Please stop using "conservative" to reference the Republican Party [View all]

[rlegro]

"Conservative" is too dignified and milquetoast for the likes of these hacks. Theirs was a genuinely conservative party, once, particularly on economic issues. But a powerful, growing plurality of elected Republicans no longer are conservative, as in reserved, studied, and cautious. No, now they are by and large flaming reactionaries. Angry, loud, negative GOP politicians who never met a non-GOP politician they liked. Or a big, diverse democracy, either.

In our current, social network free-for-all, they have discovered that screaming and lying often pay big dividends. Enlightenment and empathy are now hostages to outrage and generally counter-productive behavior. After all, tearing things down is not only easier than building things up, but it's more dramatic, too. You can recycle your wrecking-crew ways every news cycle, if not more often. Start a fire and then pour gasoline on it. Political arson is exciting and attention-getting precisely because it's chaotic. The GOP isn't grand anymore. It's a movable ambush. It's GOP -- Guerrillas Over People.

Calling modern-day Republicans "conservative" serves to smooth their actual demeanor. It mainly just lends s the imprimatur of responsibility and officialdom. And it implies that they're legitimate anti-progressives. To the GOP crowd, getting to be on the far end of the same scale as lefties and socialists is leverage. When in fact they're really at deep right angles to responsible social reformers.

So, please: Drop "conservative" from your GOP political shorthand. "Reactionary" is much more descriptive and precise. "Lying, reactionary maskhole" for the real hard core.