President Ronald Reagan loved the Republican Assemblies...

President Ronald Reagan frequently referred to the Republican Assemblies (now groups like the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, NFRA) as “the Conscience of the Republican Party.”

He said it because the Assemblies were known for holding the GOP accountable to its grassroots, conservative base — the folks who didn’t just go along with the political establishment but demanded that the Party stick to its principles of limited government, traditional values, and individual freedom.

Reagan wasn’t just being polite — he was pointing out that without groups like the Republican Assembly, the GOP risked drifting into compromise and watering down its convictions. The Assemblies were the watchdogs making sure the Party lived up to what it claimed to stand for.