Our
Mission
The American family is the bedrock of our nation, our most vital institution. Yet, it stands uniquely vulnerable, lacking a dedicated and effective political force fighting solely for its interests in the corridors of power.
That’s where we come in
The Tip of the Spear
Today, virtually every major interest group fields lobbyists and political committees to champion their cause. The American family, however, remains largely undefended. Faced with increasingly hostile progressive attacks on parental rights and the innocence of children, families urgently need a political cavalry. American Principles Project exists to be that force. Our mission is to make the family the most powerful, respected, and well-represented voice in Washington, D.C. While many valuable pro-family groups focus on education or tracking legislation – important work, but not enough – APP is distinct. We are the only national pro-family organization primarily dedicated to direct engagement in the political arena: running campaigns and fighting in elections.
Untapped Strength
Politically, the family holds two immense, often underestimated advantages: sheer numbers when organized, and alignment with common-sense values that resonate deeply across the electorate. Pro-family issues consistently prove to be winning issues. However, while aggressive activists relentlessly attack traditional family values and make raising children according to those values increasingly difficult, pro-family political forces have too often been missing from the electoral battlefield.
Political Consequences for Ignoring Families
American Principles Project employs a clear strategy: impose a significant, unavoidable political cost on anti-family extremism. Those who attack parental rights, push radical gender ideology on young children, undermine childhood innocence, or attempt to drive wedges between parents and schools will face consequences at the ballot box. For over a decade, APP has been fighting politically to defend the American family.
OUR HISTORY
Our Roots: Strategy Forged in Experience
From the Reagan years through the Trump era and beyond, APP’s forward-focused strategy is deeply rooted in political history and hard-won experience.
Fresh Ideas for a Changing Nation (Founded 2009)
APP was established in 2009 as America entered a period of transition. Barack Obama had just taken office, and the conservative movement was regrouping after difficult elections, with the Tea Party uprising still emerging. The political Right needed fresh thinking. It was then that renowned conservative intellectual Prof. Robert George (Princeton University) and veteran political strategist Frank Cannon united to launch APP. Their mission: to restore focus on issues critical to human dignity that were often ignored by both parties – like empowering working Americans economically, reforming education to preserve childhood innocence, and advancing the immigration debate responsibly.
APP founder and Princeton University Professor Robert P. George speaks at an event in Washington
The core goal was always to connect sound academic thought with effective political strategy to achieve real policy change. Though APP was new, the ideas
driving it had long been developing.
APP’s president Frank Cannon (center) with Jeff Bell (right) and John D. Mueller
APP’s president Frank Cannon, then Chief of Staff for Rep. Duncan Hunter, meets with a conservative leader
Bridging Ideas and Action: Decades of Experience
APP’s approach was shaped by the considerable campaign and consulting experience of Cannon and APP’s Policy Director, Jeff Bell. Bell, a former aide to President Nixon and a key figure in Ronald Reagan’s pivotal 1976 presidential campaign, along with Cannon, who worked on campaigns for Reagan, Jack Kemp, and John McCain, were both focused on how to effectively translate conservative principles into actionable policy.
Jeff Bell (left) with Thomas Kean and President Gerald Ford
They recognized a lack of intellectual coherence within the modern conservative movement often led to failures. Teaming up with Prof. George and APP Board
Chairman Sean Fieler, they sought to ground a revitalized conservatism firmly on the principle of human dignity.
APP chairman Sean Fieler speaks at APP Foundation’s Red, White and Blue Gala
Early Successes: Making an Outsized Impact
Launching into the political arena, APP quickly demonstrated an outsized impact despite its modest size. In 2011, as the main sponsor of the Palmetto Freedom Forum – a GOP presidential primary debate nationally televised by CNN – APP placed its core ideas front and center. Breaking new ground, APP insisted on selecting the panelists (Sen. Jim DeMint, Rep. King, Prof. George), wresting control from the media, an effort led by program director Emmett McGroarty.
Four years later, during the 2016 primary, APP again exerted influence through issue scorecards and securing signatures from most GOP candidates (including Donald Trump) on a pledge to sign the First Amendment Defense Act. APP also achieved major success on specific issues, most notably leading the fight against Common Core education standards. Under McGroarty’s leadership, APP was among the first major groups to oppose the standards, developing powerful intellectual arguments and organizing grassroots opposition state by state.
APP helped lead the successful legislative repeal effort in Indiana – the first state to do so – and injected the issue into the 2016 GOP primary, where Donald Trump adopted it as a key campaign message. This battle also highlighted a broader project exposing progressive efforts to undermine constitutional structure by centralizing power in Washington.
Fighting for the Family: Filling the Political Gap
Following the 2016 election, American Principles Project strategically sharpened its focus on defending the family as society’s most crucial institution, upholding human dignity. Nearly a decade of policy battles revealed a major obstacle for the pro-family movement: a lack of dedicated political engagement. While other successful conservative causes, like the pro-life and pro-Second Amendment movements, built robust electoral operations to achieve policy goals, no comparable pro-family group existed. APP moved decisively to fill this critical gap.
Following the 2016 election, APP strategically sharpened its focus on defending the family as society’s most crucial institution, upholding human dignity. Nearly a decade of policy battles revealed a major obstacle for the pro-family movement: a lack of dedicated political engagement. While other successful conservative causes, like the pro-life and pro-Second Amendment movements, built robust electoral operations to achieve policy goals, no comparable pro-family group existed. APP moved decisively to fill this critical gap.
In 2020, APP’s longtime staffer, Terry Schilling, became the President of the organization. Armed with a new leader, APP became the champion of protecting women’s sports and defeating the woke transgender agenda that had infiltrated our schools, military and culture.
With the help of APP, these issues were at the forefront of the 2024 Presidential Campaign and were ultimately the reason President Trump won the battleground states.
We are continuing to engage directly in campaigns and elections, proving that pro-family issues are winning issues and holding candidates accountable for their positions and actions affecting the family.
Our Key Issues
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Females deserve to play safely on their own sports teams and girls should not have to worry about biological males invading their locker rooms and private spaces.
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Fighting to mandate age verification and hold platforms accountable for exposing children to harm.
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