So what to make of Governor Sarah Palin? Her candidacy is supposed to attract women to the Republican ticket and is presumably making happy the 'conservative' base of the Republican party.
Pre-emptive war and nation building, rolling back civil rights and a woman's right to choose and promising to choose supreme court justices who will do it, teaching creationism in school, questioning the reality of global warming, drilling for oil in the arctic national wildlife refuge, taking polar bears off the list of endangered species... Slashing taxes as an article of faith... These are Governor Palin's positions.
Most importantly, they are John McCain's. Or at least these are issues that matter most to the voters Senator McCain is pandering to... We keep hearing about the base, the conservative base...
This we are told is 'The C Word'... Conservative. That 'C Word.'
But what makes any of this conservative?
Webster's dictionary defines 'conservative' as "tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions : traditional b: marked by moderation or caution
John McCain, picking up where Bush left off on the war, the economy and other key issues, seems to better fit the definition of 'Radical' which according to Merriam-Webster dictionary is:
"a: marked by a considerable departure from the usual or traditional : extreme b: tending or disposed to make extreme changes in existing views, habits, conditions, or institutions c: of, relating to, or constituting a political group associated with views, practices, and policies of extreme change d: advocating extreme measures to retain or restore a political state of affairs
Language matters.
So can we please stop calling them conservatives. We don't get to say liberal anymore.
They are radical.... Extreme. Right wing. Neo-con... Not conservative...
Teddy Roosevelt was conservative when he created National Parks.
Dwight Eisenhower was conservative when he warned against the Military Industrial Complex.
Even Richard Nixon was conservative when he created the Environmental Protection Agency.
But not these guys... And gals...
So, no more 'C Word.' Webster's calls them the Radical Right.
We should, too.
By the way, we've been thinking about this for a while. Four years ago we interviewed prominent Republicans from the Nixon, Reagan and Bush Administrations who identify themselves as conservative republicans, and they agreed about what is 'conservative' and what isn't.
(You can see the interviews: Four Conversations with Conservatives at:
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/10/10_203.html)
Stuart Sender & Julie Bergman Sender