The Hon. Daniel Hannan, Member of the European Parliament, brought the house down with his rousing presentation at this year’s LPR annual retreat at the Broadmoor Hotel.  No one in attendance will soon forget his masterful speech.

Hannen recounted the first advance of British troops that sparked the Revolutionary War.  American lore has it that Paul Revere rode ahead of the British column alerting colonists, “The British are coming!  The British are coming!”

Hannen suggested Revere actually shouted, “The Regulars are coming!  The Regulars are coming!”  It would have made no sense, he said, to warn of the British, for nearly all colonists thought of themselves, at the time, as British.

Referring to the “Regulars” in the British army comports with the way one would have referred to the standing British troops – or Redcoats – in those days.  The word “Regulars” was perfectly understood by everyone who heard Revere’s timely warning.

Interestingly, “The Regulars are coming!” has a different but precise meaning when it comes to the army of candidates preparing to launch political campaigns these days.  All of them say they’re conservative.  All of them say they’re superior stewards of American liberty.

But are they really anything more than a Regular?

This year’s LPR retreat was, as usual, completely aligned with the principles of free markets, capitalism and the Revolutionary causes that have created an unprecedented period of human progress, prosperity and liberty.  These are the principles reinforced throughout the course of the LPR program and which define the curriculum of each monthly class.

Those associated with LPR have an advantage in times like these.  They’re equipped to be the Paul Reveres of an important election season – helping to distinguish the authentic revolutionaries from the treacherous Regulars.

Within a political context, we learn through LPR (as we were powerfully reminded at the retreat) that the most significant leaders are not necessarily those who get elected to office.  More often they’re the ones who know the enemy, who know the patriot, who know the difference, who have the prudence to alert their countrymen and who have the fortitude to fight for liberty.

Those associated with LPR tend to be any but among the “Regulars.”  In fact, 236 years later, we still stand courageously opposite them.