More than 200 students from across America — including 14 from Hillsdale — gathered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin last weekend for the Young America’s Foundation’s Midwest Freedom Conference.
While traveling the six hours to the conference with students from the University of Michigan on a bus provided by YAF, the students heard from speakers like Congressman Sean Duffy (R-Wi.), Stephen Hayes of The Weekly Standard, and Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online.
“The conference focused on targeting the right demographic,” junior YAF President Savanna Wierenga said. “Not just giving the overview conservative umbrella speech, but saying that we need people to go into certain areas and really reach them and hit them at a level of conservatism that they can understand.”
Speakers touched on their picks for 2016 — just days before both former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) launched their campaigns for the White House. Goldberg mentioned Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin as a high possibility, with Rubio as a running mate.
“I also loved hearing about the election,” Bell said. “I don’t really get into sports or anything, but I love politics. I really had a lot of fun hearing different people’s points of view.”
A big hit at the conference — especially among Hillsdale attendees — was Greg Gutfeld of FOX News’ “The Five.”
“I loved Greg,” junior John Bell said. “I thought he was hilarious and he was fearless, and he was really racy.”
According to Wierenga, Hillsdale’s YAF chapter is exploring the possibility of bringing Gutfeld to campus next semester.
“We need to divorce ourselves from the idea that words hurt. Because they don’t,” Gutfeld said in his speech, in which he gave entertaining and edgy examples of how to flip liberal arguments.
“Greg really touched on how to approach the liberal left, and using media and using liberal arguments against themselves and not just being a stone-cold boring conservative,” Bell said. “His jokes were hilarious.”
