Keith Koffler
Conservatives need a name change
The time has long since passed – perhaps since the era of the Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society – when there was anything “liberal” about modern “liberals.”
For years, it has been conservatives who bore the banner of liberty and freedom, and who deserved the term “liberal,” which after all is derived from the latin “liber,” which means “free.”…
In newspaper reports from overseas, every brutish bad guy is a “conservative,” every enlightened reformer a “liberal.” When, in some forlorn foreign land, the nasty old guard pushes back against the forces of democracy, it’s said to be the “conservatives” trying to hang onto power. Even the most doctrinaire of the Soviet Communists were known as the “conservatives.”
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Conservatives don’t need a name change, they need to primary and kick out every single RINO from office.
AH_C on December 10, 2012 at 10:34 AM
Yep, I call myself a Classical Liberal. I’m all about taking back the word liberal from the fake ‘liberals’ of today. So call ‘liberals’ are not liberal in any sense of the word.
Lance Murdock on December 10, 2012 at 10:34 AM
Liberatives
blatantblue on December 10, 2012 at 10:34 AM
That’s silly. You need those evil, pesky moderates to win in states like MA, NY, CA, OR, WA, etc.
National coalitions aren’t built by kicking out every moderate in the party.
The problem is that the conservatives in the party make no consequences for going rogue. Nancy Pelosi got her agenda passed by creating a national coalition of hardcore socialists and blue dog democrats.
Don’t be silly, my man.
blatantblue on December 10, 2012 at 10:36 AM
You are ahead of the game:
Fallon on December 10, 2012 at 10:36 AM
“Compassionate” conservative?
Paul-Cincy on December 10, 2012 at 10:36 AM
Once again the root of the problem is ignored and just accepted.
The media is the root of our problem. A name change will not fix anything. We need to fight the media. Now.
GardenGnome on December 10, 2012 at 10:37 AM
No, conservatives need to stop accepting every damn premise the liberals shove down their throats.
I’ve noticed that it’s the ones who now call themselves “progressives” that actually do change their name every few years, in the same way that people who write bad checks for a living do, and for much the same reason.
tbrosz on December 10, 2012 at 10:38 AM
A new name will only help if you have a mostly-new message.
That means telling the SoCons “SCOTUS challenge or shut up.”
That means telling the remaining NeoCons “We are leaving Iraq & Afghanistan (and everywhere else but Israel for that matter) immediately if not sooner.”
That means telling a few other single-issue voters to quit stomping their feet and crying about taking their toys and going home, because they are not going to get their way no matter who wins.
MelonCollie on December 10, 2012 at 10:38 AM
No we don’t. Conservatives shouldn’t be intimidated by the left’s Orwellian language tricks.
Kataklysmic on December 10, 2012 at 10:38 AM
It’s really a battle of language. Many of us have been saying it for years. Also, it’s an aggression issue. Our political leaders are such boring, neutered interviewees.
blatantblue on December 10, 2012 at 10:41 AM
Arrrrgh!!! Why not call ourselves “Jumbo” Shrimp?
Fallon on December 10, 2012 at 10:42 AM
Yes, that’s the problem. Symbolism over substance.
Cindy Munford on December 10, 2012 at 10:46 AM
Repackaging a turd is just a turd in another package. What “conservatives” should do is be the party of actual liberty, freedom and federalism – not big government lite and safety/security over liberty.
Embrace actual liberty by demanding that the federal government not walk all over the US Constitution via NDAA of 2012, Patriot Act 1&2, SOPA/PIPA, TSA, and the list goes on. Stop being supporting endless conflict and endless foreign duties such as guarding the North/South Korean borders, Kosovo, Kuwait, Europe, Japan and etc. Seriously, why are we guarding the borders of South Korea? Can’t those young men guard their own borders? Have those 60K soldiers guarding that border guard OUR southern border. Realize that the 10th Amendment works both ways, and support and embrace nullification.
