‘Jeff Sandefer is an entrepreneur, a teacher and a passionate defender of freedom. He gave this speech on behalf of the Acton Institute at a recent national conference.’
As I was preparing this talk, I was wondering what it might feel like to be on the front lines, defending freedom, in times like this.
Do you feel as I do?
Are you still wondering how a President from Texas, a self-proclaimed “compassionate conservative,” could have understood so little about freedom and free markets?
Are you angry with men like Mark Sanford, who with so much promise and so much to give, let personal appetites destroy their ability to serve?
Are you holding the Republican Party banner at arm’s length, like a soiled piece of cloth, wondering if we can ever wash off the stench from politicians who promised one thing to get elected, but spent money like drunken sailors once they were in office?
Does your heart, like mine, cry out for a Buckley or a Reagan or a Thatcher?
I am nothing more than an entrepreneur, a teacher and a father of three. But I have had the honor of teaching with some of the finest entrepreneurs in this country. And I have sat at Bill Buckley’s feet, and watched Margaret Thatcher from up close and studied Ronald Reagan from afar.
If you feel as I do today, please listen closely to what I say next, for it embodies all that I have learned as an entrepreneur and a teacher:
Do not give up hope. For we freedom fighters have three simple truths, ancient truths, entrepreneurial truths, that are the secret to the American dream. Embrace them, master them, and you not only change the world