A few thoughts before CPAC 2013

Originally I planned a long-ish post before CPAC, but why? I may as well wait until after this weekend before making too many proclamations about where the conservative movement is at in 2013. That is not to say CPAC is the be all and end all of conservative activism, but it’s the first major gathering of conservatives since the election that is hopefully serving as the kick in the ass we needed on the right.

Now, onto the things I hope to hear and not hear this weekend.

1.       Which brand of conservatism gets the most airtime from speakers?  Is it solely a fiscal conservatism going forward? Is it a shift towards embracing the libertarian wing of the movement? What role are social issues going to play for us going forward? What about immigration?  What about foreign-policy? It seems like a broad question, but I think the conservative movement is at one of those points where stepping back and looking at the 30,000 foot view is required at this point. Conservatism has always been about opportunity, so how do we get that point across?

Along this same point, what is our elevator speech? We live in a seven-second soundbite world. Even more than our short attention spans is the fact that the majority of this country does not actively follow the news on a daily basis. Low-information voters do exist and we do need to take a crack at winning them over. How do we describe conservatism to them in the 7 seconds we might have?

2.       ObamaCare. – For the past few years ObamaCare has been target number one for conservative activists. Well guess what, ObamaCare isn’t going anywhere over the next 4 years and the more time we focus on that the less time we spend on problems that we have a chance at solving. The amount of time spent on ObamaCare and not every other issue will determine how successful this gathering ends up being.

3.       Technology – I work in the digital advertising world and if there is one thing I hope the GOP has learned it is that technology is not how you win an election, but it can be a powerful tool when used properly. In short, email can be used for purposes outside of raising money.

4.       Are we going to divide the country into groups as well? – Lots of the focus after the election has been on the youth and Latino votes. There seem to be two sides – one side is tailor our policies to where these groups stand today (i.e. move left) or find new ways to engage with everyone, including the youth and Latino voters of America, and start moving them back to our side. One common complaint I hear about us on the right is that we do not bother to take the time to reach out to different ethnic and social groups. I, for one, believe that moving left will be the beginning of the end of the conservative movement and that another group will pick up the pieces. Evangelizing conservative philosophies to everyone needs to be the focus, but to get there we need to focus on points 1, 2, and 3.

That is basically it. I would be lying if I said I expected to be blow away this weekend. CPAC knows it needs to do something to stay relevant. This is a time for self-reflection and self-improvement for the conservative movement. Why our policies work should be the focus. Everyone in the room knows that Obama sucks and that Hillary won’t be much better. The only way we will get others on our side is if we start to hone a new positive and affirmative message that focuses on our solutions. Three days spent bashing Obama will be three days wasted.