This week, the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was held in Washington, D.C., where the most active conservative politicos come to discuss the future of America, share their ideals and prepare for the next presidential election.
It would be fair to assume that this meeting would be a homogeneous get-together. But that would hardly do the event justice. This year's CPAC began to show the true, changing face of the current conservative movement, and the Republican party needs to take notice.
It's no longer just a movement for old, straight white men and to be honest, it never was. Watching coverage on C-SPAN, viewers saw U.S. Rep Allen West, R- Fla., an African-American Tea Partier, give the keynote address to rousing applause and acceptance. Viewers saw young women standing by booths of pro-liberty groups. And for a second year in a row, the gay conservative group GoProud was in attendance.
If anyone thinks they can put a face or demographic on the conservative movement, they are wrong. While the media has tried to portray new conservative groups like the Tea Party as a mob of angry white men, they fail to notice the growing diversity in conservative movements. After all, the Tea Party has African-American, Indian-American and Cuban-American representatives.
But there is a more important aspect of diversity in the conservative movement: The diversity of thought. Just as pundits try to place specific demographic labels on conservatives, they have tried to make people think conservatives think the same way all the time. Again, this could not be further from the truth.
I see this year's CPAC as a celebration of the rising diversity in the movement.
It was a conference that saw attendees yell ""war criminal!"" when former Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld took the stage. It was a conference that saw an increased presence in pro-liberty groups that oppose the war on drugs and the Patriot Act. This conference will hopefully compel Republicans in Washington to question some of the policies they have generally supported in the past.
But perhaps the biggest, or at least the most interesting, story of the conference was the involvement of GoProud, both as an attending group and a co-sponsor. For too long, Republicans and conservatives have pandered to their socially conservative members, often alienating entire demographics and abandoning their principle of individual liberty in the process. Many attendees at CPAC have realized this and have embraced GoProud and their commitment to fiscal conservative matters.
Sadly, some boycotted CPAC because of GoProud's involvement. I understand that some conservatives have an objection to homosexuality, and it is their right to that hold that personal objection. But it is a shame they could not overcome that qualm to focus on what CPAC is truly about: Promoting personal freedoms, limited government and market economy.
Overall, the vast majority of the conference was accepting of GoProud, realizing that it is more important to focus on the big issues, and not on individuals' love lives. The government has been growing consistently for nearly the last decade and conservatives are finally starting to realize that their movement branches out past the social conservatives like the Heritage Foundation and Mike Huckabee. It also involves a diverse group of people who are focused on liberty, shrinking the size of government to a manageable level and staying out of peoples' lives as much as possible—not banning gay marriage and overturning Roe v. Wade.
It seems that there is an overwhelming trend in the movement telling Republicans to call a truce—as Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has suggested—on certain social issues. In fact, that would follow quite nicely with a platform promoting freedom and limited government.
Republicans do not need to completely ignore social conservatives and their ideas. But there are more pressing issues in the federal government than controlling who can get married.
The Republicans are in a position to redefine themselves after the Bush era. They could continue to be a party driven by social conservatism and foreign intervention, which has worked in the past. Or they could look at CPAC and see that the conservative winds are changing, and transform into the party they claim to be—one of liberty and truly limited government.
The choice is theirs.
Matt Beaty is a sophomore majoring in math and computer sciences. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
