Folks here’s some advanced warning; a month from now the writing schedule on this site will be a bit different. The first week of March, I will be packing my portable office and driving down to Washington D.C. (with my daughter) for the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). If you are a conservative allow me to suggest that you attend also.
CPAC is a “must,” every year, but more so in presidential election years. Its an opportunity to hear from and even meet every candidate unfiltered by the mainstream media. Over the past six years every candidate running for the GOP nomination today has spoken the the conference, multiple times (even Trump). And if the ACU which runs CPAC holds true to form, each of the candidates running for the GOP nomination will be there this time.
But it’s much more than seeing the candidates, there are brilliant breakout sessions on the most important topics facing this great nation today. In past years I have attended sessions, on the national debt, illegal immigration, property rights, criminal justice reform, the climate change hypothesis, and so many more I can’t remember.
The really neat part of the breakouts is they are all led by experts in the field, in many cases they are the same people who appear on the news shows as experts and/or commentators. People such as former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser the president and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD), Mary Katherine Ham and Guy Benson from Fox. This year two radio greats Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin will be at CPAC. CPAC also gave me the opportunity to attend a session on the Citizen United case, moderated by the leadership of Citizen United. There have even been times when yours truly was called into action at CPAC.
CPAC is much more than hearing from and being taught by the superstars of the conservative movement. One year I heard from a young Republican state legislator whose campaign for the U.S. Senate was being opposed by his state’s GOP establishment, Marco Rubio. At another I got to sit down and ask questions of a Army Lt. Col. (ret.) who was making his first run at a congressional seat, and I have been calling Allen West, Lt. Col. Mensch ever since.
For those who want to be a political activist but just don’t know how, CPAC has a great program called the CPAC ActivismBoot Camp, which teaches the best-kept winning campaign secrets on both sides of the aisle Last year almost 1,000 people in standing-room only crowds were trained to win.
This serious activist school has even caught the attention of dozens of mainstream media outlets that led with headlines like, “How Conservatives Are Readying Their ‘Grassroots Army’ For 2016” (NPR), “Conservatives Aim to take Campaign Tips from Obama Playbook” (TIME), and “CPAC Campaign Boot Camp Trains GOP to Catch up” (Roll Call).
Beginning on the Wednesday the second, the Boot Camp is organized on three tracks based on the attendee’s goals — Student Activism Training, Modern Community Activism Training, and the Campaign, Tech, and Data Workshop — (and at the end they get special access to an evening Activism Boot Camp Reception!)
All of the above is wonderful and part of the reason I will be going to CPAC again. The last reason is the conference is like a refreshing of my conservative battery. It’s an unbelievable chance to meet, sit with other conservatives and to be infused with new information, new ideas and brand new tools to help conservatives make a difference in the coming year.
If you want to join me at CPAC, click here and visit their website.
