CPAC 2024 has been quite an experience. We have heard some great speakers; in the evenings I was on several occasions able to sit and gas with people that I've been wanting to meet in person for some time. There are few things cooler than running into someone in a crowd and being able to say, "Hey, I've always wanted to meet you!"
But on reflection, one of the more striking things to emerge from this was something that happened on my morning and evening Uber rides between my Arlington hotel and the CPAC venue.
Why? Here's why, and I'm going to tell you:
Cameroon. Chad. Uganda. Nigeria. Ethiopia. Those were some of the locations my Uber drivers were from. They all have several things in common, and those things they have in common speak eloquently to what America has been, what it still is, and what it hopefully will remain.
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These things are:
Of all the speechifying I heard at CPAC, after all the great discussions I had with great people, these conversations were one of the most edifying experiences I have had on this excursion. Living as I do out in the Alaskan woods, I'm not often exposed to hard-working, legal immigrants like these folks; I was pleased and, yes, honored to talk to them, and my parting statement to all of them was, "Thanks for talking to me, and welcome to America; I'm glad you're here." We get so caught up in the open sore on our southern border, with illegal immigrants here in their millions, that we forget the few people who come here to work, to become American, to take advantage of all America has to offer the hard-working and the law-abiding.
The United States is still the greatest country in the world. We have our issues, and we have our enemies — some of whom are from within — but the potential of America remains. These people came to America because they saw that potential. Now, they are here and working to make their dreams happen.
To be perfectly frank, plenty of young Americans could learn a thing or two from their example.