There was a time when the annual gathering of young activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was so hawkish you would have thought they were all going to rush out the door and enlist in the Marines demanding to be sent into the most dangerous foreign war zone they could find to fight for God, Mother and Ronald Reagan. Even though they rarely actually enlisted, they believed that it was their duty to pound their chests and insist that we needed to "fight 'em over there, so we don't have to fight 'em over here" whether it was Communists or terrorists. Those days are over, I'm afraid.
It's not that the attendees have transformed into peace-loving flower children. They are as hostile and aggressive as ever. But today's CPAC activists have turned their focus inward and are convinced they are literally fighting for their lives here at home against what they see as a Communist 5th column (also known as the Democratic Party) and the "invasion" allegedly being waged daily along the southern border.
