I’ve been saying it since the last presidential election, and this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference has only reinforced it: For the past four years, the Republican Party has been significantly more divided than the Democrats. Nowhere was it more evident than at this year’s GOP Oscars, better known as the CPAC. The event hosted the country’s most prominent right-wing stars; everyone from yesterday’s news Donald Rumsfeld to the newly notorious Michelle Bachmann.

This event was very much a prelude to what the American people can expect to see from the GOP in terms of primary battles for the party’s nomination to oppose President Barack Obama in 2012. Speakers gave their president-like speeches, talking about ‘a new time’ and ‘dawn’ in American history. Basically the usual rhetoric that plagues the mouths of politicians of both parties. However, one thing could not be clearer: the topic every speaker pounded the audience on, which was the deficit, the deficit and the deficit. Everyone from Ron Paul to Ann Coulter voiced their concern for the ever-growing bundle of debt the United States owes domestic and foreign bankers.

As united as the right may be on the issue of the deficit, it cannot be more divided on where to cut it. The dispute predominately lies in cuts in the military budget. Libertarians argue for slashing it to a minimum by reducing spending on global military presence around the world, such as eliminating bases in Germany and Japan.

The neocons, better known as the Bush Republicans, favor continued funding for military projects abroad, maintaining the United States’ role as the world’s watchdog. In his CPAC speech, former ambassador to the United Nations John R. Bolton took a fierce stand against the Obama administration’s efforts to find areas in which to cut military funding.

To a certain extent, Bolton is correct: Defense and military funding do not make up the largest part of our annual budget. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security make up the greatest part of the United States’ annual budget with a whopping 43 percent. Paleocons, or old-school conservatives, argue there is no longer a need for military bases in Germany or Spain. That they are nothing more than a mere waste of taxpayer dollars.

This emergent split within the conservative movement was not difficult to observe at CPAC 2011. When it was announced Ron Paul had won the presidential straw poll with more than 31 percent of the vote, it seemed the entire Marriott Ballroom erupted with cheers. However, as soon as the applause ended, the boos came from what seemed to be the older folks in the audience. It seems very few conservatives are indifferent to Paul’s libertarian leanings — it’s either you love him or hate him.

In the same poll, the runner-up was Mitt Romney, someone who is practically 180 degrees away from a libertarian or paleocon on the political spectrum, with 22 percent of the vote. CPAC 2011 was an indication of how big of a role the poorly publicized war within the Republican Party and conservative movement is going to play in 2012. Too many conservatives are fed up with Republicans’ false promises, as well as unsuccessful George W. Bush-era policies of tremendous deficits and outrageous spending. This is why more and more young people, namely college students, are jumping onboard the Ron Paul train.

Nevertheless, perhaps this is a positive sign. For too long, the American people have been given the same two nuanced options. This is an indication that we are finally tired of the status quo two-party politics of D.C. Whether it is the GOP or the Democrats, a disagreement within a party is a good thing because it signifies that the people’s concerns are not being addressed, and it should give politicians all the more reason to listen with their ears rather than their wallets.

Igor Gitstein is a sophomore economics major. He can be reached at igitstei@syr.edu.

 

Published on February 21, 2011 at 12:00 pm