That Awkward Moment When You Realize YOU are Now the "Conservative."
Last edited Sat Apr 8, 2017, 08:39 PM - Edit history (1)
Here's the basic definition via Merriam Webster, excluding the ones about being a member of the British Conservative Party or being a Conservative Jew:
a : tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions : traditional conservative policies
b : marked by moderation or caution a conservative estimate
c : marked by or relating to traditional norms of taste, elegance, style, or manners a conservative suit a conservative architectural style
I sat staring at that, and my world, my identity went fluid, morphing, disorienting me profoundly.
I want to conserve the institutions of a representative democratic government-- the right of a President, for example, to appoint a Supreme Court justice, even in the final year of their term.
And the established institution of an independent Civil Service that functions, not at the whim of patronage or loyalty to a party, but based on competence, skill, and dedication to impartial service under established Federal laws and regulations.
I want to conserve the institutional rights of workers to organize, the official rights of LGBTQ individuals to marry, the established rights of women to make decisions over their own bodies and access safe and legal abortion as needed.
I want to conserve the institution of municipalities that may declare themselves sanctuaries for immigrants and refuguees, the institution of states' rights to refuse to permit fracking, the institution of school districts providing meals to hungry children and in-school health clinics to their students.
I want to conserve the reputation of America as a nation that strives after equity as well as justice, that is willing to learn from our mistakes, and that respects international law and the efforts of nations to settle differences through negotiation rather than warfare.
I want to conserve the institution of law and justice administered not by private for-profit contractors but by dedicated independent civil service employees under the scrutiny of elected officials and an independent judiciary.
I want to conserve the institutions long-established to promote citizens' health and well-being through public investment in environmental protection and public health.
I want to conserve the established role of government in regulating trade, markets, and currency in order to prevent catastrophic economic disruption.
I want to conserve the expectation that those elected to the highest offices and gravest, most consequential duties of governance will accept the responsibility to enact those offices and duties with restraint, equity, gravitas, and respect even for those whose opinions and ideologies differ from theirs.
I have not abandoned the mission of progressive change. I still want universal health care, and an economy built on ensuring the broadest possible distribution of both benefits and opportunities. I still value the greatest possible access to quality education, and I'm still committed to the government's role in ensuring a livable planet for our grandchildren. I still believe in all of those progressive doctrines that look to a better future.
And I know that some of those things can't necessarily be accomplished only by "building on" what is already established. Some changes will be, must be, more profound.
But I also know that in the face of an existential threat to our Republic and its people, change that is to endure and provide long-term benefits must be achieved by people working with a sense of possibility, building on hope, from a positive conviction of shared good. Not, as we are seeing now, by the heedless, smash-it-all-up iconoclasm of DickBro nihilistic greed.
And so it becomes imperative to focus on conserving the bedrock institutions we've already fought to establish over America's long march of history and justice. It becomes imperative to conserve the wisdom that has come with making the most hideous and costly errors, and learning from them. It becomes imperative to focus on conserving the core values of equity and justice, and meeting threats not with fear and hate, but with courage, love, and humility.
Guess that makes me the real conservative.
Who ever would have imagined?
introspectively,
Bright
= new reply since forum marked as read
That's what repugs have done for years, eviscerated public education in the U.S. 
It doesn't mean what it used to, thanks to all the AM-radio talkies and Faux News.
So I agree that we have to redefine terms now, and Tygerbright makes a good point here.
For most of my life I was a registered independent, but I became a Democrat just so that I could vote for Hillary in the primary. (That was in 2008.) I never thought of myself as liberal or conservative, just open-minded and willing to vote for the right person, regardless of their party.
Well you know what, since 1972 I never voted for a Republican for president or any seat in Congress. That's how open-minded I was. I never believed the GOP's bullshit even when Reagan was running. I still don't call myself a liberal, but I'm definitely voting Democratic in every election from here on out. If we can somehow get the deplorables to let go of the silly meaningless term "conservative" maybe they'd starting thinking for themselves instead of believing everything Limbaugh tells them.
