Steamboat Institute

Thank you for making our Inaugural Freedom conference a rousing success!!!

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The Steamboat Institute will hold its First Annual Freedom Conference on Friday, August 28 and Saturday, August 29, 2009 at the Steamboat Grand Resort in beautiful Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Congresman Mike Pence (R-IN), the third-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, Chairman of the House Republican Conference, and a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, will be a special guest of the Steamboat Institute on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009. Pence, who was first elected to Congress from the sixth district of Indiana in 2000, is a member of the national Republican leadership team.  For further details on how to attend the reception from 5 p.m. – 6 p.m. featuring Cong. Pence, please contact the Steamboat Institute at 970-871-9936.

The Steamboat Institute is also pleased to announce that Michael Reagan, best-selliing author and son of President Ronald Wilson Reagan – America’s 40th President, will keynote the 2009 Freedom Conference Dinner on Friday, August 28, 2009 at 7 p.m.  (Reception to begin at 6 p.m.) For event information about the dinner and Mr. Reagan’s book-signing event, please contact the Steamboat Institute at 970-871-9936.

Grover Norquist, president and founder of Americas for Tax Reform, will be the keynote speaker at a luncheon hosted by The Steamboat Institute to be held on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009 at 12:30 p.m.   ATR is a coalition of taxpayer groups, individuals and businesses opposed to higher taxes at both the federal, state and local levels. Mr. Norquist is author of the book Leave Us Alone — Getting the Government’s Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives. The book is an optimistic look at how the conservative movement can and will grow during the next 25 years.  For information on how to attend the lunch and other information, please contact the Steamboat Institute at 970-871-9936.

The genius of America is in its people.  To paraphrase Adam Smith, the proper roles of government are to protect us from foreign threats, to administer justice internally, protecting us from the criminal acts of other persons and to undertake projects for the common good, like highway construction, with is impractical for the private sector.

Taxes suck the vitality from a healthy economy.  America is great because of its people, not because of its government.  If government is allowed to excessively drain the resources of the people, the enterprise, creativity and resourcefulness of the people is limited.

Free market capitalism is an essential element of a free society. The alternative is command and control by the government–an entity quite ill-suited to make business and economic decisions that will have a profound effect on us all. History is our proof. Where markets have been most free, standards of living have been highest and prosperity greatest. Where there is greater command and control, like Eastern Europe before the fall of the iron curtain, the people have suffered.

At the Steamboat Institute, we are Defenders of Capitalism!

Appeasement is not a viable foreign policy.  As George Washington taught us over 200 years ago, nations act in their own self interest.  Weakness can and will be exploited.  Among the proper roles of government is protection from foreign threats.  We can only have peace through strength.

Freedom is not free.  It is paid for every day, not just by vigilant citizens, but by our brave men and women in uniform.  They deserve our undying gratitude, support, and respect.

Individual Liberty is the cornerstone of The Steamboat Institute.  Only through the exercise of Liberty can the individual and society, as a whole, recognize their full potential and greatness.  Liberty can survive only where the reach of government is limited, and this requires our vigilance.  Left to its own devices, the power of government will expand unchecked, eroding our Liberty daily.

But with Freedom comes responsibility.  We are all responsible for our actions and their effects on others.  We must exercise self-governance to avoid surrendering our Liberty to others.