I guess it wouldn't be a party without the crazy aunt who married your great-uncle twice-removed.

I woke up this morning at 7 feeling inspired by dreams of Reagan tearing down walls and building fences at a ranch. I felt today would be a good day, that is until I go down to the lobby with my roommate to find everyone had already left and we apparently were misinformed of the meeting time. My own ignorance of not asking repeatedly the night before what time to be ready in the morning must have sent my karma spinning to smack me right in the face today at CPAC. After a quick taxi ride and a shot of espresso I was ready to kick some libertarian hiney. And boy were they out to fight some battles today. Did you know that women are only on this earth to reproduce and that's all they're good for? Sorry mom, in four years you're going to be worthless because you won't have any more children to take care of. It astounds me that these people have so little respect for the leaders that came out of their supposed party. I mean I think these people really are the family members that you just want to kick out of the party when they've had a few too many drinks or forgotten to take their meds. Whenever we tried to have an intelligent, healthy debate with one, they could never finish it out. Even though they did have the nerve to ask for our numbers afterwards. Once again, what are we good for ladies? If I could only take one thing away from CPAC, it would be that the problem with the conservative movement is the lack of unity among the members. These libertarians seem like their own faction of a party. If they can't even agree with their own supposed kind, then when will they ever be able to get things done? It scares me to think that these people want control of our government.

However my day wasn't completely ruined by these people. Andrew Breitbart started the day off with comical comments on how to take down left-wingers and disgruntle protestors while wearing roller blades. Apparently that's the only way a conservative can be as cool as a liberal when they protest. Foreign policy was also a hot topic of the day, with discussions about Afghanistan taking center stage for one round table. I agree that the military spending should be cut, but I disagree that we need to pull our troops out as soon as we can so the Afghan people can lead themselves. Those people need guidance, and although nation-building is against conservative philosophies, they do need some help to get to where they'll be a secure country.

Another highlight of the day was Governor Allan West from Texas. His strong belief in the party was amplified by his booming voice, bringing the party together with one final standing ovation as he ended with "God bless America." By the way, Ron Paul had just been announced winner of the Straw Poll, so all his supporters had left by the time West spoke of true conservative values. This last speaker cast a confident, unified spell over the room that should have been the entire focus of the conference. Although people in the same party may disagree, their core values should still stand strong and they should be supportive and respectful of the leaders that come out of their party. One day these other non-supporters in the party will wake up and realize the importance of a foreign policy and a respectful level of bipartisanship. Until then this party cannot be as strong as it has the potential to be. I know the number of radical libertarians are greatly outnumbered by the non-libertarians in the conservative movement, but it still shows a discord between the people. Although my values and beliefs have been strengthened by some of the intelligent and respectful people that spoke at this conference, it still scares me that other people are out there who disagree so greatly with their own registered ideology. It's definitely going to lead into an interesting presidential race in 2012 and I can't wait to see how things unfold.

Lauren C.