Its my privilegeok to introduce to you today our featured speaker and to share just a couple of reflections on my experience with young Americas Foundation. Again, welcome to those of you watching on cspan to the Reagan Ranch Center here in santa barbara, california. Young Americas Foundation is dedicated to inspiring increasing numbers of Young Americans across our nation with americas founding ideals of individual freedom a Strong National defense Free Enterprise and traditional values. And for us students, conferences like the one that we are all attending today are one of young Americas Foundations primary means of inspiring the next generation of leaders with the bold message of americas founding principles and american exceptionalism. As mr. Larson mentioned, it was my first time here at the reagan ranch just about four years ago when i awe tended my attended my First High School conference, and that was when my own passion for freedom was ignited. I heard about the miracle of america, a proud and exceptional country, uniquely founded upon the recognition and the protection of humankinds divinely eni docan dowed endowed liberties and a country who offers her people the opportunity to pursue and achieve heroic dreams. As president reagan told us, it is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. Were not, as some would have us believe, doomed to inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. President reagans call to action inspired me to take responsibility and action in my own community for the future of my country. I found that a young americaens more freedom for freedom, and im working to found another chapter at smu in the fall of this coming school year. [applause] i just wanted to share with you briefly some of the things that identify learned as a Young American that inspire me most about great country. America stands proudly upon foundation of a rich western heritage stretching as far back as the athenian democracy and the roman republic. But though roman athens and many who came after them were magnificent, they lacked a fundamental element that distinguishes the United States as the unique beacon of freedom and opportunity that she is. This critical puzzle piece is the freedomming of opportunity afforded by the free market system of capitalism, conceived in the 18th century by adam smith in his work, the wealth of nations. No other economic arrangement in Human History has been so capable of creating so much wealth and opportunity for so many people. President Ronald Reagan understood this, that free market principles were a critical component of americas greatness. He reminded us only when human spirit is allowed to invent and create only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefiting from their success only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic progressive and free. Our featured speaker this afternoon most certainly understands this too. She is living evidence that the American Dream is alive and well. The daughter of filipino immigrants, Michelle Malkin is one of americas foremost conservative thinkers. She is an author, syndicated columnist, blogger and entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in the world of political journalism. She began her career in newspaper journalism with the los angeles daily news where she worked as an editorial writer. In 1995 she was named warren brooks fellow at the gettive enterprise Competitive Enterprise Institute in washington d. C. She has built three successful conservative web sites her own personal web site, michellemalkin,. Com, hot air and twitchy. Youll know her from fox news to msnbc and cspan. Shes a frequent speaker for young Americas Foundation on College Campuses having spoken to student audiences at syracuse marquette, the university of texas and just recently, earlier this month, on the campus of south dakota state university. Ms. Malkin has authored five books, one of which the culture of corruption, ranked as a number one New York Times bestseller. Her most recent book that all of us students have been privileged to receive a copy of, who built that aweinspiring stories of american tinker preneuros. Tinkerpreneurs. Those tinkerers whose ideas and inventions conceived in their basements, garages and backyards became corporations, employed millions of americans and people around the world and improved the standard of living for the entire world. One of my favorite just brief examples from her book is of miracle of america is the story of tony, a croatian immigrant from a poor country from a poor island in the adriatic sea. He was born close to the end of world war ii, and he came to america and ended up founding mag instrument and invented the maglite torch. Ms. Malkins works flame with the same entrepreneurial spirit that carried tony from wartorn croatia to opportunity in america. Her conviction and her belief in freedom resound in all that she does and she is a shining example of patriotism to americans everywhere. Ladies and gentlemen, would you please join me in welcoming ms. Michelle malkin. [applause] thank you so much. Thank you. All right lets get started. [laughter] this is amazing. I cannot tell you how at home i feel here and how perfect a setting this is. I couldnt think of a better place. I owe so much to young Americas Foundation and the reagan ranch. These are two of the finest libertypromoting organizations we have in america and i want to thank everyone who works for that organization, ron and michelle who have been friends for so long andrew and each and every one of you who has done your part to support the work that they do. Thank you. Give yourselves a hand. [applause] i also definitely want to give a shoutout to cspan and booktv who are here. Over the course of my almost quarter century career now as an out of the closet conservative journalist [laughter] cspan has covered many of the events that aye done over the years that ive done