This is a lightly edited version of remarks delivered July 25 in Washington by Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts at the Social Conservative Policy Conference, dubbed So-Con-Con and organized by the Family Policy Alliance Foundation.

Before I begin, I want to commend the Family Policy Alliance Foundation for putting on another tremendous conference this week.

The Heritage Foundation once again was proud to be a key partner with your CEO Craig DeRoche, a longtime friend of mine, and his wonderful team. Thank you all for being here and making So-Con-Con possible.

This conference has become an invaluable resource for social conservatives to communicate, and for policymakers to be reminded of, the values that made America great … and can do so again.

The question is: How?

How do we translate So-Con values into So-Con policy?

As a social conservative, speaking to a room full of social conservatives, what I am about to suggest might sound counterintuitive. But perhaps our first step should be to stop thinking of ourselves as social conservatives at all.

Inside the Beltway, and especially in the Republican establishment, the adjective “social” in front of “conservative” is a diminutive. It is meant to distinguish us from the quote-unquote “real” conservatives who call the shots on the elite Right—the corporations, Wall Street and K Street, and the national security establishment.

Here in Washington, social conservatives always have been seen only as an interest group to manage, not a core constituency to serve.

Even if this weren’t insulting, it would still be absurd. Because let’s face it: For several decades now, the Republican Party has owed its every substantive victory to one group above all others: families, and in particular, parents.

Married mothers and fathers. Parents with younger and older kids. Across every demographic group. And up and down the income scale.

The data confirms what we all know. Raising children in a culture besieged by anti-family elite institutions moves Americans to the Right.

Everyone in this room already knows that it’s parents who create our families, our communities, and our nation. What we have to remember—and remind elites—is that it’s parents who create Republican political majorities,........

© The Daily Signal