By Ricky Andrews · Contributing Writer
Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and former Vice President Mike Pence led a public discussion about how to apply Reagan’s conservative principles in the present day during Grove City College’s annual Ronald Reagan Lecture on Nov. 6 in Crawford Hall.
The Institute for Faith & Freedom sponsored this year’s lecture (the college’s 18th annual), with the title, “Morning In America Revisited: Reagan’s Lessons for Today’s Challenges.” The title resembled Reagan’s 1984 campaign, “It’s Morning Again in America,” from which an advertisement played at the start of the lecture.
Senior Director for The Institute for Faith & Freedom Paul Kengor and Grove City College President Bradley Lingo also spoke, introducing Ryan and Pence.
Looking back on Ronald Reagan and his policies, which Ryan and Pence believed did great things for the United States, the speakers asked the audience how they can recreate Reagan’s principles in 2025 and what it means to be what they called a “Reagan conservative.”
Ryan and Pence shared their belief that President Reagan’s policies and his conservative ideals worked. While they thought previous administrations such as those of Nixon, Ford and Carter had failed to achieve America’s goals, they also said under Reagan, everyday Americans were more secure and more prosperous than they ever had been, the Soviet Union was floundering and the iron walls of communism were crumbling.
The conversation also covered the ideas of the free market, natural rights and populism. The speakers stated that the world we live in today is like the world that Ronald Reagan inherited when he took office — with Russia invading a country (Afghanistan then, Ukraine today), Europe struggling to survive without American support and an apathetic and melancholic population.
“The challenge today is that we’re living our lives by the algorithm,” Ryan said.
Pence and Ryan agreed that the country’s largest problem is not an external threat, but what Ryan called “moral relativism,” apathy that neglects passing on a prosperous future to the next generation.
“Life is not a zero-sum game,” Ryan said.
He extended this argument to the actions of Congress and President Trump as they wrestle over issues such as tariffs, international relations, the economy and immigration.
After the lecture, the pair held a question-and-answer session with the audience, with most of the questions coming from Grove City students. Many students asked how they could live out the principles and traditions of conservatism in a world that they claim is against their ideals.
Ryan and Pence emphasized in their response being joyful, speaking the truth with clarity and without concession. They encouraged students to use the four years they spend at college to form their thinking and transform themselves into the man or woman God has called them to be. They also told students to be loud and unapologetic but be ready to listen, to be funny, because they believe humor has the power to disarm opponents, to be peaceful, understanding that the United States has endured worse times, and not to give in to apathy.
“I have faith in God, and I have faith in the American people,” Pence said.
