Published 3 March 2009 · Main Posts another world Jeff Sparrow From Salon‘s account of the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual jamboree for the entirely unhinged: But by far the strangest moment at the podium came during a panel on “Conservative Victories in the 2008 Elections.” (Yes, really.) Nineteen people — with names like Flagg Youngblood, Spear Lancaster and Smoot Carter — sat at the dais, and each one dashed up to the mics, delivered a two-minute speech full of right-wing clichés, and sat down again. “We are the future, fellow young conservatives,” one speaker declared. “The future is the present. The present is now.” True wisdom — and also a fine mashup of “Buckaroo Banzai” and “Atlas Shrugged.” Flagg Youngblood? Spear Lancaster? Smoot Carter? The conservative cadre need to decide whether they’re porn stars or Dungeons and Dragons characters. Jeff Sparrow Jeff Sparrow is a Walkley Award-winning writer, broadcaster and former editor of Overland. More by Jeff Sparrow › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 28 March 20249 April 2024 · Main Posts Why we should value not only lived experience, but also lived expertise Sukhmani Khorana In the wake of this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, I want to extend the central idea of El Gibbs’s 2022 essay on 'lived expertise' and argue that in media accounts of racism, analytical expertise and lived experience ought to be valued together and even in the same body. 5 March 2024 · Main Posts Andrew Charlton’s school assignment Alex McKinnon Australia's Pivot to India exists for three reasons: so that when Andrew Charlton is interviewed on the radio or introduced on Q+A, his bio includes the phrase "he has written a book about Indian-Australian relations"; to fend off accusations that he is another Kristina Keneally engaging in electoral colonialism in western Sydney; and to help the Albanese government strengthen economic and military ties with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.