Labels of Defeat

Do Republicans need another lesson, a refresher on what "Conservative" means?

Sigh.

Rick Santorum wants to use the power of the State to banish pornography from the Internet.

How is it possible that he thinks that is a "Conservative" position?

Oh, yeah...because idiots like him, every Liberal, "journalist"—and most English dictionaries—define "conservative" as...

"straight-laced"
"intolerant"
"boring"
"traditional"
"repressed"
"uninspired"
"old-fashioned"
"hide-bound"
"unadventurous"
"stick-in-the-mud"
"restrained"
"plain"
"low-key"
"demure"
"moderate"
"buttoned-down"
"understated"
"cautious"
"conventional"
"conformist"
"reactionary"

You can't fix that. That's why we need another word for it. "Libertarian", as much as it is tainted by some pretty silly notions about foreign policy, etc. is still a better word for what "Conservatives" actually are: Believers in small, limited government and maximum liberty for the individual.

It's going to be a lot easier to rehabilitate the term Libertarian than redefine Conservative, trust me.

When I tell people I'm a Conservative, they almost always assume I'm a racist, a bigot, a homophobe, a hardcore Christian believer in Creationism who wants to reinstitute Slavery and force all women to get pregnant every time they have sex. They further assume I play golf at the country club, and would walk over starving children on the street to get to my limousine.

They are conditioned to hate me immediately. (I live on the San Francisco Peninsula).

When I say I am a Libertarian, they don't blink an eye, they nod and smile, because they seem somehow to know that Libertarians don't want to use the power of government to control them.

They feel we can peacefully co-exist...they're response is mild and open. We can talk. I have a chance to convince them of the righteousness of small, limited government. They will listen to me.

This may not be true everywhere, I really am in the Belly of the Beast...but with the persistent and ubiquitous biased MSM reportage, it must eventually get just as confusing elsewhere.

Of course it's stupid, wrong, erroneous and ridiculous. But it is what it is. And we can spend all our time pushing that rock up the hill trying to change everyone's perception of "Conservative"...or we can start identifying ourselves with a term that more properly defines who we are, and what we stand for, and what we believe in.

We really have to get a handle on this, because it limits our ability to get our message across...one that Liberals are actually open to as long as they don't think we are like them—prepared to use the guns of the State to force our diktats down the throats of our fellow citizens.

Rick Santorum calls himself a Conservative, but when he talks of banning pornography...he's just a Liberal in a grey suit.

And I don't trust him.

The Gunslinger