It’s Not Too Late to Enjoy the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference
There are political conferences, and then there are special political conferences. The largest conservative political conference in the country is the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, now in its 50th year. It regularly draws more than 5,000 attendees per year. It is national in scope, and with very attractive admission fees for students, it attracts a wide age range as well as a wide geographic range of attendees. Several years after the first CPAC, Fred Anton, the legendary leader of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association, decided to launch a state-focused conference fashioned after CPAC, thus the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference was born. That conference, often referred to by its initials PLC, quickly became and remains the largest state-level conservative conference, and certainly one of the best.
This year’s PLC was one of the best ever, with nearly 700 attendees, and I want to suggest to the faithful and patriotic listeners to American Radio Journal that you take advantage of the excellent video recordings that have been made of the conference, so you can see and hear for yourselves why this conference has reached such an honored stature.
Three of the more famous, nationally-known speakers who appeared at this year’s PLC, which took place in Harrisburg last weekend, were Mary Katherine Ham, Vivek Ramaswamy and Dinesh D’Souza.
Many of you will remember Mary Katherine from her days as a Fox News contributor, and you may wonder where she had gone. Well, that’s because she went over to CNN, which the vast majority of Fox News viewers never visit. Even if you don’t see much of her these days, please be assured that she is doing good work. She’s whip-smart, and has the gift of being able to talk through an almost-constant smile. She defies the caricature of the angry conservative, and thus her arguments sound infinitely reasonable. She also has a wonderful sense of humor and appears to genuinely enjoy life. She’s worth listening to.
Former Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy gave a typically high-energy talk about American values and the importance of faith. Ramaswamy was raised in a Hindu household in Cincinnati, but he attended Christian schools. He is a Hindu, not a Christian, but one of the most influential Christian in politics, Bob Vander Plaats of the Iowa Family leader, said Vivek “would be more palatable in many ways for the faith-based community than Donald Trump.” Ramaswamy said “This isn’t one of those ordinary elections where it’s about increasing the corporate tax rate or increasing it 1% here or there, this isn’t one of those elections. This is … where the future existence of our country is on the line.” If that intrigues you, then you should listen to his speech at the PLC. As you listen to it, put one question in the back of your minds: was he auditioning to be Donald Trump’s Vice Presidential running mate?
Another presenter was Dr. Kevin Roberts, the new President of the Hertiage Foundation He said, “I’m here to tell you that now is the time more than any other time in our lifetimes to reject what the radical left wants you to be, which is to be discouraged, and instead dig ever deeper than we ever have before because this is the year 2024, when we take this country back…I’m not necessarily suggesting that we’re going to enter a season of warfare, but what I am suggesting is, at least figuratively, that the radical left has brought this culture of war to our feet. And we darn well better wake up and fight.”
He detailed his vision for Project 2025, which is the very broad set of policies Heritage has prepared if former President Donald Trump wins the presidency and Republicans win a majority in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House.
The headliner or keynote speaker at the PLC was Dinesh D’Souza, and his speech was impassioned, a real spellbinder. If you listen to no other speaker at the PLC, be sure to play the video of D’Souza’s entire speech.
I should mention that the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference is produced by Lowman Henry of the Lincoln Institute, who of course also produces American Radio Journal. If you enjoy this program, you will most assuredly enjoy the PLC. Just go to Paleadershipconference.com and you will find the full list of conference videos. You’ll be glad you did.
