Conservatism is a disease.
When it's taken over by capitalism and racism, yes. "I don't know if we need to spend money to upgrade the local soccer fields this year" is fiscal conservation. "I think I need to read up more on the prices and costs to bring prescription drugs to market before I can make an educated decision on the length to which we need to make regulate pharma" is being fiscally conservative too.
"I think every kid needs to pay respect to God in the pledge of allegiance" is not conservative. It's religious self-righteousness.
"I think trans people are need to use the bathroom that their birth-genitals match up to" isn't conservative. It's transphobic.
"Gays can't marry each other because SINS" isn't conservative. It's homophobic.
"I think the government wants to take my guns away in order to suppress and enslave me" isn't conservative. It's fear.
"I think the government wants me to make less money" isn't conservative. It's greed.
"Conservative" has been demonized up and fucking down because "change" and "progress" are seen as the very same thing by so, so, so many people, when they're not. A "change" in a law or regulation that ensures opportunity isn't stifled is "progress". Being "conservative" doesn't mean that you don't look at the world and say "this is fine". Being "conservative", to me, means "let's actually do the work to look at things and, even though it might not be comfortable to me, move forward when we know we need to".
I'm progressive, and I think that we need to listen and adapt while work and study are taking place. I guess you could say a progressive is someone that says "you know what if even ONE person is wrongfully convicted then we need to fix our system so that this doesn't happen again".
Anyway, "conservative" has been warped to politically and socially include Christian zealots, diet racists, outright racists, bigots, the fearful, the paranoid, and the greedy. I think it's past time to stop saying "conservatives" are all of that, and call people out on those views.
They're not conservative. They're racist. They're greedy, They're fundamental. They have hate in their hearts. They think they're better than other people. They don't care about future generations. They don't actually want to "conserve" anything. They want to make their life better, or feel better, at the expense of other people. And that's not political. Those aren't judgment based. They're motive based. And when your motive involves the conscious denial or suppression of opportunity and rights to others, it's not "conservative".
It's wrong.
