Alexander McCobin, the co-founder and president of Students for Liberty, stirred up some controversy at CPAC yesterday. On a panel, "2 Minute Activist: Saving Freedom Across America,” McCobin began with:
In the name of freedom, I would like to thank the American Conservative Union for welcoming GOProud [a coalition of gay republicans] as a co-sponsor of this event, not for any political reason but for the message it sends….Students today recognize that freedom does not come in pieces. Freedom is a single thing that applies to the social as well as the economic realms and should be defended at all times.
Ryan Sorba, a member of the California chapter of the Young Americans for Freedom, then spoke and said:
“I’d like to condemn CPAC for bringing GOPride [sic] to this event. Civil rights are grounded in natural rights. Natural rights are grounded in human nature. Human nature is a rational substance in relationship to the intelligible end of the reproductive act of reproduction. Do you understand that?”
Sorba illustrates a problem of the modern conservative movement: freedom for "us," and no one we disagree with. It is in Sorba's rights to be anti-gay, but without social tolerance, any talk of freedom is empty. Freedom and liberty belong to everyone, not only the "right" group. Videos of the incident can be found here.
Earlier in the day at CPAC, 2008 Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate Bob Barr was booed for condemning torture. I have many objections to what Barr usually has to say, but it was refreshing to hear a conservative rejecting the use of torture to make us "safer." Keep it up, Barr.
It will be interesting to see what else happens at CPAC this weekend.
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