over the years. They welcomed me for washington journal last week, and it is always an incredible ride to get phone calls from cspan listeners and to get thatw3 noholdsbarred, fullytransparent discussion that so many of the hacks and flaks in d. C. Say that they support, right . I] [laughter] this book who built that, was a very special journey for me. And as i write in the introduction of the book, most people know me as that angry brown lady on the tv set [laughter] whos always yelling at liberals. [laughter] and so i vowed when i launched this book that i was going to put on the happy smiley face. [laughter] right . But then inevitably, of course, on cable tv theyre going to put me against some meathead [laughter] from the left, and there i go again. Im sure some of you saw me last week on some of the fox shows. [laughter] i think, you know, when youre in this business and especially when you kids are on your College Campuses representing voice of freedom, of free market capitalism, of the best founding constitutional principles that we all adhere to, youve got to pick and choose your ballots obviously, and it all your battles, and it all depends on the time, manner and place how you present yourselves a full pictureco of who we are. And thats what reagan did. He was a happy warrior and it was both sides. When he needed to reprimand those berkeley children [laughter] many of whom were 50, 60 and 70 years old [laughter] he knew how to turn it on. And yet he remained such a beacon for people across class lines, across color lines. He gave people a reason to the aspire to aspire. And that overused word thesei] days hope. Hope rests in this founding principle of the promise of social mobility, that were not all relegated to one rung of the ladder. And so when i when i heard this insidious phrase, you didnt build that, ooh [laughter] come on, it still feels so raw, doesnt it . [laughter] and i thought, this is it. Weve won weve clinched it can you believe this guy getting up in the Public Square and openly denigrating americas makers and builders and achievers . How could he get away with that . And then he did. And did that not just feel like it was stabbing you in the heart . Whats going on, whats wrong here . What have we failed to do . To connect the dots for people. So that they88annr see that he wasnt merely saying that we have help along the way. Thats thats an innocuous to statement right there. Of course we all do. We all stand on the shoulders of our Founding Fathers lets thank them. And before he uttered that phrase you didnt build that, he had this dripping hostility for people who rightly believe that it was their own initiative that, yes they worked harder and yes, they were smarter. Every time i discovered some new fact, some new unsung entrepreneur and ill get to a couple of them momentarily here they had to hear every last detail. [laughter] and so my kids got to see a very different side of me. Not just angry cable tv lady, but nerd mom. Oh, my gosh, there she goes again. Talk about the wildcat stop her [laughter] but the fact is ive always been, you know, somewhat of a frustrated tinkerer myself and i talk about some of the things that i try to make with me kids, and this is why theyre always rolling their eyes because they know its never going to work. The soda bottle submarine that sank to the bottom of the time, the marshmallow shooter that has marshmallows wedged in the pvc piping, a weber girl that i grill that i tried to modify that singed my eyebrows off. [laughter] so i thought who better to write about the successes from the Industrial Age to the internet age than someone who is such a wannabe, such a total failure . And, of course, you know, thats always, its almost somewhat of a cliche now that when people talk about successful entrepreneurs, they always mention that, of course failure was such a huge ingredient and motivator for them to continue. There are so many statements even just in the last couple of weeks that have emphasized and underscored some of the things that i talk about in the introduction to the book, which is really my sort of personal manifesto against this wealth shaming agenda. The open denigration that we hear not only in statements like you didnt build that, but other statements of obama and his minions. At some point he said when he was lobbying for the doddfrank financial monstrosity at some point, he said, you have earned enough money because hes the decider. How about biden who has said that every, every great idea of the 19th, 20th and 21st century is a result of government vision. How about mr. Bernie sanders he handed it to me on a silver platter this week. Hes kicking off his campaign hes speaking to financial journalist john harwood, and he says one of core problems with america is that there are 23 types of deodorant on our store shelf and 18 types of sneakers. And because consumers have so many choices, its these selfish people who are either consuming all of these innumerable products and all of the people who are employed manufacturing them that are the cause of childhood hunger in america. [laughter] so next time youre doing this [laughter] hunger is your fault. [laughter] by the way i need somebody to go to the bathroom really quickly before i forget and get me a roll of toilet paper. Can somebody do that . Just grab a roll of toilet paper. Anyone volunteers . Thank you. Ill get back to that in a second. [laughter] so so this is perfect because and everything will be safe for work, so dont worry about that. [laughter] so here we have Bernie Sanders who, by the way, who are some of his biggest donors and friends . Ben and jerrys from ben and jerrys ice cream. Oh and how many flavors of ice cream do they sell . [laughter] i propose that Bernie Sanders first act as theoretical president be that ben and jerrys only be allowed to sell one flavor of ice cream, venezuelan vanilla, okay . [laughter] could this be more perfect . The