By Kristen Wall
College Republicans
Ever since the election this past November, which ended with devastating losses for the Republican Party, the left has been gloating about ""the death of the Republican Party"" and how ""conservative principles are no longer relevant."" If I were a member of the left, however, I wouldn't be dancing in the streets just yet.
This past weekend, I, along with conservative students from all across the country, gathered in our nation's capitol for the 26th annual Conservative Political Action Conference. The crowd that gathered at the Omni Shoreham Hotel this year totaled over 8,500, more than half of whom were students, making it the largest crowd CPAC has ever seen. This year's CPAC included a stellar lineup of speakers, including Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner and Rush Limbaugh. Topics ranged from health care and education to national security and the ""stimulus"" package. Most speakers, while highlighting the important conservative issues such as limited government, personal and fiscal responsibility and the right to life, also stressed that, as conservatives, we must not abandon our core principles. It is because conservatives have abandoned our principles, especially in the last few years, that we have suffered so many losses.
The keynote address, given by conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, was nationally televised on Fox News, giving millions the opportunity to see that the conservative movement is not going down without a fight. Limbaugh went an hour over his time limit and highlighted many important issues that the conservative movement has to face head-on. He spoke about how conservatives at the core want people to succeed, and how conservatives like to believe that the next five years will be better than the last five years. Former president Ronald Reagan used to speak of America as the shining city on a hill, and now President Obama is comparing America to an old moldy soup kitchen in some obscure corner of Gary, Indiana.
I am not denying the fact that we are in troubled times, as we were in the early '80s, but President Obama, Nancy ""ants-in-her-pants"" Pelosi and Democrats in Congress keep forgetting that we got out of the recession in the '80s through tax cuts, not by pushing through outrageous ""stimulus"" packages that we will being paying for in generations to come. Obama's plans are simply the same failed Democratic policies of the past, disguised as new plans full of ""hope"" and ""change.""
Also highlighted in Limbaugh's speech was the need for Republicans to stop acting like the minority party. Although we are in the minority in both the House and the Senate, the only way to regain power is to provide alternatives to the socialist tendencies of the Democratic Party. We must stop thinking of ourselves and force the liberal Democrats to listen. Everyone in America lives their lives in a conservative manner in one way or another, whether it be by practicing fiscal responsibility or wanting to make their own choices without the government interfering. Conservatives must stop checking their principles at the door if we ever want to regain control.
The left might be celebrating what they think is the end of conservatism, but if last weekend was any indication, the conservative movement is far from dead. The energy at CPAC was inspiring on all levels, and a message was sent to the rest of the country: Conservatives will not stand for being in the minority, and we are going to change that very soon.
Kristen Wall is First Vice Chair of UW-Madison's College Republicans. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
