National Harbor, MD — Conservative radio host Glenn Beck opened his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference with a reference to food Saturday.
“Charlie Bucket buys a chocolate bar. He opens it and discovers one of the magical tickets inside — ‘I’ve got a golden ticket,’” Beck said to the audience, referencing the boy in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”
Beck’s keynote address closed the 2016 CPAC, sending off its attendees with a message of putting principles over party affiliation. He repeatedly quoted the Constitution and Bill of Rights, referencing natural rights and consent of the governed. Additionally, he criticized progressive policies for the exponentially growing national debt.
“You don’t owe loyalty or oath to any party,” Beck said. “What is it that makes us conservatives? Not a party but principles.”
Beck quoted from the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights as he listed the values for which conservative should stand.
He said today, while discussion of lower taxes and smaller government is important, they are not the cause of the conservatism movement. Instead, he said they are the results.
“Our Founders knew our rights are a part of us,” Beck said. “Without them, we cease to be human beings.”
He said natural rights stand in contrast to progressive ideas that consider people to be “worthless and incomplete,” requiring the government to execute control over various parts of their lives.
“It baffles me how people can look in the mirror and miss what they are,” Beck said. “You as an individual, you are the most powerful human being created by God himself.”
He said progressivism has burdened people with their “fair share” of over $1 million of the national debt by their “first breath of life.”
“The Republican Party, the party of Abe Lincoln that abolished slavery over 150 years ago, where are you when the next generation is enslaved to debt?” Beck said. “We can’t change the other party, but we can change ourselves.”
Beck argued, unlike the progressives, the Founders believed government’s sole purpose is to protect the people’s liberties.
“That’s the reason government existed — to secure the rights of man,” Beck said.
Sophomore Razi Lane said Beck’s thoughts on principles demonstrated the importance of unity within the conservative movement.
“Our identity lies in one another, and I think, to me, that was the most striking part of his message,” Lane said. “Progressivism in both parties is the enemy, and we should seek to exacerbate Founding principles in our political life and realize those on our body politic.”
Beck, who has endorsed Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas for president, has said in the past that if Republican voters select frontrunner Donald Trump for the nomination, he will not vote for him. His position differed from some other speakers at CPAC, such as Fox News host Sean Hannity and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who urged the conference’s audience earlier to vote for the Republican nominee, no matter who it is.
Sophomore Anna Zemaitaitis said while she saw Beck’s comments in regards to constitutional principles as “ideal,” she will still vote for the Republican nominee.
“It’s the lesser evil to vote against the Democrats,” Zemaitaitis said. “The Democrats will turn out; they are going to turn out. They always stand by their guy, no matter who it is.”
Lane said he, too, was sympathetic to any Republican nominee but that his vote would depend on the principles of a third party presidential contestant if he didn’t elect a GOP candidate.
Nonetheless, Lane called Beck’s presentation memorable.
“It think it was the best speech at CPAC in the past two years I’ve been there,” Lane said.
Beck concluded his speech reminding conservatives that it was their work that has lead to the increase in voter turnouts during the 2016 primaries, and he called for the audience to follow its principles. In doing so, he said, Americans can “win,” just as Charlie Bucket’s honesty with Willy Wonka earned him the chocolate factory.
“The Constitution of the United States of America – this is our golden ticket,” Beck said.