CLC freedom moments: Santelli and Friedman

Our Conservative Leadership Conference is getting under way at the Marriott Crabtree. About 600 people will attend at least one event. @nccivitas

The Tea Party Activism breakout is SRO. Chris Farr, the NC grassroots coordinator for Americans for Prosperity, recalls Santelli’s Rant. The question still resonates: Do we want to subsidize the losers? Do we want to help the people who carry the water or those who just drink it? Give it a listen. It’s a golden oldie.

She goes on, however, with practical advice. Don’t think you’re just going to waltz into  a legislator’s office and think you should just bend his ear for a half hour. Treat him like you’d treat any professional: Make an appointment. Better, talk to the staff member.

This suggests that the Tea Party is making fewer headlines because it is moving away from the sound bites to getting things done. So the death of the Tea Party may have been announced prematurely. What it is doing may be less visible from the surface. That doesn’t mean it isn’t there. One form of media bias: Ignoring events that don’t lend themselves to a picture or a quick interview.

So the Town Hell meetings may have been succeeded by short, intense meetings with aides, with less newsy but more fruitful encounters.

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10:10 am — Brian Balfour of Civitas is explaining how ancient tribal views and traditions affect how we view wealth today, in a Free Market Academy session.

Here’s the essence of the argument for capitalism: In capitalism, success for yourself comes from success to serving others.

To get rich, you have to serve others. That ought to be on the wall of every conservative.

And he shows a clip from a classic Milton Friedman moment.

Re Walter Williams: Cowboys may despise the elite in Manhattan, but those cowboys get up before dawn to help those living in penthouses overlooking Central Park to get steaks.