The Conservative Political Action Conference, better known as CPAC, falls every year around my birthday. In fact, I turned many of my 20s and 30s while nerding out at the Omni Shoreham hotel in Washington at panels with people like Fred Barnes, Bill Kristol and Jonah Goldberg.
I went because it was, put very simply, a gathering of conservatives where movement conservatism was on full display. Debates over fiscal responsibility, the debt and deficit, national security, anti-protectionism, even the gold standard were all hashed out in panels and speeches and breakout sessions over bad boxed lunches and chicken dinners.
