At State Policy Network’s 32^nd Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, Lawson Bader was awarded the Thomas A. Roe Award, which pays tribute to those in the state public policy movement whose achievements have greatly advanced free-market philosophy and policy solutions. 

Named after State Policy Network’s founder, Thomas A. Roe, Jr., the award recognizes leadership, innovation, and accomplishment in public policy. Roe was a loyal supporter of the state-based think tanks, providing support through his South Carolina-based Roe Foundation. In addition to being SPN’s founding chairman, Roe was a successful businessman and generous philanthropist who spearheaded the effort to build state think tanks across the country.  

Lawson Bader is president and CEO of DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund. Before joining DonorsTrust, Bader spent more than 20 years leading free-market research and education groups, including the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. 

Bader is “an innovator who has spent his career championing a long-range vision of American greatness, inspiring us all as our happy warrior,” said Tracie Sharp, president and CEO of State Policy Network, before presenting the award to the long-time liberty champion and private pilot.

Lawson Bader’s Roe Award Acceptance Remarks 

In 1902, my great-grandfather left northern Scotland to emigrate to the U.S. He began his diary chronicling the event with the following words:

There are some outstanding events in the lives of most people. Something comes to pass that disturbs the hitherto even tenor of their way and alters the course of their whole future lives.

Just as his journey was shaped by a life-altering event, I found this community by a similar something that disturbed “the hitherto tenor of my way.”

‘No Institution, Be It Public or Private, Can Control the Human Conscience’

In 1980, my friendship with Erika Lagrain, a high school German teacher, paved a path to discovery. Multiple trips behind the Iron Curtain left me with a profound notion: that no institution, be it public or private, can control the human conscience. And no economic system undermines human dignity more than one that destroys our innate sense of worth.

In 1996, a springtime lunch with the newly minted president of IHS paved the path into this community. A few months later, David Nott asked me to join a rag-tag group of dreamers at this bizarrely named Center for Market Processes.

And, in August 2015, a tragic weekend paved a path that finally put into perspective why I do what I do. A spontaneous conversation between Kim Dennis and me a week before led to an intentional conversation between Kim and Whitney Ball just before Whitney died. On Friday, I was president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. But by Monday, I wasn’t.

Robert Frost wrote eloquently about a road not traveled—implying that there are binary choices on our life’s journey. I do not believe that. There was no proverbial fork in the road when I met Erika … nor David … nor Whitney … nor Kim … nor a few others.

For me, each was supposed to be just a stop at another intersection. But, instead of merely turning or going straight, I found myself unexpectedly and completely diverted, traveling not only in an entirely different direction but in an entirely different vehicle and on an entirely different road.

‘All of Us Are Standing on Somebody Else’s Shoulders’

Many of you are the origin story for your respective organizations. Some of you found yourself a part of this motley crew by accident. But ALL of us are standing on somebody else’s shoulders and belong to a movement that we did not start … and it is global.

When we travel the road of freedom together, we join those who have been marching for centuries, and we grow stronger and larger as we attract and absorb the converts, the wide-eyed victims of those “unexpected and complete diversions,” and the adapters and visionaries make sure we do not stagnate.

SPN is nothing like it was when Tracie and I first started collaborating. Lehman did not know what he was doing. Tillman was still selling bicycles. Justin Owen and Erspamer were riding tricycles. And Caldara … was still Caldara. Most donors and conservative foundations thought that think tanks were best positioned to be in Washington, D.C.

Now, the energy, money and promise lie with this network. The smartest DC think tanks now pay attention to it. That is exactly how it should be.

Like many of you, I spend a great deal of time on the road to be with the people we serve. Well, on the “road” really means in the “air.” More specifically, in the air above this country of ours. Outside the window, I look down on a patchwork of fields, factories, rivers, ridges, highways, and houses that flow into one another. Many, when they fly, see a great nation, but I see a great nation built on the physical, cultural, and political identities of each state. You cannot see the actual border from 3,000 or 30,000 feet, but you know they are there. And they matter.

‘SPN’s strength IS our ideas, values, principles, people’

SPN’s strength IS our ideas, values, principles, people and the durable institutions we have built and inherited. And while we have done it with other people’s money—but, unlike the government, it is money given willingly and with great purpose and intent.

We are in a moment when we all need to give of our time, talent, and our dollars to protect, defend and promote the general welfare that IS this great nation—but, more importantly, to protect, defend and promote the founding principles of this great Republic. We are, after all, the United States of America.

As we evolve, take a lesson from avionics. Each plane has a VNO speed—it is the safest structural cruising speed to fly. It’s how pilots ensure the aircraft is resilient when it flies into unexpected turbulence. Pilots check this number as part of their pre-flight checklist. In other words, before even taking off, the pilot knows what is within his control to protect the aircraft when he runs into the things he cannot control.

‘What Matters First Are Our Core Principles and Our Core Values’

Friends, we are flying in turbulent times. Many forces are beyond our control. Let us remember, before policy and politics, what matters first are our core principles and our core values that define what we do. Pushing beyond these will damage our people and our organizations. That preflight checklist is not arbitrary. It exists because of our collective mistakes and wisdom. We ignore this at our peril.

Fly a plane faster than you should, you’ll destroy the engine, or worse. Fly with the wind at your back, you may run off the runway when you land. But suitably configure and trim the plane at its unique VNO when facing the unexpected and you will soar.

Addendum:

Thirty years ago, when Cynthia was pregnant with our first child, I wrote him a letter. In it, I talked a bit about me and what made me tick, about his mother and what made her tick. (It wasn’t a “How I Met Your Mother” moment because we had no memory of that!) I ended that letter 30 years ago by saying the following—that no matter what I had achieved, and no matter what I ever would achieve, that I already had acquired the two greatest titles I could own.

That I am the father of Phillip Lawson and Margaret Akiko. And that I am the husband of Cynthia Ellsworth—a woman who has not only been my partner in life but is my partner in this “freedom thing,” too. You cannot separate the personal from the professional with each of us.

Titles of Father, Husband, Freedom-Movement Member ‘More Than Enough’

But, as I have walked these halls the past few days, knowing I was going to say what I just said, I have to add a third title—that I am a proud member of this Freedom movement—which has given me such a unique place and such a unique purpose. And, despite and in spite of everything that has transpired these last many decades, and even if it were all to come crashing down tomorrow, those three accomplishments are more than enough.

Thank you.