This is why language is so important and why control of language is a major goal of progressivism. They love to undefine or redefine words.
Look what happened last century change - liberalism which had always meant the classical liberal: freedom and liberty loving e.g. The Founders, and conservatism which had always meant monarchists, the Old Guard, etc. were switched. Progressives redefined and controlled the language making us conservatives - yet it is a rare FReeper who fights for entrenched interests like more government or more cronyism.
Today we gleefully call ourselves Red. Reds have always been communists. It is their symbol, yet one election year because some news media colored their political map red for the GOP and blue for the Democrats we’re now Red and the bad guys are now Blue, as in True Blue. How did that occur and so rapidly?
I suspect because it is the Devil’s world. He needs confusion to reign because error needs a crisis.
Blame Tim Russert for the terms "red state" and "blue state", in the 2000 election.
Until then, blue was more often Conservative Republican, red for Democrat / Socialist / Soviet Communist.
In other words, it was strictly a debate amongst the leftist media, so naturally they chose "true blue" for themselves, and designated the opposition as "radical red Republicans" -- an exact reversal of the historical symbolism.
Of course, they claimed it was because "r" = Republican = red.
But year 2000 just as strongly reflects the approximate time when Liberal-Democrat-Socialism became dominant political orthodoxy -- which the (blue) leftist media felt necessary to defend against those bad (red) aggressive Conservatives trying to cut back on their big-government.
For consolation, Conservatives clearly own "red-blooded American" and even "redneck".
Further, in military symbols, red represents courage and sacrifice, which certainly are appropriate for Conservatives.
And yes, in military terms, "red" is the aggressor force, but in training exercises, it often refers to the highly-skilled select group of permanent cadre, whose mission is to play aggressor force in order to train regular (blue) units in realistic war games.
So in military training, "red" aggressor forces are the teachers, by analogy to politics, teachers of traditional Conservative constitutional values to people who might otherwise have no clue.
So bottom line: yes, "red" conservatives are a role-reversal imposed on us by the leftist media, but on the other hand, I'm not certain if we shouldn't wear our new color with pride.
After all, youuuuuuuuu just might be a red-neck!
;-)