from OurFuture.org:
A Gathering Of "Reasonable Conservatives"Submitted by
Digby on January 11, 2008 - 1:37am.
I was looking at the schedule for this year's Take Back America Conference and was reminded that the annual conservative conference is scheduled for next month. I love reading about CPAC, where the conservatives get together and get so excited they think nobody can hear what they are saying. Last year featured Newt Gingrich sharing his deepest insights:
How can you have the mess we have in New Orleans, and not have had deep investigations of the federal government, the state government, the city government, and the failure of citizenship in the Ninth Ward, where 22,000 people were so uneducated and so unprepared, they literally couldn't get out of the way of a hurricane.
And then there was this infamous statement by the notorious CPAC prom queen, Ann Coulter:
“I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘faggot,’ so I — so kind of an impasse, can’t really talk about Edwards.”
And that's just a sampling of the official appearances by their stars. Down in the bowels of the convention you find examples of honor, decency and family values like a bumper sticker that says "Happiness is Hillary's face on a milk carton."
But there are some uplifting, philosophical speeches from thoughtful conservatives like Senator Jim DeMint, who once told the New Yorker:
“I think we’ve got a major crisis in democracy… We assume that voters will restrain the growth of government because it becomes burdensome to them personally. But today fewer and fewer people pay taxes, and more and more are dependent on government, so the politician who promises the most from government is likely to win. Every day, the Republican Party is losing constituents, because every day more people can vote themselves more benefits without paying for it. The tax code will destroy democracy, by putting us in a position where most voters don’t pay for government.
The thing I like about DeMint is that he's one of those Big Idea men of the conservative movement who loves to talk philosophy. At last year's CPAC, where the activists treated former impeachment manager Bob Barr like he was a leper for his stand against the Bush administration's assault on the Bill of Rights, DeMint gave a stirring talk about the true meaning of the conservatism:
We believe in individualism, capitalism and volunteerism because these are the things that have made America great. These are also the prisms through which we must evaluate all of our policy decisions. Do our policies encourage, or discourage these ideals?
Our government is not the source of our greatness. Our mission as conservatives is to fight for these things that have proven to make life better for Americans. Liberal solutions are theoretical. They sound good, but they have never worked! Conservative values work, but they don’t sound as good … until we translate them into a compelling vision that inspires and gives people hope...
I long for a nation of independent people who scorn any dependence on government because they are owners of homes, savings and retirement plans, health policies, businesses … and possessors of the skills to live productive, self-sufficient lives. I can see an America where development and prosperity are the best allies of conservation and the environment. I want an America that shows compassion to those in need without trapping them in programs that rob them of their dignity and independence. And I believe in an America where the federal government protects its people with armies and justice, but keeps its tentacles out of the lives of individuals, businesses and our free society.
If only all those freeloading Luckie Duckies would stop voting themselves benefits without paying for it all this could be ours! .......(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/gathering_reasonable_conservatives?tx=3 
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