(From the President’s Corner section in Volume 20, No. 9 of the Liberator Online. Subscribe here!)
CPAC — the Conservative Political Action Committee — is the nation’s largest annual gathering of conservative activists and office holders. In recent years it has featured a strong and growing contingent of young libertarian activists among the attendees. This year’s CPAC was February 26-28 in Washington, DC.
As in past years the Advocates’ World’s Smallest Political Quiz and Operation Politically Homeless (OPH) were prominent at CPAC, too. Videos from the Washington Post and Reason TV briefly captured OPH in action — highlighting the visual appeal and the effectiveness of this legendary outreach tool.
Last year the Daily Beast reported that a booth by Generation Opportunity and Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) featuring the Quiz and OPH was “the one consistently drawing the biggest crowds.”
This year Libertarians were once again all over CPAC. One of the highlights of each CPAC is the presidential straw poll at each CPAC, widely viewed as a barometer of activist sentiment within the party. Libertarian-friendly Sen. Rand Paul won this year’s presidential poll — his third victory in a row — with 25.7 percent of the 3,007 total votes cast.
According to The Polling Company, 42 percent of the voters were students and a plurality of voters were between the ages of 18 and 25 — another sign of the strong and fast-growing libertarian sentiment among young GOP activists. (See this article on the growing generational split within the GOP on issues like marijuana re-legalization and marriage choice.)
The Libertarian Party was there, as was 2012 Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson. A video from a panel discussion in which Johnson mocked Reefer Madness-style marijuana propaganda quickly spread around the Web. Students For Liberty (SFL) and Young Americans for Liberty were among other libertarian and liberty-minded organizations there.
In fact, libertarianism is getting so popular at CPAC that even people who plainly are not libertarians are trying to claim they are. Perhaps the most surreal moment of the entire conference was the startling proclamation by former NSA head, former CIA head, and current surveillance state and torture apologist Michael Hayden, who stunned a debate audience by declaring “I’m an unrelenting libertarian…” which had many in the audience laughing out loud in disbelief, and one person shouting loudly, “No you’re not!”
OPH: Campus Groups Get it FREE
Speaking of OPH and young activists… In the past few years the Advocates has given — completely free of charge — over 1,000 OPH booth kits to libertarian campus organizations across America. These kits have reached tens of thousands of students with the ideas of liberty, and they will continue to do so for years to come.
OPH is a fantastic way to turn an ordinary, dull outreach table into a crowd-drawing fun event! From the very first time the Advocates introduced OPH, some 25 years ago, users have told us over and over again that OPH brings their outreach booth and tabling efforts alive.
OPH makes it easy and fun to discover libertarian-leaning individuals and sign up new members and supporters — new libertarian activists who will work in college and after graduation to bring liberty to all Americans. OPH consistently makes a booth the most active, the most talked about, the most fascinating, at any event.
Did I mention we’re giving OPH kits FREE to libertarian student groups?
Student groups: Learn more about OPH — and how you can get your FREE OPH kit — if you haven’t already — here.
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