Don’t Start Playing the Funeral March Yet

Last week, sitting in a large lecture hall, I found myself nodding my head in agreement as a college history professor spoke about European-style socialism. At the end of his speech, I joined the students around me in giving the professor a standing ovation.

No, I haven’t turned liberal. The speaker was Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the house and unapologetic conservative, and the topic was the new agenda for America of President Barack Obama, CC ’83.

I recently attended the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual conference, begun in 1973 during which conservatives from across the country meet in Washington, D.C. There were countless conservative speakers, including elected officials, political pundits, and scholars. An exhibition hall was filled with tables from various political organizations where conference goers can pick up giveaways like “I’m in the NRA and I vote” pins and large posters of former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

The environment was more than a little different from the one at Columbia.

European welfare states and any mention of the mainstream media elicited boos. Panels had titles like “Will Congress Take Away Your Guns?” and “Will Obama’s Tax Policies Kill Entrepreneurship?”. Enthusiastic crowds chanted “USA!” and “End the Fed!”

The conference this year had a variety of speakers, from lobbyists to political pundits to elected officials. Most were, well, conservative, and sometimes controversial.

I laughed out loud when I imaged how some of my classmates would react to many of the speeches I attended.

One of the first speakers I listened to was Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association. He said, “The lie is, if we would just surrender more of our Second Amendment, Mexican drug cartels wouldn’t be able to get the guns they use to terrorize that country. The idea that criminals of any nationality obey gun bans. They’re criminals! ... The proud people of Mexico need their gun rights back. They need their own meaningful Second Amendment to protect their homes, their lives, and their families.” (But guns are always dangerous!)

Coulter was her usual biting self, commenting, “It’s interesting that Obama’s adorers in the press keep comparing him to Lincoln and Reagan. Apparently they can’t think of a Democrat president worthy of being compared to.” (Lincoln was a Republican?)

Talking about a Democratic Party summit on fiscal discipline, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty asked, “What’s next? Are they going to have Rod Blagojevich convene an ethics summit?” (President Obama inherited a deficit, so it doesn’t matter if the Democrats increase it further.)

“There’s no such thing as women’s rights and minority rights and gay rights and all these things, there’s only one type of right, and that is an individual right that has come to us from God,” said Rep. Ron Paul. (But God doesn’t exist!)

“Earlier this week, we heard the world’s best salesman of socialism address the nation,” said Sen. Jim DeMint. (Socialism isn’t so bad...)

I left wondering­: is this what it’s like to be a liberal at Columbia? Surrounded by my ideological brethren, listening to like-minded speakers that sometimes go a little overboard, and knowing that speaking my political ideas is safe?

But aside from all of the conservative one-liners, I was impressed by the conservatives’ ability to recognize their own mistakes. There was a lot of talk about what had gone wrong with Republican rule over the past several years. During the period of former President George W. Bush’s administration and the Republican-controlled Congress, Americans witnessed a ballooning deficit, mismanaged wars, intelligence failures, corruption, and incompetence. The speakers acknowledged this. Rick Santorum, a former Republican senator from Pennsylvania who lost re-election in 2006, spoke about how conservative politicians have failed conservatism. Gingrich spoke about the “Bush-Obama spending plan,” referring to the Troubled Assets Relief Program. (At a conservative conference, it’s a pretty heavy blow to be compared to President Obama).

The contrast to Columbia was striking. At Columbia, the attitude of many students is that if the Democrats lose an election, it’s because voters were ill informed, misled, or just plain stupid. Voters chose to have the Democrats control both the White House and Congress, so it is now proven that liberalism was always right and conservatism is dead. American voters were awoken by Obama’s magical communications abilities and realized they were being duped by conservatives all of these years! The question isn’t whether government should be big or small, but how the big government should use all of its power. The question isn’t whether or not government should manage health care or heavily regulate gun ownership, it’s how best to do so. Conservatives should realize their wrongness, and become as enlightened as liberals!

At CPAC in 1975, Ronald Reagan spoke to a small crowd of demoralized, post-Watergate conservatives and said, “I don’t know about you, but I am impatient with those Republicans who after the last election rushed into print saying, ‘We must broaden the base of our party,’ when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.”

I have a message for Columbia liberals: conservatism is far from dead. What I took away from CPAC is that conservatives are ready to rebuild the movement from the bottom up. Conservative principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility, and respect for life aren’t going anywhere. Don’t start dancing on our graves yet.

Lauren Salz is a Barnard College sophomore. She is the executive director of the College Republicans and the communications coordinator of the Columbia Political Union. Check Your Premises runs alternate Wednesdays. opinion@columbiaspectator.com