Photo: Lwrn Tikva

It was my pleasure to represent CFACT at a discussion between Vice President Mike Pence and Morton Blackwell, founder and president of the Leadership Institute.

Prior to the event with Mike Pence, I was proud to have been given the opportunity to address the crowd of conservative activists to explain CFACT’s mission and values.

The sit-down interview with the vice president focused on empowering young conservative activists at our nation’s colleges and universities.

Pence gave advice to the approximately 100 young conservatives in attendance by telling them to not just aim to improve their career prospects, but also to improve themselves.

“Read a book,” Pence quipped as the crowd laughed. “Read biographies…the story of America is that of Americans. It’s of people.”

During my short presentation on CFACT, I explained our mission to empower young people with the principles of prosperity, liberty, and a love for nature. My talk was to the potential “Field Rep Class” that the Leadership Institute trains every summer to recruit and empower conservative and libertarian students on college campuses across the nation.

Come fall, these field reps will power the Leadership Institute in its mission to help conservative and libertarian organizations to work together in their fight for free speech, individual liberty, and conservative values at colleges and universities from coast to coast.

“There is no such thing as a conservative carbon tax,” I said at the end of my presentation. “There is no such thing as a ‘revenue neutral’ carbon tax…these initiatives have the hardest impact on the least fortunate among us, who have to spend a disproportionate amount of their income on heating their homes, cooling their homes, and filling up their cars.”

Several of the potential field reps came up to me afterwards and explained their excitement to be working with an organization like CFACT that brings a balanced, science-based perspective on environmental issues to the conservative movement. One field rep candidate in particular, Rafael, talked with me at length about the benefits of nuclear power, the importance of hunting to conservation, and how to debunk the ridiculous “97% consensus” claim that all scientists agree there is an impending “climate crisis.”

Photo: Robert Knee

During his interview, Mike Pence remarked that “the impact of the Leadership Institute is incalculable.” I couldn’t agree more, and CFACT is proud to have been a partner with the Leadership Institute in their fight on college campuses for several years now.

We look forward to continuing this great partnership, and applaud Mr. Blackwell in founding such an effective organization, and strong ally to CFACT, in the fight for freedom.