The Musings of a First Time CPAC Attendee!

Now that we’re closing up CPAC, it’s time for me to take a moment to reflect on my time here.  I’m a first timer here at CPAC and I’ve had the opportunity to speak with many other conservatives across the nation.  From listening to the speeches, and speaking with attendees and activists- the most common word I’m hearing is FREEDOM.  Freedom to choose how to live our lives, freedom to choose how we work, how we raise our children, who is our doctor, where we work, and what to believe.  Freedom to donate our time, money, efforts, and resources to what we believe in.  The liberal agenda is wanting to restrict our choices and we need to stand up and refuse to have a dictator tell us how to live our lives.

The highlights of my time here begin with the moderator of a spending panel, Colin Hanna, the President of Let Freedom Ring, who said, "We have entitlement to liberty, not entitlement to programs."  How true this rang for me.  People often forget that we are granted freedom from God, not the government.  We do not have a right to healthcare, or food stamps, or any other programs the federal government has put into place.  We have a right to be free and it's the government's job to protect it.

Mitch McConnell (R-KY) helped me know that I wasn't alone in thinking that "there is a serious shortage of fairness in the White House."  Soon after Obama was placed in office, I just couldn't help but thinking that he was putting into place his best friends- ignoring the will of the people.  I felt like Obamacare, despite having little support, was forced on me and was the gateway to more dictatorship affecting how I live.  McConnell said Obama "rewards friends and punishes his enemies" and that Obama needed to take responsibility for the policies they put in place, instead of placing the blame on anyone but himself.

Steve King (R-IA) spoke and gave us numerous statistics and thoughts, but what stuck out to me the most was that food stamps has increased by 45% this administration.  A staggering amount of US citizens are on some form of government assistance.  I have worked in the inner cities, I have seen first hand the damage of being on food stamps can do to a person- eliminating their self esteem, eliminating their motivation, and eliminating generations of respect. 

I'll admit as well that I truly enjoyed hearing Kirk Cameron, and I promise my opinion is not shaded by watching him on Growing Pains.  Rebecca and I had the privilege of meeting Kirk on the elevator before he spoke.  He was kind, he was genuine, and hearing him speak later that day and hearing his ideas and concepts (look at his new movie Monumental, to come out soon for a one night only viewing) made me have a greater understand of why fighting the good conservative fight is worth it, even when we feel defeated and overwhelmed with the liberal agenda and bias.  Because, as he says in his movie, “My family is worth fighting for and so is yours.”  As a mother, I know that my child is directly affected by the choices that I make, but not only by my choices, but by every voter who steps into that booth on election day and ultimately by the next person who occupies the White House.