‘Every Issue Must Be Understood First as a Family Issue’

“The fight for our nation is ultimately a fight for our families,” Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts says. 

A culture besieged by anti-family elite institutions drives Americans who are raising kids to the political right, he said. 

Roberts made his remarks in a speech aired on this week’s episode of his podcast, “The Kevin Roberts Show.” 

The speech was originally delivered July 25 at the Social Conservative Policy Conference, hosted by the Family Policy Alliance Foundation, a Christian ministry that seeks to defend faith and protect families. 

“We need to turn a party of moms, dads, and kids, into a party for moms, dads, and kids, and the way we do that is to recognize and insist that in this movement—and especially in this moment—every issue must be understood first as a family issue, one that is centered around the dinner table, not some basement in Delaware,” the Heritage Foundation president said. The reference to Delaware was an indirect slap at Biden administration policies.  

Conservatives must work toward protecting the institution God created in the very beginning; specifically, the family, Roberts said. 

“The division, dysfunction, and decline we see all around us—led at every step by the breakdown of our families—did not just happen,” he said. “Some Republican leaders, obviously not all in this city, helped make it happen. We are living in the nation that their political myopia helped to build.” 

Some Republicans have forgotten that the primary purpose of government policy is human flourishing, Heritage’s president added. 

“And as you know, happiness and flourishing ultimately depend on the health and strength of our families, whose own health and strength depend on their faith in God,” Roberts said. “The Left certainly understands this. They know that to fundamentally change America—that is, to destroy it—they first have to destroy the American family.” 

He said that millions of Americans who might not ordinarily vote Republican are “screaming for permission to vote with us.” 

“Just like we invite someone to church, we need to invite them into our movement, proclaiming the truth boldly, as [Ronald] Reagan would say, not in some pale pastels, but in the bold colors of red, white, and blue, and God’s truth,” Roberts said. “That is our mission.” 

You can hear more of what Roberts had to say about “family first” conservatism, why America’s national survival depends on families, and why social conservatives are bigger than just an interest group, here: