The left institute hosts a summit on sentencing laws. Participants include federal judges, advocates and states attorneys general. Its live this morning here at 8 45 here on cspan2. The American Conservative Union annual conservative Political Action conference wrapped up saturday. Its chair, matt schlapp, spoke at the event friday and talked about the conservative message and the need for the Republican Party to stay united in order to win in november. This is about 15 minutes. [applause] well, hello, conservatives. [cheers and applause] it has been a long seven years. Obamas radical policies are hurting us. We feel defeated. Our economy is stagnant. Our military is underfunded, and our veterans feel forgotten. Our faith is not respected or protected. And whats the state of the American Family . We all know that without Strong Families we will perish. [applause] americans want to feel strong again, safe again, confident again and free again. And not have to wait in lines . Thats fair, thats fair. [laughter] its the price of freedom, my friend. [applause] all of us are worried that gods blessings are fading. That our constitution is under attack. We fear radical islamic terror will invade us, and bloated government addicted to controlling our lives will destroy us. And congress is filled with many strong conservatives, but lets face it, congress refuses to use all its powers to stop obama. And hes changed the game on all of us. [applause] you know, people talk about angry and frustrated voters. Who can blame us . You know, we have a president who thinks that nuns need contraception coverage. [laughter] he thinks iran should get nukes. He thinks that when we have terror on our soil, that its workplace violation. [laughter] and he refers to the butchers at planned parenthood as just doing the lords work. [laughter] theres so much condition fusion these days confusion these days that Even High School boys and girls, they dont even know what locker room to use anymore. [laughter] and dont get me started on the supreme court. Let me be clear, mr. President , you will not fill the scalia seat with an err eric holder [cheers and applause] president obama, he shattered the model of what it means to unite americans in a common purpose. You know, he deserves a political ph. D. In political math because it was him, its all about division. Let me ask you a question. How many of you with listen to Rush Limbaugh . [cheers and applause] do you like rush . cuz its no surprise that mercy and i listen to rush. And the other day we were listening, and a caller, he just nailed it. You know what he said about how we feel . We are tired of feeling unimportant. We feel like we carry the whole country on our backs. Do any of you feel the same way . [applause] you know who understood this . Ronald reagan understood this. He understood the frustration of the American People when he spoke with that reassuring and inspirational voice. It was reagan who said for whatever history does finally say about our cause, this cause, it must say the conservative movement in america held fast through the hard and difficult years. The hard and difficult years. My friends, these have been the hard and difficult years that reagan predicted. But, you know, now its time to talk about the future. And i can see light coming from the top of the hill. The American Conservative Union and our conservative movement is growing stronger. Were adding new voices. And you know what were prepared for . We are prepared for the obama exit. [cheers and applause] exit. Ill tell you one thing that were not prepared for, im not prepared for, im not prepared for bill clinton with too much time on his hands [laughter] hanging around the white house near those white house interns. [laughter] im not prepared for that. [applause] and im not prepared to see Queen Hillary on the throne where she likes to keep her servers. [laughter] think about it. [applause] look at all the young people around us. Look at em. They tell us that young people are not conservatives. [applause] look around you. These are the grandchildren of the reagan revolution. [cheers and applause] tell me something, grandchildren of the reagan revolution, do you feel the bern . No i bet you want jobs. You want to experience the earn. [laughter] [applause] but its not just about the college kids, tests also about the young its also about the young and the young at heart x. As you saw, mercy and i are raising five beautiful girls. 9 theyre not always perfect, ill tell you that right ahead of time. I dont know what their politics will be. Early indicators are good. [laughter] what mercy and i want more than anything, this is the most important thing, is for them to understand that america is exceptional. [applause] why are we exceptional . Because here the individual is recognized to have godgiven rights enshrined in law and that the individual is protected by that law to take on the masters of government when they encroach, when they squat, when they bullly or when they bully, or when they intimidate us. And each generation is obligated to entrust this understanding of our exceptionalism to the next. And this reminds me of a special kansan whos battling cancer. And while she fights for her health, shes worried about her country. Her kids came to her recently and offered to send her on a vacation, a couple of quiet days by the water. They also offered her a chance for a fourday pass the cpac. This grandmother and great grandmother of 46, she chose cpac. [cheers and applause] and whats more, todays her birthday. [applause] mary freewell, you are a conservative grassroots hero, and you are exceptional. Thank you for being here. [cheers and applause] we would have cheered just for the 46. [laughter] i mean, we would have stopped there. One of the main reasons i love coming to cpacing is because this is the place cpac, is because this is the place where we all come together, and we speak freely. Each of you is here because you care enough to come here. You invest your time and your resources. And we understand