I had the privilege to address the attendees at CPAC 2013 last Friday outside of Washington, DC. It was a great conference where conservative from across the country come together and debated the issues of the day. In my speech, I touched on three key message points I wanted to get across to my fellow conservatives. First, I talked about how President Reagan summed up conservatism in the three-legged stool analogy of free enterprise, strong national defense, and pro-family social policies. Secondly, I talked about how Karl Rove does not have a monopoly on winning. Finally, I explained how conservatives must fight a two pronged attack on President Obama and those in the Establishment who stand for nothing.
R.J. Matson / Roll Call (click to view more cartoons by Matson)
Below are some excerpts of my speech:
Ronald Reagan cemented our core values with his three-legged stool analogy that conservatism stands for: free enterprise, strong national defense, and pro-family social policies. My friends, if you take one of those legs away the stool crumbles.
If we sell out our principles then the conservative movement is simply a rudderless ship. Those in the establishment who claim that they know how to win are simply living a lie. Just look at the past two presidential campaigns…how did that work out for the establishment? Only in 2010, when our conservative grassroots were fully mobilized hand and hand with the Tea Party did we prevail.
Now, last month the battle lines were drawn when Karl Rove and company announced through the New York Times of all places that they were forming the so-called Conservative Victory Project. The “Conservative Victory Project” is nothing more than an attempt by establishment Republicans to control the conservative movement. Calling it the Conservative Victory Project is like Mitt Romney calling himself severely conservative. Why do Karl Rove and company think they have a monopoly on wanting to win? We all want to win. And why does Karl Rove need to create a new organization with the name conservative in it? Because American Crossroads failed in 2012.
Of course, there is a way to come together and unite for a common purpose. But conservatives will not be bullied into throwing our beliefs out the window. In 2010, President Obama and his socialist policies showed he was the unifying force for conservatives. He must be again in 2014.
Friends, President Obama in his second inaugural address all but declared war on the conservative movement. It took him four years, but finally the real Barack Obama…the one we all knew exposed himself as unabashedly liberal ideologue, emerged for all to see.
Obama’s campaign team knew that he could not be elected in 2008 running as a full throated liberal. So they created the myth that Obama would reach across party lines and work to improve Washington and drain the swamp. Over the last four years, he only thing he and Democrats have drained is the United States Treasury.
2013 must be a year where we conservatives wage a two-pronged attack against President Obama and those forces in the Republican establishment who work to marginalize the conservative movement. We cannot rest!! We must not rest!!
As conservatives we all believe America is an exceptional nation. We do not want our beloved nation to have the financial books of Greece nor the gun laws of China.
Watch my speech here:
