If you’ve never been to a Defending the American Dream Summit, held annually by Americans for Prosperity, I’d like to fill you in on what you’re missing, and then I’d like to give you the rundown about this year’s exciting summit, to be held Oct. 2-3 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Va.

Perhaps the best thing about the conference is meeting other people dedicated to our cause: educating Americans about this country’s economic policies, and returning the federal government to its constitutional limits.

What does all that mean? It’s pretty simple, actually. We don’t think the federal government has any business running up trillions of dollars in debt to bail out Wall Street and auto companies. We don’t think government should tax Americans for a health care program that will reduce patient choices and add to a runaway federal deficit.

We want to make government – from state capitols to Capitol Hill – accountable to all citizens by making their actions more transparent. Government should make it easy for citizens to know how tax dollars are being spent. And we want to stall what we see as a dismantling of free enterprise by federal and state governments, by attorneys general and judges, and by misguided regulators who casually throw up barriers to sound business practices.

There are two ways for change to happen. First, we can hope that lawmakers will simply do the right thing. We’ve seen that hasn’t worked. So we have to try the second approach: educate ourselves. We have to understand the underlying issues that need to be changed in this country, and we have a build a coalition of everyday people willing to take a message of change door-to-door, city-by-city and state-by-state. And then we have to work on Washington.

That’s what our summit is all about. We provide training on how you can most effectively get your messages across. You’ll be able to build a national network of activists. We even provide messages specific to states. You will hear nationally known experts and public figures like Newt Gingrich, Larry Kudlow, Laura Ingraham and Steve Moore, all of whom share AFP’s vision of the American Dream.
We will once again honor Ronald Reagan at our annual summit dinner. Expect a moving tribute of one of the greatest presidents in American history.

And we’ll repeat a time-tested Americans for Prosperity method of being heard: We’ll hold a rally. This one will be close to Capitol Hill. You can bet that Congress, which will be in session, will be paying close attention.

In short, the summit will have it all for grassroots activists.
I can’t stress enough how important this year’s summit is. Those who want to dismantle the Constitution as we know it, along with the nation’s free enterprise system, are setting the national agenda. It’s imperative that we help educate other Americans about that agenda and point to a better way.

That’s what Defending the American Dream is all about. It starts not in Washington, but in every kitchen, living room, front porch and computer screen in the country. Join our cause today.