A Gathering Of "Reasonable Conservatives"

I was looking at the schedule for this year's Take Back America Conference [1] and was reminded that the annual conservative conference is scheduled for next month. I love reading about CPAC, where the conservatives get together and get so excited they think nobody can hear what they are saying. Last year featured Newt Gingrich sharing his deepest insights [2]:

How can you have the mess we have in New Orleans, and not have had deep investigations of the federal government, the state government, the city government, and the failure of citizenship in the Ninth Ward, where 22,000 people were so uneducated and so unprepared, they literally couldn't get out of the way of a hurricane.

And then there was this infamous statement [3] by the notorious CPAC prom queen, Ann Coulter:

“I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘faggot,’ so I — so kind of an impasse, can’t really talk about Edwards.”

And that's just a sampling of the official appearances by their stars. Down in the bowels of the convention you find examples of honor, decency and family values like a bumper sticker that says "Happiness is Hillary's face on a milk carton." [4]

But there are some uplifting, philosophical speeches from thoughtful conservatives like Senator Jim DeMint, who once told the New Yorker:

“I think we’ve got a major crisis in democracy… We assume that voters will restrain the growth of government because it becomes burdensome to them personally. But today fewer and fewer people pay taxes, and more and more are dependent on government, so the politician who promises the most from government is likely to win. Every day, the Republican Party is losing constituents, because every day more people can vote themselves more benefits without paying for it. The tax code will destroy democracy, by putting us in a position where most voters don’t pay for government.

The thing I like about DeMint is that he's one of those Big Idea men of the conservative movement who loves to talk philosophy. At last year's CPAC, where the activists treated former impeachment manager Bob Barr like he was a leper [4]for his stand against the Bush administration's assault on the Bill of Rights, DeMint gave a stirring talk about the true meaning of the conservatism:

We believe in individualism, capitalism and volunteerism because these are the things that have made America great. These are also the prisms through which we must evaluate all of our policy decisions. Do our policies encourage, or discourage these ideals?

Our government is not the source of our greatness. Our mission as conservatives is to fight for these things that have proven to make life better for Americans. Liberal solutions are theoretical. They sound good, but they have never worked! Conservative values work, but they don’t sound as good … until we translate them into a compelling vision that inspires and gives people hope...

I long for a nation of independent people who scorn any dependence on government because they are owners of homes, savings and retirement plans, health policies, businesses … and possessors of the skills to live productive, self-sufficient lives. I can see an America where development and prosperity are the best allies of conservation and the environment. I want an America that shows compassion to those in need without trapping them in programs that rob them of their dignity and independence. And I believe in an America where the federal government protects its people with armies and justice, but keeps its tentacles out of the lives of individuals, businesses and our free society.

If only all those freeloading Luckie Duckies would stop voting themselves benefits without paying for it all this could be ours!

And I think we know who those Luckie Duckies are, don't we?

You can call them liberals, call them collectivists, or call them socialists; but don’t call them stupid. They have consistently counterfeited our words and hijacked our institutions because they understand that at its core, our nation is one of conservative values. But while they make exceptional efforts to hide their true selves publicly, we are seeing their agenda unfold. Our public schools and universities have substituted group identity and “victimology” for individual responsibility and character. For decades the education establishment and the media have tried to create an anti-capitalist, anti-God bias among the public. And, stymied by the will of the people, the radical left continues to use our judicial system as a liberal legislation factory...

Milton Friedman, in his Introduction to F.A. Hayek’s book Road to Serfdom, explained the communication challenge of conservatives. Friedman understood that liberals have the luxury of appealing to emotion alone to win an argument, while conservatives who argue for individualism must rely on a subtle and sophisticated rational argument. The former is an easy sell, while the latter requires thought.

Who could argue with that? Meanwhile elsewhere at CPAC

TANCREDO [5]: I want you to put people to the test: Do they believe that we are risking something very, very important in this country by this—by the creation of this linguistic and cultural Tower of Babel? And I believe most of them will run away from the question.

Ask them if they agree with me that we should be doing everything possible to confront the Bank of America—or as I say, "Banco de Las Americas." (Applause.) Because of their willingness to aid and abet—which is exactly what they are doing...I'm in Congress, and I feel frustrated by not being able to do a darn thing about it. But I guarantee you, whoever becomes the president of the United States better do something about it, or we have lost this country

.

It's certainly a good thing they don't appeal to emotion like the liberals. Sadly, they have to rely on reason:

INHOFE: [6] The issue is not: Is the globe warming? We know we're going through a warming period; that's fine— although, the other day, it was kind of interesting: They had to call off the global warming hearing in the House because of an ice storm. (Laughter and Applause)

But the extremists—they want to say the issue is: Is it manmade gases, anthropogenic gases, methane, CO2, that's causing it? And that's what we're addressing, and that's what we need to understand.

Now, the extremists—the extremists—they don't want to drill for oil. They don't want fossil fuels. They don't want coal generation. They don't want nuclear power. Right now, they don't even want wind anymore because it's killing the birds. (Laughter)

I'm pretty sure that's what Milton Friedman was talking about.

CPAC [7] runs February 7th through 9th. Feel the magic.