Reflections on CPAC

Conservatives gather in Washington to rebuild their movement

By Michael W. McLean

Weakened by two major electoral defeats in 2006 and 2008, the conservative movement and the Republican Party are in their weakest state in the last thirty years. Nearly thirty years ago, Americans elected Ronald Reagan president of the United States and since then, there have been only two years (1993-1995) that Republicans have not held the Presidency or a majority in at least one house of Congress. Then came 2008. Americans sent to the White House the most liberal president so far in American politics, Barack Obama. Simultaneously, Democrats strengthened their majorities in the House and Senate and exiled the conservative movement to the wilderness. 

Today, the conservative movement is looking for a leader and a new game plan. The question is for how long? The last time Americans rejected the Republican Party, conservatives waited for forty years—forty years sustained by the power of Roosevelt’s New Deal coalition. Did 2008 mark the formation of a new Democratic coalition that will dominate American politics in the foreseeable future and send conservatives into another forty-year stay in political wilderness? 

Conservatives heavyweights and party loyalists at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) would answer resoundingly no. Conservatives gathered at CPAC last month in Washington D.C. to set a new course for the conservative movement. As a young conservative, I joined my fellow brethren for the three-day CPAC conference in D.C. The experience was eye opening.

At Harvard, I am a conservative’s conservative. At CPAC, I passed for a moderate who didn’t own enough guns or hate the New York Times with enough ferocity. I had read about party hardliners in textbooks and listened as professors lectured about their role in the political process. To me, party hardliners were more of an identification prompt on the upcoming midterm than a real group of people. At CPAC, the concept of party hardliners took life – embodied in a living, breathing group of people. And I’ll be honest. The dedicated party loyalist – Republican right-wing conservative or Democrat ultra-liberal – can be a scary person. Intense and ideological, party hardliners believe in no compromise and dismiss any idea that doesn’t fit into their preconceived core beliefs. In this sense, I was disappointed in discovering the personality type of party loyalists. While you can remain true to your values, principles, and party, you must also be open to rational discussion and acknowledgement of the other side. It would serve conservative loyalists well to be open and not follow in the footsteps of ultra liberals who refuse to consider the positives of conservatism and to work towards a balanced right-left solution on policy questions.

All hope is not lost. The young conservative movement is growing. From Gingrith to Romney to Huckabee and Limbaugh, figureheads of the conservative movement energized a new generation of the party base at CPAC. Sixty percent of the attendees at CPAC were college students and I have never seen such steadfastness of ideas as in these young conservatives. It should be noted that at Harvard even a hint of youth conservatism is a rarity to be witnessed. Attending CPAC was refreshing in reassuring me that our generation is ready to carry on the banner of conservatism well into the future. Not all 18 to 26ers are part of Obamamania. Though it must be noted amongst the outstanding youth participation at CPAC, minority representation was slim and this, I believe, is quite troubling to the vitality of the conservative movement’s future. The demographics of the country are changing and the demographics of the conservative movement must change as well. 

Ronald Reagan is still a god at CPAC. It was hard to find a speech at the three-day conference that did not invoke Reagan. While Reagan was one of the greatest presidents of the last century, the conservative movement must move on. The era of Reagan was nearly three decades ago and the Republican Party must not remain trapped in a thirty-year shadow of past greatness. Instead, conservatives must be looking to finding the next Reagan, not remising about the last. With that said, the conservative movement must prevent the rise of the Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber figures of the Republican Party. No strong future exists with these leaders. The conservative movement needs an intellectual leader. Palin and Plumber are no William Buckley or Ronald Reagan. Mitt Romney won the straw poll at CPAC and many at the conference pointed to him as the next natural leader of the party. I remain skeptical. I believe that the next leader of the conservative movement has yet to emerge.

The most controversial figure of CPAC was undoubtedly talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh has been under fire for comments suggesting he wants President Obama to fail and many saw the conservative base’s embrace of him at CPAC as his coronation as leader of the movement. The conservative movement has no single leader or spokesperson. Limbaugh is one voice among many. The points he makes are raw, but not unfounded. No one wants the President to fail, but conservatives don’t want liberal policy to work. Likewise, liberals didn’t cheer on Bush conservative policy over the last eight years. The Limbaugh controversy, manifested at CPAC, raises important questions about the time conservatives will spend in the wilderness. If liberal policy works under Obama and Pelosi, why would voters come back to the Republican Party? If liberal policy works, conservatives may find themselves exiled in the wilderness for a period rivaling that of the New Deal. Conservatives, of course, want this country to succeed and prosper, but only when liberal policy reveals its inherit flaws will Americans look again to conservatism. 

CPAC was quite the adventure. As I returned to the liberal haven of our beloved university, I brought with me a renewed confidence in the conservative movement. And so until conservatives rally again at CPAC 2010, let us rest knowing that the good fight goes on.