Live Blogging from the American Dream Summit

Hey everyone this is Princella Smith and I am blogging this week for American Solutions. This past week I have been live blogging from the Defending the American Dream Summit I'm at the Marriott Crystal Gateway Hotel in Arlington, VA attending the Defending the American Dream Summit. There are some interesting things happenings at the event!

Day 1-October 10, 2008


I didn't mention this earlier, but the "Defending the American Dream" Summit is sponsored by the Americans for Prosperity organization.This morning, there were training for bloggers with The Sam Adams Alliance and Lucy Burns Institute leading those sessions, and there was a presentation by my friend, Chris Malagisi with The Leadership Institute. (I'm a guest lecturer there...)Most of the bloggers are in the blogger room sending or posting updates then poking there heads in an out of different rooms. Most of the activity will take place tomorrow, but the halls are a-buzz with different activists groups signing people up and learning about each other. You can tell by just being here that there is great concern about the direction our nation is headed...

October 10, 2008


What I did for lunch at the "Defending the American Dream" summit

Lunch was kind of sporadic. People everywhere were walking around with sandwiches, bags of chips, etc. Some of us curious bloggers began poking our heads inside different rooms to see what pics and bits of information we could gather. Here's what I discovered...Lars Larson of the Lars Larson Show hosted a luncheon--which I was sad to miss, but I grabbed a sandwich down the hall and when I did, I noticed that Don Corace was in Salon K, so popped in. Corace wrote "Government Pirates: The Assault on Private Property Rights and How We Can Fight It." He was giving away free copies, so I grabbed one!

Tonight, a "Tribute to Ronald Reagan" dinner will be held featuring:
George Will, Journalist and Commentator
David H. Koch, AFP Foundation Chairman
Dinesh D'Souza, best-selling author
U.S. Senator James Inhofe (OK), Washington Award Recipient
Edwin Meese III, former US Attorney General
Dr. James C. Miller III, former Reagan Budget Director
They'll probably see some of you American Solutions activists there!

October 11, 2008


DAY 2 of the Summit - GREAT Speakers!!

entered blogger's row as VA Atty Gen. Bob McDonnell was speaking and settled in just in time to hear entreprenuer and radio talk show host, Herman Cain's address. He spoke of a call to renew the American dream of personal responsibility and achievement.

Cain shared with the crowd a moving story of his dad, Luther Cain Jr. Luther Cain Jr. believed in "sweat equity" and his dream was to be worth 1 million dollars in assets before he died, so at the age of 18, he left the farm to pursue that dream.When Cain's dad, Luther, passed away in 1982, his networth was $982,000, and Cain said to his dad that when you "round that figure up", he'd reached his dream. Notably, Cain pointed out that when his father died in 1982, the money was left to take care of his mother who had MS for 23 yrs.Says Cain: "That's what you should be able to do with your sweat equity. Not give it to the government. It belongs to you. That is the American dream.That's why we're here. That's why we fight in order to keep this country from going down the wrong track. Mr. Cain ended his speech with the poem, "Dream"
by Langston Hughes.

"Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
Hold fast to your dreams
Because when dreams die
Life is like a broken bird that cannot fly"

Hughes actually wrote it in reverse order, but nonetheless, Mr. Cain did quote the actual words directly. What a absolute great way to solidify his message...We're big fans of Cain at American Solutions!