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CPAC 2011

CPAC, The Conservative Political Action Conference, by the American Conservative Union, took place on February 10-12, 2011. There were record crowds (more than 11,000), and what surprised me was the huge number of students, or people below the age of 20. Take a look at the chart below provided by CPAC with regards to their registrants; with regard to those who took the Straw Poll:

Pretty amazing right? These are smart, beautiful, lively young people who are conservatives. It gave me hope.

The Straw Poll voted the most conservative, libertarian candidate into the #1 spot, Ron Paul; and the most liberal, republican candidate, Mitt Romney, into the #2 spot – I’m thinking intellectuals and students vs. the “he’s so charming and handsome” crowd….

One part of CPAC that I didn’t expect is that it is essentially a stumping ground for potential government candidates. Every conservative candidate (pretty much, we even saw “Sarah Palin” even though she was only an actress look alike) wanted to have his moment in the light to persuade each of us that he or she understands “our pain” and has what it takes to govern.

I was standing under “The TeaParty.Net” sign, with our friends from that organization, an umbrella non-profit that is offering a place for all liberty groups to share their schedules, ideals and websites. Apparently, this made for a good place for political stumpers to try for a photo op. Among others, Senator John Thune, from South Dakota, walked up to me, (apparently he had just finished his speech to the masses and was on his way to a book signing) shook my hand and asked me how I was doing. I could immediately see that he was a politician (very nice suit and haircut, nice looking, and the John Boehner tan) but I didn’t know who he was – sorry – I’m not up on every senator in every state – I hail from Pennsylvania. After expressing pleasantries and obviously not getting anywhere with me, he walked on. I immediately realized a lost opportunity (I could have at least asked him if he and Mr. Boehner share a tanning booth) when 2 college students ran up to me and asked in a tremendously excited voice, “Was that John Thune??” and when I said, “yes” they asked, “Do you think he would talk with us?!?” I assured them he probably would and pointed in his direction. To his credit, Mr. Thune took a photo with them and they were quite excited. My point is, why? Why are we so excited about meeting a “public servant”. How have we so lost our perspective that some of us drool over meeting a congressman, senator or President? Thomas Jefferson, our third President, would not allow any of his governmental accomplishments on his tombstone, citing instead his founding of the University of Virginia. Today, we pay thousands of dollars to retired Presidents for the privilege of hearing their opinions in speeches across the country.

CPAC was a sensory overload with great speeches, my favorite being that of Herman Cain. He has a Ronald Reagan twinkle in his eye and isn’t afraid of saying what he means. He said that we can be called racist because we don’t agree with a President who is black. Then he said “they call me racist because I don’t agree with a President who is black” (Mr. Cain is black) “Go Figure”. He’s a highly intelligent, and “only” a successful businessman, however, and hasn’t the star quality of some of the candidates, like Donald Trump, who probably isn’t as successful a businessman as Mr. Cain (go figure). I was nearly run over by the Trump entourage, a group of about 20 men in suits shouting “Make a hole!” “Move aside” as Mr. Trump made his way through the hotel.

As with all events, this one came to an exhaustive end. We all packed up and went back to our humble abodes. As one ponders the success of such a “right” sided event, one might ruminate upon a quote from one of our brightest and best founding fathers, John Adams who said (contrary to the “middle” mantra of the press) that “In politics the middle way is none at all.” John Adams.