I'm finished with the term conservative. It has no more real meaning then 'left' and 'right'
When you have 'conservative' being applied to Ayatollahs and hard core Chinese Communists,
or as indicative of being stuck in the past, unable to embrace progress, old and stale,
it's time to leave the term behind and choose one that better reflects the principles 'conservatism' embodies.
Looking over History from earliest times to the present certain revolutionary changes
in the way people think out the individual and government stand out.
Not to offer a complete list but as examples ancient Athens and Rome
marked significant departures from Authoritarian governments and promoted the role of the 'citizen' and of Law.
Closer to the present The Enlightenment was revolutionary with its focus on Reason and Individualism.
It led directly to the most significant revolutionary change in government and it's relation to the Individual in all of History...
'America' was born.
America with its bottom up structure, We the People are the rulers.
Government serves the People, the People are sovereign.
A Representative Republic was established.
The dangers inherent in Democracy were countered by the Rule of Law
and the explicit recognition of the inherent, unalienable Rights of Man.
Rights that can not be taken away at the whim of the majority.
Rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Right to Property, to Free Speech, Religious expression and Free Association.
These and all the others constituted a Revolutionary change.
Something new had been born on Earth.
I think the essence of 'conservatism' as we know it is embodied in the principles and relationships underlying 'America'.
It is fitting, accurate and justified to refer to 'conservatism' as Americanism and to 'conservatives' as Americans.
Obviously I'm not using the terms Americans to solely denote citizens of the USofA.
There are quite a few citizens that I would not, in this sense, call Americans.
As a well, philosophic Americanism can be claimed by anyone in the world that embraces it's principles.
So we would have a term whose meaning is clear.
Let them call the Ayatollah or the ChiComs conservatives. It doesn't bother us, we're Americans!
As an added bonus the theftists and statists will be sputtering trying to claim to be Americans
without embracing the principles of philosophic Americanism.
Hilarity ensues.
It’s supposed to indicate someone who wants to conserve something, such as the historical definition of marriage or smaller government, but these days the left and the MSM are trying to re-define it as anyone to the right of Rand Paul.