Taking back the damn language.

[Vexatious Ape]

How is it that conservatives can turn the word ‘liberal’ into a pejorative but we can’t do the same? It would be a hell of a lot easier to accomplish and it wouldn’t be a perversion of the language. Muslim radicals? Nope—Muslim conservatives. After all the ones we call radicals are not really radical at all they’re conservative, just like the conservative Christians we unfortunately have here. They both have misogynistic attitudes toward women, strict and authoritarian outlooks and both adhere to an ancient text. Is Osama bin Ladin a radical? Absolutely not, he’s conservative to the core.
When your average American thinks about famous conservatives who come to mind? Reagan, Bush. Maggie Thatcher… Blah, blah blah. The names that should pop up along with those are:
Conservative American terrorist Timothy McVeigh.
Former conservative dictator Saddam Hussein.
Conservative Afghan leader Mullah Omar.
The war-mongering conservative Adolph Hitler.
Conservative Fascist Benito Mussolini.
Crooked conservative President Nixon.
The conservative CEO Ken Lay.
Christian conservative terrorist Eric Robert Rudolf.

We also have conservative causes such as the anti-privacy cause, or the Eugenics movement. The list could go on.
How about conservative criminal conspiracies? Remember back in the 70’s when a gang of conservatives broke into the Watergate Hotel? Remember when Reagan conservatives sold weapons to Islamic conservatives in Iran—and then used the money to arm blood thirsty conservative guerrilla groups in Central America?

Imagine if every left of center columnist, blogger, pundit, and Air America talk show host injected the word ‘conservative’ where it really applies? Given enough time the hapless mainstream media might start doing the same. And ‘conservative’ would become a nasty pejorative, like it should.

[shenmue]

1. It's already a slur to me

Makes sense.

[DUHandle]

2. Entitlement

= something that you already paid for

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. I think "conservative" has changed

over the decades. My parents were conservatives. They were not fundies, women haters or anything like that. They believed you made your own messes and you cleaned them up yourself. They believed in good manners and sharing what they had. I don't know how they felt about gay rights. That simply was NOT discussed!

[DUHandle]

4. Defense Budget

I'm not sure what that is anymore.

[uppityperson]

5. I use "fundamentalist", since these people are not really conservatives

I understand what you mean, have been trying to use "fundamentalist" though. "Conservative" is a legitimate view. However, these people, though they call themselves conservatives, are not. They are fundamentalists.

[KevinJH87]

6. even simpler

Even if most people looked at the definition of conservative things could change a bit. Conservatives want things to remain the same. I do not think most Americans want things to remain as they are, I think they want progress.

The fact that conservatives want to keep things the same, or move backward obviously means they are generally upper class white males who do not want to lose their stature.

[Vexatious Ape]

7. Fear

I think they fear change as well.

[texastoast]

8. Since when is "conservative" conservative?

I've always had trouble with this term. It is a derivative of the word "conserve."

con-serve - v. To protect from loss or depletion; to use carefully, avoiding waste

Conservative is what my Democratic mother was. Waste was a sin in her eyes and in the eyes of all her peers, both Democratic and Republican. In that sense, most Americans were "conservative." But that was in the early 1900s, and those people had a clear understanding between "need" and "want."

I see the word "conservative" used in an Orwellian manner today. It is defined one way and applied totally inappropriately, but somehow the culture signed on to the misapplication. The "conservative" party in the U.K. is a member of the International DEMOCRATIC Union.

The "conservatives" of today advocate waste and consumption to fuel the "economy." The "conservatives" of today are wasting the resources of future generations. The "conservatives" of today do their best to quash anyone with ideas that impede the legality of their wasteful ways.

So yes, it's the Democrats in the United States whose policies are often the most conservative in the true meaning of the word.

And it all is a bunch of wordplay.

[KevinJH87]

12. good point

especially with spending and the budget deficit being the way it is

[DUHandle]

9. Hyper Liberals

Ever so often, you’ll see new words entering the political lexicon.

Hippie is another example.

[aden_nak]

10. Technically, they are reactionary.

Reactionary being the right wing counterpart term to radical. And I think reactionary already has a kind of ugly connotation. It makes someone sound inflexible and unwilling to learn.

[yellowcanine]

11. Confessed conservative crook Jack Abramoff

Confessed conservative perjurer Scooter Libby
Confessed conservative bribe-taking Congressman Duke Cunningham
Indicted conservative Congressman Tom Delay