CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, has been an annual gig for me for years. But this year I concluded it was not my place and I declined to participate in the various venues at the event for which I was invited.
Yes, the reason I declined was the inclusion of GOProud, a group identifying itself as representing “gay conservatives and their allies,” as a sponsor of the event.
And it’s the reason why some of the nation’s most important conservative organizations – the Heritage Foundation, the American Family Association, Concerned Women of America, Family Research Council, Media Research Center, and the National Organization for Marriage - did not participate.
The founder and chairman of GOProud removed any doubt on my part that not participating was the correct decision by dismissing these groups as “losers,” “clowns,” and “not relevant.”
I, of course, have been accused of being worse than a clown. The barrage regularly comes in from the left. But this is a first that I’ve had to listen to this kind of stuff from a group that postures as “conservative.”
I became a conservative in church. I thought I was doing okay in my previous life - scamming the welfare system, going to the beach, soaking in my welfare subsidized hot tub, treating sex as a hobby, and abortion as birth control.
In our culture today that views material prosperity as the ultimate barometer of success, the truth is becoming unfortunately lost that the evil man can prosper. And if there is nothing more than what is before our eyes in this world, what does it matter?
When I understood how the culture of welfare state materialism was destroying not just my life, but all of black America, there was no dividing line in my mind between “social issues” and “economic issues.” The only dividing line I saw was between right and wrong, good and evil.
The idea of “gay conservative” is an oxymoron.
“Gay” is everything that “conservative” is not.
The foundation of the world view that so-called “gay conservatives” embrace has far more in common with liberalism than with conservatism.
It’s a world view that is man-centered rather than God-centered. It is a world view that rejects eternal truths passed on from the beginning of time. Although the world view that “gay conservatives” choose to invent may diverge from the world view of liberals, their common ground is they make it all up.
And it is here where “gay conservatives” and “liberals” fundamentally depart from conservatives.
Conservatives believe that there are objective and eternal truths, not of the product of any individual human mind, that are transmitted through the generations. Culture is not like HDTV or iPhones where the newest model is the best.
These eternal truths provide the light in the fog that keeps us from crashing on the rocky shores where our base instincts lead us.
“Gay” is liberal, not conservative, regardless of what their stand may be on government spending or taxes.
It’s why, like all liberals, they use language to create reality, rather than appreciate that words have meaning that reflect reality.
So they have re-invented the word “gay,” re-invented the word “marriage”, and now they want to re-invent the word “conservative.”
Finally, we will re-invent the word “freedom” and we’ll put the final stamp on the idea that a free society, rather than being the path to truth, is the path to meaninglessness.
What individuals choose in private, and for which they bear personal responsibility, is separate from what we sanction publicly for which we all must bear responsibility.
A value-neutral government is impossible. The central battle in our country today is about values and how we understand freedom. It is a battle for our very soul. And, as we learned from CPAC, it’s not a struggle that is just between Democrats and Republicans.