The Steamboat Institute, consciously conceived as a conservative counterbalance to the Aspen Institute’s annual conferences, met last weekend to examine the health of the conservative project. After travel, lodging and registration, the 350-plus delegates probably dropped a thousand dollars apiece for the privilege. If you harbor any doubts that Americans are well on their way to self-segregating along political, rather than racial or ethnic divides, this audience would disabuse you of the alternative theories.

A rock-and-roll band populated by Middle East combat veterans, called Madison Rising, provided the entertainment. Who knew there was such a thing as conservative rock? Lead vocalist Dave Bray displayed the ripped jeans and tattoo ink we’ve come to expect, but his lyrics spoke to American exceptionalism. While 80 percent of the audience appeared Medicare-eligible, the remainder was largely made up of a smattering of millennials.

You don’t blow a grand, even in Steamboat, for a weekend of workshops if you don’t care deeply about the future of your country. But this was not a Trump crowd. It was more an Adam Smith, John Locke faithful, confident the best solution for virtually every public challenge is either market-based or reliant on privatized delivery. Nonetheless, there was a mood of glum resignation that seemed to pervade many discussions. The turmoil in the Republican primaries has failed to produce a suitable Galahad to rally conservative hordes, while Republican majorities in Congress have failed to remain faithful to the conservative creed – often squandering tens of billions of dollars, only on a different set of supplicants than Democrats. There was a lot of chatter about a nation in decline, decaying values and failing schools.

The only presidential candidate to make a personal appearance in Steamboat was Dr. Ben Carson. The good doctor, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon, seems to be the anti-Trump. Calm, measured and reasoned, he can command a room with common sense. No need to be excitable, no propensity to exaggerate or alarm. After spending a lifetime holding the lives and wellbeing of your patients in your hands, it appears to have endowed Carson with a sense of calm perspective. When asked whether voters should be concerned about the fact he had no political experience, Carson quipped, “This job isn’t brain surgery.” As the laughter subsided, he added, “Being president is about making good decisions. It’s about arming yourself with the best information, talking to the best people and then having the courage to make a decision. That’s what I’ve been doing – talking to our generals, our ambassadors and other experts. Maybe at the next debate I can get a question about foreign policy.” He promised that a book he is writing with his wife, Candy, will explain the Constitution for a lay audience.

The delegates liked him. As his popularity grows, Carson may well find a place on the Republican ticket. His selection would put the lie to the charge that opposition to Obama is all about his color. Carly Fiorina taped a rousing version of her stump speech from a hotel room somewhere in the Southeast but didn’t seem to electrify the crowd.

An afternoon panel with corporate CEOs, moderated by Bob Beauprez, wandered into the fever swamps of income inequality, “death taxes” and envy of the rich. Jim Neiman, president of a forest products manufacturer, even lamented discrimination against the wealthy, apparently unaware the American Revolution was, in large part, an assault on the privileges of hereditary aristocracy. Another speaker lauded a rededication to the “conservative principles of our Founding Fathers.” This appraisal might come as a surprise to King George and the Tory Parliaments that lost the American war.

Robert Woodson, founder and president of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, woke up his audience on Saturday morning with inspiring tales of success turning around inner-city neighborhoods and public housing projects by affording residents the opportunity for self-government and community-sponsored enterprises. Woodson, a one time civil rights organizer, has been working this beat since he persuaded Jack Kemp to turn the governance of federally funded housing projects over to resident councils, a policy that both liberals and conservatives now support.

– Miller Hudson is a public affairs consultant and a former state legislator. He can be reached at mnhwriter@msn.com