Don't Be Timid About Defending Principles, Bay Buchanan Tells AMU Audience
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Published on Tuesday, 05 February 2013 22:45
Conservative political veteran Bay Buchanan urged young people at Ave Maria University Monday to become leaders who were not afraid of defending the founding principles of the United States.
"We are moving away from those founding principles," Ms. Buchanan said, and now "we are faced with a country that we can hardly recognize."
To move back to founding principles such as the rule of law and protection of unalienable rights such as life and liberty, Ms. Buchanan said the U.S. needs leaders "who are outspoken and bold, who don't care if what they say offends people."
"We are not born leaders, but every one of us can be one," she told a group of about 75 residents, faculty and town residents at an event sponsored by the Ave Maria University chapter of Young Americans for Freedom.
To lead and make a difference, she said, "Pick an issue you care about, find people with opposite views and open your mouth."
The specific issue is less important than the passion with which a person can speak to it, she said, although the issues she mentioned most in her hour-long talk were the right to life, the right to bear arms, and the right to live free from government interference.
"A few years ago, no one would even consider such a proposal" as the Obamacare mandates regarding the purchase of insurance. "To think the government is telling Americans what they have to buy and telling employers what they have to provide."
Ms. Buchanan has been active in politics for more than 30 years, serving in senior positions in Ronal Reagan's two campaigns for president and managing three presidential campaigns of her brother, Pat Buchanan. Right, Ms. Buchanan speaking with students after her talk.
Now, she confirmed in an interview following her talk, she is giving up that part of her life and will spend more time working as a realtor in the Washignton, D.C., area.
"I'm out of campaigning," she said. "It's a young person's game and it has become too nasty."
She also said she is taking a hiatus of "at least six months" from appearing on cable television, on which she has been a frequent guest and pundit. "It's not an honest debate, and I don't want to be angry all the time," she said.
But she is "staying in the game," she said, writing, working on an effort to pass a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and – as she was Monday – speaking to young people and urging them to get passionately involved with issues they care about.
"If fighting for life is your issue," she told the students, "are you willing to be a spokesperson, a champion for the unborn? You can save lives by speaking out. You can influence people. That's what leadership is all about."
