www.economist.com/world/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1567020
Do you regard the recent tax cuts as nothing more than a prelude to the biggest chop of all, the abolition of the income tax? Last weekend more than 4,000 conservative activists--1,700 of them college students--gathered in Arlington, Virginia, for the 30th annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the biggest audience the organisation has ever attracted. They brimmed with hatred at the dastardly liberal establishment: grasping bureaucrats who want to steal your money; And they positively glowed with pleasure at the thought of another Republican victory in 2004. They wore "Fry Mumia" T-shirts (referring to a cop-killer who, for some reason, has become a cause clbre for the left); The Traditional Values Coalition offered the chance to fling beanbags at grotesque trolls called "Saddam Hussein", "Hillary Clinton", "the liberal media" and "the homosexual agenda". That said, for many fresh-faced men there was one love that dared speak its name. The exhibition hall was a temple of Bushophilia, from photographs of his inauguration for $175 to cups, hats, badges, key-rings and "Pray for him" T-shirts. But love for Mr Bush has not blotted out their hatred for his predecessor. Anti-Clinton memorabilia was almost as popular as the pro-Bush sort. One of the most visited exhibits was for the Counter-Clinton Library. The proposed institution will be within walking distance of the Clinton Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, and will try to tell the story of the Clinton years as conservatives see it. Exhibits will include the Hillary Hall of Shame, the Clinton Casualties, the Grifters' Gallery and the Department of Domestic "Affairs". The exit foyers will remind people how the Clintonites trashed the White House when they left. Dick Erickson, the man who thought up the counter-library, says that several people, including Dick Morris and Gary Aldrich, have already promised to donate material to it, and that money is flooding in from anti-Clinton activists. Two other figures dominated the conference: Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Arab fanaticism now plays the same role for conservatives that Communism played until the fall of the Berlin Wall: it justifies both a vigorous foreign policy abroad and an ever-vigilant approach to potential subversives at home. One activist stopped selling his "No Muslims = No terrorism" stickers when the vice-president's office complained. But there was no shortage of anti-Islamic ware: T-shirts mocking the idea that Islam is a religion of peace, mugs hinting that Islam is a new form of Nazism. A company called Decisive Action, proclaiming its devotion to "our conservative Judeo-Christian heritage", sold water purifiers and body armour. Why hold the conference in Virginia, where conservatism is in the drinking water and liberal-baiting a sport?
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