By Calwatchdog.com Editors

Dr. Ben Carson, joined by author Eric Metaxas, spoke at the Conservative Political Action Convention (CPAC) on the importance of developing and maintaining an educated populace — one with common sense. Being proactive and strategizing, he said, rather than being purely reactive, is how to protect the conservative vision for the future. He also added that it was essential for Americans to take care of their own, not depend on the federal government and think wisely about how to spend our money. Watch the full speech below:

March 16, 2013

By Josephine Djuhana

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Former Speaker Newt Gingrich lit up CPAC on its third and final day of convention, opening with bold criticisms against the Republican establishment and its consultant culture.

“The Republican establishment is just plain wrong about how it approaches politics,” he said, adding that the RNC’s effort to produce a report on initial changes was a good first step in the right direction. It was essential, he said, that conservatives “disenthrall” themselves from the establishment’s “anti-idea approach” and its “consultant culture”, which only perpetuated the process of raising money to run attack ads.

Gingrich also emphasized the importance of new ideas, not new principles. “We need lots of new ideas on how to implement those principles in the twenty-first century,” he said. Additionally, he highlighted the need of finding ways to empower people to leave poverty, empower small businesses to create jobs and get government out of the way.

Calling the establishment “prisoners of the past” and “trapped in the age of candles,” Gingrich quoted President Ronald Reagan and stated there was “no such thing as left or right” but only an “up or down.”

“We stand today on the edge of a great future, but Washington is blind to it in both parties,” he said, underlining the necessity to push past partisanship.

Gingrich also produced a stark contrast between conservatives that believe they have a “capacity for self-government” or a people that “abandon the American revolution.” Citizens, he said, must be empowered to solve things for themselves by getting rid of government and replacing the institutions with citizen activism. He then praised ‘Citizenville,’ a book by California’s very own Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom.

“It is sobering to me, to be standing here as a senior member of this party telling you that from 1976 to 2013, we have the dominant wing of this party which has learned nothing,” said Gingrich. Republicans, he said, should be in the business of “reshaping the budget” to liberate the American people and create a better future with a smaller government and balanced budget. “It is much more than a fight over numbers,” he added. “It’s a fight over values.”

The former speaker also quoted Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, asking Republicans to stop “dumbing down” conservative ideas and reducing their ideals to “campaign slogans and taglines.”

“We are not the anti-Obama movement,” said Gingrich. “We are for a better American future.”

He pointed to both parties in Washington, D.C., saying they were “blind to the potential in this country.” But there was hope, he said, if the conservative message focused on “the right to rise,” as well as its predicate, “the right to life.”

March 16, 2013

By Josephine Djuhana

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—Some conservatives believe a federal balanced budget amendment is an essential reform for fiscal management in Congress. That was the topic of discussion during a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the National Harbor in Maryland.

Grover Norquist, the founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, moderated the discussion and began with a simple two-part plan for Washington to balance the budget—by “never raising taxes” and “not spending so much of other people’s money.” He also highlighted Paul Ryan’s recently unveiled budget, which rolls back entitlements and federal power, and balances the budget without raising taxes. The budget, according to Norquist, was not only a way to reduce the size of the federal government by reforming, but also a “step in the right direction to enact tax reform.”

Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., said in reference to the Senate, “They don’t believe that the spending is the problem, and they don’t believe the debt or the deficit is a problem.” Anyone who has read Paul Krugman would know that to be the case. And even President Obama recently charged that he was not interested in a “balanced budget just for the sake of balance.” With much concern mounting over the nation’s ever-growing $16 trillion deficit, it’s no wonder that conservatives are now looking for ways to force Congress to create a balanced budget. But Democrats in Washington don’t seem to seem to agree on the need to halt spending, as the budget proposal from Senate Democrats, according to Norquist, “raises taxes and never balances the budget.” The budget plan includes $1 trillion in tax increases and a new $100 billion stimulus plan. It also increases spending by 60 percent over the next ten years, leaving an additional deficit of $500 billion ten years from now.

“That’s why you need a balanced budget amendment, because in the end, [Washington] can’t restrain itself,” Rep. Harris said. “And we certainly can’t guarantee that future Congresses will restrain themselves.”

The panelist consensus was that outside intervention is needed in order to limit spending by Congress. “Unlimited debt is the fairy dust that makes unlimited government function,” said Nick Dranias, a director at the Goldwater Institute.

There are two methods to ratify a constitutional amendment, but the path through Congress does not seem promising, as it requires a two-thirds majority approval in both houses of Congress. The state method is the alternative.

