a tendency on the right to basically say america is perfect, the founding was ordained by god, divinely inspired. Our country has never done anything wrong, it is a great place, i do not know what youre talking about. So i think the answer, it lies somewhere in between. I think we have a history and tradition that we can be proud of. I think if you go back and examine the principles that animated the american founding principles in the declaration of independence, the idea of equal justice and liberty under the law, the inherent dignity of each and every person, i think there is a lot in our american tradition that people who care about justice would be well to study and learn from, and sort of bring that to bear in creating a more just society today. So i think the conservative disposition, as i mentioned, it is about conservation and cultivation. So i think there is a quote that says, the individual is foolish, but the species is wise. And i think that is a very important lesson that even from our Vantage Point today, its easy to look back and see everything that the founders did wrong, but it is harder to see where our own blinders might be today. So i think the general posture that we ought to have towards history is one of deference. However, its the cultivation aspect of conservatism where we take those positions from the past and cultivate them and steward them for today. That does not preclude a reexamination of the historic legacy of slavery and its impact on america today, but i think it is about an approach to history, and i think theres a stark difference there between conservatives and progressives right now. Susan when you look at a list of contributors to your symposium on the state of american conservatism, there are only two womens names. Im wondering as a jumping off point for the question, about people of various demographics who participate in the conservative movement. Is it inclusive enough for your satisfaction . Mr. Burtka i think it could certainly be more inclusive. When i was reaching out to people to write for the symposium, i initially gravitated towards those who were the editors of magazines and publications on the right today, or those who lead think tanks or institutions. And in most of them on the right, they tend to be males, and they tend to be older. So i think in terms of a successful longterm project, i think conservatism would do well to cultivate more voices from more diverse backgrounds. That is definitely something to work on. Susan how does that happen . Mr. Burtka how does that happen . That is a really good question. I think it comes down to ultimately it comes down to relationships. I think it is less a result of an intentional effort to exclude women, or blacks, hispanics in the conservative movement. I think it really comes down to relationships, and people tend to congregate with people that think like they do, act like they do, and travel in similar social circles as they do. So i think it really probably sprung up more organically in that respect. So i think the best place to start is by being intentional about cultivating relationships with people that might not be in the current sort of group of conservative intellectual thinkers, and sort of bringing them on board that way. Susan as you did in the magazine, i wanted to go through a brief history of some of the stages of american conservatism in the United States during the 20th century. It had its roots in the mid20th century. Tell me how it got started. Mr. Burtka conservatism really, as an intellectual and Political Movement, really began as a pushback against collectivism and against the new deal. Seeing it as violating constitutional principles, and sort of an overgrowth of government. And then it began to morph with the challenge that we had against communism overseas, and seeing the influence of communist thought, particularly on american intellectuals and american publications. So it really started off as sort of a quirky intellectual movement, with a few political figures pushing back against collectivism at home and abroad. And really some of the seminal moments were the publication of Russell Kirks the conservative mind, which famously tried to not pigeonhole an ideological definition of conservatism, but took examples of servant of statesmen throughout history and basically painted more of a conservative disposition than an ideology. And then you of course have the founding of National Review magazine back in 1955 by william f. Buckley junior, which really began to sort of bring these diverse camps into play. And it wasnt only those pushing back against Big Government or the soviet union. You also had traditional and religious conservatives that tended to have not only social conservatism, but also many of them were catholic, so they had a sense of piety for the great saints and teachers throughout church history. So you have the economic conservatives in one camp, you have the social and traditional conservatives in another camp, and then you had the Foreign Policy hawks that were concerned about the soviet union and another camp. And then you also had a disaffected people from the left who were concerned particularly about the soviet union and the cold war, who were called neoconservatives, a commentary magazine when that was founded, fusing into the conservative movement that really coalesced around the reagan presidency. Susan you mentioned some of the sounding lights of american conservatism. I want to show people two of them you just mentioned so we can see and hear some of these people and hear their thinking. Lets begin with a clip from russell kirk later on in his life, june 4, 1980. This is from the cspan archives. American intellectual renewal of conservative ideas beginning around 1950 was typically unorganized and undirected, with individual scholars and letters only slightly acquainted with one anothers work, let alone enjoying personal acquaintance. Books who obtained some attenti