Recently I had the privilege of traveling to Washington DC to attend CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference. My time was spent with an editor of our paper, Charlie Eggers. Being our first time in DC, we took time to explore many places around the city. Our first night was spent wandering amongst the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and the Capital. The next day, we spent the morning and early afternoon hitting multiple Smithsonian museums, which were breathtaking. But that night was the highlight of our trip, where we dined on petite filets and seabass. The Ronald Reagan dinner is prestigious and was headlined this year by Bishop Strickland, and my personal favorite, Vivek Ramaswamy. 

The event started with the national anthem, and Natasha Owens singing her hit single – Trump Won. This was an interesting way to start the event, and once the song ended we moved to an auction. Several items were auctioned off, and the grand total for the amount raised was over $230k. Once this concluded, Bishop Strickland took to the stage to speak about our society, and our relationship to the truth. Echoing an idea that I reflected on in my journal recently, he mentioned that the media portrays the idea that we are running rampant with intolerance towards certain groups. However, this is not actually the case. If anything it is the opposite. We have been infiltrated by too much tolerance, and we have let the truth slip through our grasp. Tolerance of ideas such as gender, sexuality, and race are at the forefront of the battle for truth. Never compromise the truth. 

After about thirty minutes, the man of the hour walked on stage to a massive standing ovation. Vivek Ramaswamy, on his son’s fourth birthday, took about thirty minutes to outline where we stand as a country today. In summary, we are in a culture war that stems deeper than just the divide between Democrats and Republicans. Instead of the three branches of government, judicial, legislative, and executive, there is a fourth branch – the managerial class. This is the class of unelected officials who have more power than the government. They are the ones leading the largest companies from behind the scenes, setting the American agenda through advertising on legacy media outlets. Big Tech and Big Pharma have colluded against the people, deprived them of meaning, and undermined what it means to be a true American. Instead of continuing to build our country based on merit, we have now fallen to the ideas of diversity, not based on thought but based on the surface. 

As a country, we have grown lazy, and we are unable to define who we are and what we stand for. The ideals of 1776 have slowly dissipated. Illegal immigration is at an all time high, and as a  consequence, we have sacrificed our identity. We should be proud of our country and understand its history. The people that founded our country were innovators. John Quincy Adams is the only person in history to ever return to Congress after serving as president. His sole goal was to end slavery after he did not succeed in office. He died during a speech on the congress floor. Who carried him out? A young man by the name of Abraham Lincoln. Our history runs deep. There are lessons buried in the past that people are afraid to look back on. 

We must also understand the importance of free market capitalism, and that it is truly the only system to have ever lifted an unparalleled amount of people out of abject poverty. We must regain independence from pharmaceutical companies. Fire the bureaucrats. End DEI initiatives. Increase border protection, as an open border is equivalent to no border at all. We must bring ourselves back to the ideals of 1776. There will not be a political messiah to lift us out. We must save ourselves. The only way to do this is to speak the truth and establish what our identity is. We cannot simply run away from wokeism, but also run towards our identity. That identity is seeded in truth and merit. It is not to be found in apologism but in exceptionalism. 

These are the ideas that Vivek spoke about, but I don’t see how it could be any other way. I have listened to opposing viewpoints, and though there may be things that I am not considering, I find truth in what he says. It is not misogynist to say that there are two genders. It is not racist to think that merit based hiring is ultimately more effective and beneficial to society. It is not bigoted to say that we must adopt responsibility for our own lives. There are challenges to overcome, and some may have it easier than others, but this is embedded in the nature of all things. Today, it seems that these ideas have become conservative. The progressives have flipped the central idea of their party, and instead of actually fighting for the people, they are the party of active suppression and censorship. If anyone is to label me a bigot, a racist, or any other degrading adjective, I say so be it. However, I would also say I don’t think they understand the true meaning of the words they speak and are instead just repeating what they see from the media. They do not observe the world through their own eyes. They do not realize that I come from a place of love for humanity. Yes, I am a specist. They do not realize the hypocrisy of their claims, and will remain willfully blind to the fact that they are actively destroying the thing that has given them everything. Oftentimes the best thing to do is the hardest. The truth is difficult to digest. But it will prevail.