American Heritage Library

The Sharon Statement
Founding Principles of Young Americans for Freedom

IN THIS TIME of moral and political crises, it is the responsibility of theyouth of America to affirm certain eternal truths:

WE, as young conservatives, believe:

THAT foremost among the transcendent values is the individual's use of hisGod-given free will, whence derives his right to be free from therestrictions of arbitrary force;

THAT liberty is indivisible, and that political freedom cannot long existwithout economic freedom;

THAT the purposes of government are to protect these freedoms through thepreservation of internal order, the provision of national defense, and theadministration of justice;

THAT when government ventures beyond these rightful functions, itaccumulates power which tends to diminish order and liberty;

THAT the Constitution of the United States is the best arrangement yetdevised for empowering government to fulfill its proper role, whilerestraining it from the concentration and abuse of power;

THAT the genius of the Constitution - the division of powers - is summed upin the clause which reserves primacy to the several states, or to thepeople, in those spheres not specifically delegated to the FederalGovernment;

THAT the market economy, allocating resources by the free play of supplyand demand, is the single economic system compatible with the requirementsof personal freedom and constitutional government, and that it is at thesame time the most productive supplier of human needs;

THAT when government interferes with the work of the market economy, ittends to reduce the moral and physical strength of the nation; that when ittakes from one man to bestow on another, it diminishes the incentive of thefirst, the integrity of the second, and the moral autonomy of both;

THAT we will be free only so long as the national sovereignty of the UnitedStates is secure; that history shows periods of freedom are rare, and canexist only when free citizens concertedly defend their rights against allenemies;

THAT the forces of international Communism are, at present, the greatestsingle threat to these liberties;

THAT the Unites States should stress victory over, rather than coexistencewith this menace; and

THAT American foreign policy must be judged by this criterion: does itserve the just interests of the United States?

Written by M. Stanton Evans with William F. Buckley, Jr., Frank Meyer,Howard Phillips and 90 of the best and brightest conservative minds in1960.

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