idea is that somehow we should be punished because we have choices, a myriad of choices. Guess what . Bernie sanders, you can buy my book at amazon, barnes noble sams, walmart costco [laughter] and God Bless America for it. [laughter] [applause] my toilet paper. [laughter] how many types of toilet paper are on the shelves at safeway and walgreens . Thank you. We can get it quilted, we can get it twoply threeply fourfly scented unscented. And its not thanks to the federal department of innovation that we have toilet paper and venezuela and the soviet union dont, right . [laughter] because there could be no government edict no executive order that created a single roll of toilet paper. And many of you because you have parents and committed teachers and home schoolers who understand that education is a failure if you do not inculcate an appreciation of basic free market economic values, many of you are very familiar with the iconic essay by leonard reid called i, pencil, right . Yes, come on. Raise your hands. Yes. I think that should be mandatory if i had a common core curriculum [laughter] i pencil would be taught in second grade or first grade. So this was his way of illustrating the miracle of millions of voluntary exchanges that go on, obviously in our country every day and around the world where they can. Of all of the cooperation that goes on without any centralized topdown can hand coordinate topdown hand coordinating it and the engine, the fuel for producing something as simple as a pencil comes from allowing people to pursue yes, their selfinterest. And its same thing with toilet paper, which is why one of the chapters i wrote in who built that is called, i, toilet paper. [laughter] and, boy was it fun writing in the voice of a roll of toilet paper. [laughter] and what i found was and this is what i talk about when i say that it was such a joy to take a break from the daily wear and tear of the cable tv world where theres so much focus on the negative and just to be able to breathe in this incredible legacy. The history of toilet paper can be traced back to our Founding Fathers, many of them who were private venture capitalists in the paper mills across pennsylvania. Benjamin franklin was one of them. By the paper mill owners who never, ever thought that wed have them to thank for the comfort of this. [laughter] right . They were just trying to put food on the table and make a living and yes, make a profit. [laughter] right . And they said it with a happy smile on their face whereas these days do you hear how people say the word profit in the beltway swamp as if its a profanity, as if it deserves a bleep or pix silllation like a muhammad cartoon . Dont say profit. Of course, theres the reeking hypocrisy of obama going after private venture capitalists just a couple of weeks ago at georgetown university. It was a poverty summit. Im sure you all saw this. I wrote a piece about this in usa today. He denigrated, he just picked at random, of course, the top 25 Hedge Fund Managers in america to denigrate, and he called them quote societys lottery winners. As if their success their achievement, the Creative Capital that they had the decisions, successful decisions that theyve made to invest in other private businesses was somehow distributed like a powerball drawing. And some people get lucky and everyone else doesnt and theyre stuck and relegated to those positions for life. Nonsense. Not only is this nonsense, not only is it seething class warfare, its antiamerican. It is antiamerican because it is anathema to everything this country has represented in the past and why we have been such a success for so long. This man is ignorant of history. And people like him these capitalistbashing americahating progressives need to be called out, and that is why i dedicated who built that to president barack obama. [laughter] [applause] so this is going to be show and tell. But before i get to some of these really cool things and, by the way i have a whole bag of these bottle caps, so kids, if you want to have a token a souvenir before you leave come up to me and ill give you some of them. But i do want to talk a second more about Ronald Reagan and how he affected my life and what he meant to my family and me. So ive told a lot of students who i speak to across the country that i always, i didnt always have this big mouth. I know, youre so shocked. [laughter] and it was always incredibly difficult for me as a child to get up in front of an audience believe it or not. I failed my seventh grade speech class. And ill never forget it, because it has a reagan tie to it. We were told to write about anything we wanted to write about and speak for three minutes. Id always been a very adept writer, so if it was something that i could commit to paper id get an a. But actually having to deliver it . I wrote my speech in 1982 about a Government Official a Civil Servant named lenny scutnick who had dived into the potomac there was a plane crash. Some of the oldsters [inaudible] air [inaudible] like the geriatric memory bank thank you. [laughter] anyway, he was just an ordinary guy who did an extraordinary thing, and he saved several passengers lives in the icy potomac. It was january 1982. I wrote a great speech about this because what president reagan did was launched the ongoing tradition of honoring an ordinary american who did extraordinary things during the state of the union. And that tradition continues today. So i got my neatlywritten paper, i got up there in front of the podium [laughter] i failed. I went home to my mom i cried, and thank god i had not just a tiger mom, but a Mountain Lion mom. [laughter] who was completely unsympathetic. And she said words that ring true today in so many contexts. And im sure that many of you students have had moments like this. She said if you dont speak for yourself, no one will. And thats how i felt on my college campus. Grant mentioned or was it mark that menti