that. And you come here to take a crash course on the state of your country. You know what i understand . You love your country. [cheers and applause] id like to tell you about someone else who loved his country. He lived under castros cuba, a place that where if you disagree with the regime and, boy, its a regime they will take from you, they will imprison you, or even worse, they will kill you. My fatherinlaw, jose, here told was one of the many cubans who lost everything. But you know what he did . He fought back. He organized a small group of Freedom Fighters who planned an attack on fidel castro. In the end, they were betrayed by one of their own and all were either jailed or murdered. Jose got out alive. But his cell mate, he was executed. Could i tell you how incredible it is to have a fatherinlaw who fought for freedom and tried to rid the world of one of the most heinous tyrants and how sad it is, how tragic it is to watch our president appease these very same dictators . [applause] im inspired knowing america gave him a Second Chance at freedom. [applause] hes taught his children and his grandchildren and me the importance of protecting and defending this great nation now and forever. Jose villana, we salute you. [cheers and applause] mary, jose, i call him pepe [laughter] all of us are worried that our movement, a all of us that all of us, that were hopelessly fractured. That our movement will never be the same. That our divisions will result in even more losses, that our conservative movement is damaged beyond repair. We are at a critical moment for conservatives. So many are rooting against us. Theyre hoping we fail. But, you know, weve been here before. I think the path before us is pretty simple. Were going to have to decide; do we fracture or do we stand together as conservatives and prevail . I know we can. Despite what the pundits are saying about us, dont fear this moment. Embrace it. And like all challenges and this is quite a challenge well be stronger when we get through it. But well only prevail if we fight together now. [applause] conservatives, let us Work Together to make this our time. Our time is now. Thank you very much. [cheers and applause] thank you. [applause] and cspan2 will be live this morning at Georgetown University for a discussion about prison sentencing laws. The discussion hosted by a nonprofit Jewish Organization that works with specific populations that are isolated from the regular community. U. S. Military personnel, prisoners and ohs. Others. Well be hearing from federal judges this morning as well as state attorneys general and also advocates during the summit which is expected to run through the early afternoon. Things running a bit behind schedule. This was scheduled to start at 8 45 eastern time. Well bring you to Georgetown University as soon as things get under way. In the meantime, more from the conservative Political Action conference. Well, anyone following mark levin has a tough act to follow, but were going to try, respect we . We are. I came across an article not too long ago where an american commentator was looking at Different Things trying to assess the state of this country as it faced a moment of particular opportunity. He looked at economic situations in our cities, compared them with things in towns and communities, rural communities. He looked at birthrates, he looked at family formation, he looked at the cost of starting a business, and he came to the conclusion that all of those things were going to be important in assessing americas potential which he believed would be powerful even though it was at a time of great uncertainty. That commentator could have been someone like Arthur Murray who just put out a recent book called coming apart. But it wasnt. The person that looked at that mix of things was Benjamin Franklin in 1755. He concluded that based on the progress our country was making on those mix of factors, that our best days were yet ahead. Well, were here to talk about an opportunity to revisit much the very same mix. Acu, the American Conservative Union foundation, working with terrific economists and eventually statebased leaders throughout this country has put together something called the Family Prosperity initiative. Were here to spend some time talking today about how that can help you out in each of your communities work with neighbors to understand the impact of policies on the things that matter most to all of us. We can all look at National Measurements and get a sense of what they mean, but prosperity and success is a personal experience. It happens up close. So im delighted and honored today to be joined by four distinguished panelists on stage. Were going to spend a few moments talking about some of these factors and what you can do to use them in your advocacy and work in your communities. Well hear statements from each of our panelists just briefly as we open. Well begin with mr. Larry kudlow whos known to so many of you, a longtime economist, commentator around the country, terrific. [applause] hell be followed by, hell be followed by ms. Jillane apling. Then dr. Wendy who is one of the economists who helped put this tremendous index together. And finally, former congressman bob bow pray, twotime congressman from the state of colorado. Mr. Kudlow. Thank you very much, appreciate it. Hi, everybody, thank you for having me. I want to talk about a subject that is, i guess, not my usual discussion on the air, but a very important topic marriage. Marriage. Economists should pay more attention to and think more about marriage. So the battle will rage. The Biggest Issue of our time at home is the lack of economic growth. The issue is why . There are a lot of reasons. Im not going to walk through taxes and regulations, because thats what i normally do. Much of the reduction of growth is coming from an increase in poverty which is caused by family breakup. Thats where its coming from. [applause] study after study has shown married families make more income, make more wealth and are happier. Thats right, happier. Ive