FreedomWorks at the International Students for Liberty Conference

The weekend of February 13th-15th, FreedomWorks sponsored the 8th annual International Students for Liberty Conference, a gathering of more than one thousand students from all over the world and across America for the purpose of exploring the ideas of liberty. The International Students for Liberty Conference, held in Washington each year around Valentine’s Day, hosts many prominent leaders in the libertarian movement for speeches, question and answer sessions, and breakout sessions on a variety of topics pertaining to liberty in the world today.

At our booth, staffers and interns gave out free books, t-shirts, information, and of course, valentines featuring libertarian philosophers and the head of our group, Matt Kibbe, which you can see in the photo gallery. Students laughed at their favorite philosophers’ love notes and handed them to their friends. The all-conference social was also sponsored by FreedomWorks, so students were able to interact with staff and learn more about us while socializing with friends.

We hosted a panel on Friday afternoon entitled, “It Sucks to Be Young: 4 Ways the Government Screws America’s Youth,” in which FreedomWorks staffers Julie Borowski and Logan Albright, along with Reason Senior Editor Peter Suderman, discussed how government policy on health care, education, entitlements, and civil liberties, are mortgaging young people’s futures and sowing the seeds of long-term disaster in exchange for short-term benefits. Students asked the panelists hard-hitting questions about civil asset forfeiture, NSA spying, and other issues concerning our generation.

On Saturday, FreedomWorks President and CEO Matt Kibbe delivered a speech addressing the increased decentralization of information in our society, and how we can use that power to effect political change. Whereas information was once jealously guarded by political elites, the internet has allowed anyone with a computer access to as much knowledge as they are interested in obtaining. The political implications of this are vast, and never before have lawmakers been subject to such intense pressure from a decentralized grassroots movement. Following the speech, Kibbe did a free book signing, drawing many of his intellectual fan base to the FreedomWorks booth.