“In the state method, there is a critical check and balance on federal government,” said Derrick Khanna; he’s a former professional staff member for the Republican Study Committee. “It is unfortunate that this method has never been used as our Founders intended.”

All that is needed is a three-fourths majority of states to ratify a constitutional amendment. “States across the country are pushing for a federal balanced budget. First it was Florida, in 2010, and then it was New Hampshire, last year,” said Khanna.

Effects of a balanced budget amendment

There are certain fears that with a balanced budget amendment, members of Congress could force a tax increase in order to ensure that revenues keep up with expenditures.

But Arizona, which has a balanced budget requirement, has used this obligation to its benefit by rejecting Obamacare. When Governor Jan Brewer attempted to raise taxes in order to fund Obamacare in the state, the state legislature shot the proposal down, as state tax increases require a two-thirds majority in order to be ratified.

The balanced budget requirement also seems to be working for the state of Texas.

Texas Governor Rick Perry was also present at CPAC, and delivered short remarks on his state in comparison with the federal government.

“Texas has a balanced budget and a surplus, and is creating more jobs than any other state in the Union, and we’re doing this with a part-time legislature that meets for only 140 days every other year,” said Gov. Perry. “Our legislature—they come in and they pass laws, and then they go home and live under those laws.”

He then emphasized that states should be “the laboratories of reform.”

But instead, we have a federal government that mandates and dictates regulations to states, what with Obamacare and the expansion of Medicaid, the proposed increase in the minimum wage and more. Many conservative allies have fallen to money from the federal government and special interest groups, and we have reached a point where it seems that nothing can stop Washington from continuing on its taxing and spending binge.

“Washington doesn’t worry about how to pay its bills; they just charge it to our grandchildren’s accounts,” said Gov. Perry. “But in Texas, our constitution requires a balanced budget.”

Gov. Perry emphasized that Texas’ “number one ranking when it comes to job creation” is directly correlated to having “balanced budgets and one of the lowest tax and spending rates in the nation.”

Framework for a balanced budget amendment

During the panel, Nick Dranias highlighted the Compact for America, which is a formal amendment to balance the budget and has additional inclusions that work to prevent outright taxation by Congress in order to balance the budget.

But the path to Congressional discipline on the fiscal matters will be an uphill battle, yet many activists would like to see Congress reexamine itself and its practices when it comes to balancing the budget. As government expands, liberties decrease, and the best way to curb government intervention is to take away its ability to spend recklessly.

CalWatchdog.com Editors

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — It’s no secret that Republicans in the Golden State have been dispirited by the last two election cycles where the GOP has been relegated to virtually no power in statewide politics.  Nationally 2012 was also a lackluster election year for Republicans, yet many in the party are beginning to bounce back showing signs of optimism. The source of this energy is not due necessarily to the ongoing Conservative Political Action Conference but instead due in part to Senator Rand Paul’s recent filibuster in the United State Senate.

Watching various speeches at CPAC, I’ve found it interesting that the rhetoric from Republican elected officials and conservative leaders hasn’t changed much from last year’s election to today. And in fact, in some cases it may have even hardened. Even former presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave a speech Friday at CPAC that sounded like it was something from the campaign trail rather than a forward looking message. (There have been a few exceptions, of course, like Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s call for a new focus for his party, similar to other speeches he’s made recently and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s chastising of the party’s establishment.)

Yet the high point for Republicans—in this moment at least— seems to be Senator Rand Paul. His filibuster demanding answers from the Obama Administration on the use of drones on United States soil illustrated the ability of one senator to lead on an issue and capture  the national dialogue, even as a member of the minority party in the United State Senate.

Staffers on Capitol Hill noted that Paul’s filibuster helped change the level of morale among Republicans in Washington, and it did so at a key moment; just before the leading national gathering of conservatives. At CPAC Sen. Paul was remarkably well received but particularly so by large numbers of young conservatives—many young conservatives who likely attended the event, at least in part, because of Paul.

Rand Paul’s recent ascent in popularity further stokes rumors of a presidential run for the Kentucky senator in 2016. Regardless of the potentiality of a bid for the White House, the GOP has a libertarian-minded Republican helping shape public discourse on issues with crossover appeal particularly hitting a cord with young people and those interested in civil liberties. That’s progress.

Even though a wholesale change in messaging by Republicans has not been evident at CPAC, there are new, powerful voices beginning to shape a movement in need some modernization. And thus an understandable bump in enthusiasm by the GOP.