been married 28 years to a saint [laughter] im very grateful. And i have a smile on my face. So i want to the talk about this for a moment. Family breakup versus marriage. To my way of thinking, theres a path, its a cultural path that becomes a societal cultural path. Hear me out on this. You have a kid, young kid, 8, 10, 12 years old, okay . And that kid comes from a broken family. And his or her chances of success are low. Thats what the numbers show. Theyre low. So i suggest the following. Number one, make sure that kid finishes school. School. High school minimum, maybe community college, learn a skill, maybe go on to a fouryear college, but schooling is so important. Were not doing that anymore. Were not doing that anymore. Number two, get a job. Get a job. No matter how good or not good, youre not going to start as a ceo, just get a job. [laughter] [applause] you know why . Showing up every day is a responsible way of living, and the sooner you get that, the better off youre going to be. Its almost a lost cultural issue. Just work. Now, number three, you meet a girl, you meet a boy. Great. As my wife, my saintly wife says all the time, before you make any decisions, do your research. [laughter] do your research. I dont know, i must have proposed to my wife, i dont know, three, four times . I cant even remember. [laughter] finally, she hit the bid. Finally. She was checking me out. I dont blame her. [laughter] but the real lesson here, the real lesson here is not to just jump into bed together, but spend some time talking, learning, relationship building. And then and heres my key point or and then you have your schooling, you still have to have your job, you go on ahead and get married after some time, and then you have the kid. [applause] my point thank you, appreciate it. I really do. My point is we are doing it backwards. Backwards. Were having the kid first. Dont even bother with the marriage, dont even bother with a job, dont even bother with the education. Where does this come from . I dont know. Weve lost track of a very traditional american value, and that is the culture of marriage and child rearing. We must not lose that. [applause] a few more points. So much of this is, as i said, a cultural issue, a social issue, it is passed on from generation to generation. But its very important. Some of it, however, does have to do with economics and the federal government, the role of the federal government. The role of the federal government for the last five decades or so has been in inemmiccal in opposition to the kind of traditional culture of family and marriage that im talking about. The government is providing assistance for people to have outofwedlock children, to have fatherless children, not to work, not to full pill your responsibility fulfill your responsibility in parenting. The government is handing out money, tax credits or direct federal assistance. And its wrong. Im not here to be a killjoy. All right . Im not saying i dont believe in the safety net. My brother, mark levin, was talking of we both worked in the reagan administration. Ronald reagan believed in the safety net up to a point. Up to a point. But welfare is not a substitute for marriage, for child rearing, for education, for living responsibly, for making responsible choices. Welfare is not a substitute for any of that, none of it. [applause] so ill go back and end where i started. We have a big problem in this country. We havent grown the economy in virtually 15 years. The numbers are stark; 1. 7 annual rate for the past 15 years under democratic and republican president s and congresses. They havent delivered. For the whole prior 50 years, for the whole prior 50 years, the American Economy postwar grew at 3. 5 per year. Fifteen years most recently, 1. 7 , what is that all about . Its about lousy policies, and im not going to go through all of that except to say this the problem of growth and the problem of poverty are the real issues. Not inequality, not socialism, government spending, not high taxing the rich, not penalizing american success. The problem is American Values, traditional American Values and the decline of the culture of family and marriage, and only we, only we, only we can change this or bolster it or teach it. Do you follow me . No bureaucrat is going to teach us that. No house member, no Senate Member god bless all of them. You have to do it right where you are at home many your lives. There are right decisions and wrong decisions. The rise of poverty class is so tightly linked, so tightly linked to the incidence of divorce and outofwedlock marriages and kids. [applause] it is so tightly related. [applause] so youll hear a lot of good statistics and numbers and indicators about this. I just want to say that not everything is an economic problem. Thats me, kudlow saying not everything is an economic problem. There are some problems that are social and cultural. And i beg everybody id like to see these candidates talk about it on the stump. We must return to the value and the culture of marriage and parenting and teaching kids the right decisions, not the wrong ones. And if we do that, well increase the growth rate, well make people happier, and america will be a better country. Thank you. [applause] thank you, mr. Kudlow. Well, first of all, let me say that mr. Kudlow has my vote for president. [laughter] thank you for those great remarks. And i completely concur with them. I would say, too, im not an economist, but i am a champion for families, and im an end user of the kind of products that were talking about today, the family prosper by be index developed by my friends, wendy and scott. And as i listened to mr. Kudlow, im reminded of several things. First and foremost, i think, is that we need to get rid of the misconception that conservatives are not are without compassion. We are truly concerned about the well being of the entire person. And we understand that that well being is mostly fostered through the family unit. And that family unit begins with strong marriages between a mom and a dad. Th