MoreLiberty on December 10, 2012 at 10:50 AM
maybe they should change their emblem from an elephant to a jellyfish.
Red Creek on December 10, 2012 at 10:52 AM
The real way to fix this problem is to fix the media. If the House Ethics Committee can pass a rule forbidding House members from employing those who have worked for a large media company in the past five years, it would cut by at least half the number of jobs Democrats can dangle in front of media types for good coverage. Candy Crowley likely hopes after CNN to work in some Democrat Congressman’s press office. She considers lying for 0bama to be her audition. No reporter wants to cheeze off the guy they want to work for afterwards. If the House can’t employ reporters, reporters won’t see interviews as auditions, as their odds of landing a gig in a political office is cut by half. Maybe then they will do their jobs.
Sekhmet on December 10, 2012 at 10:54 AM
Conservatives should grab the elephant and leave the jellyfish to Republicans.
Cindy Munford on December 10, 2012 at 10:55 AM
And how do you fight the media? With a better message, delivered consistently, using words that appeal to a broad audience.
Calling ourselves “classical liberals” would invite even lazy interviewers to ask what we meant. Which gives us an opportunity to explain that the folks currently calling themselves conservatives stand for freedom, liberty and opportunity, while the progressives stand for government control of more and more of your life.
hawksruleva on December 10, 2012 at 10:56 AM
Yep, pissing off the most loyal Republican voters. Always a winning strategy. Lets call it the “Bob Huntsman Doctrine”!
Valkyriepundit on December 10, 2012 at 10:59 AM
I dunno….
“Bend Over and Grab Our Ankles Party” is a bit of a mouthful.
CurtZHP on December 10, 2012 at 10:59 AM
Yep, same here. It’s not “re-branding,” it’s being more accurate and informative.
karlant on December 10, 2012 at 11:01 AM
Hawk,
A name change is at best trying to score a few points in a few interviews.
We get buried time and again by the corruption within the media. That is the root of the problem.
Confront the root of the problem and let’s stop trying to win simple points.
GardenGnome on December 10, 2012 at 11:02 AM
It’s been a long time since leftists championed the cause of liberty.
At least they have the honesty to call themselves Oppressives.
Galt2009 on December 10, 2012 at 11:06 AM
They are not ‘loyal Republican votes’ you no-information voter.
They are one-issue, one-track-minded individuals who vote Republican solely because they are under the delusion that the GOP will throw them a bone…after being repeatedly betrayed over the course of decades. SoCons especially. It’s the political version of Battered Wife Syndrome.
MelonCollie on December 10, 2012 at 11:06 AM
How about “non-Communists?”
logis on December 10, 2012 at 11:08 AM
Yeah. You and Tammy Bruce. Look how far that’s taken her. Tell her she needs to take her finger off that trigger; a gun is not a headrest.
If we’re going to take cues from the left on naming-conventions, call me Rethuglican. Isn’t that supposed to debase their power or something?
Stupid, right. So is looking for another name instead of inroads to a broader voter-base.
Capitalist Hog on December 10, 2012 at 11:08 AM
I call it Traditional Americanism – the root by which this country was made great to begin with. Every attempt to get away from those founding values have left us weaker and more divided.
HotAirian on December 10, 2012 at 11:09 AM
Hey, many here are already L.I.Bs.
tommy71 on December 10, 2012 at 11:12 AM
Also “Ccassic” would end up connoting “old.” But it would be better than playing dress-up in tri-corner hats.
Capitalist Hog on December 10, 2012 at 11:12 AM
I like the idea, but when almost nobody under 40 has suffered from or directly know someone who’s suffered from Communism, bigotry, or racism, names like that won’t work.
The closest my generation has come to seeing Communism in action is playing Red Alert 3.
MelonCollie on December 10, 2012 at 11:12 AM
This is almost the exact opposite of what needs to be done. Ultimately the two parties are made of a large number of minority coalitions who are willing to cooperate to get their agendas passed. For example, the Democrats have a lock on the environmentalist vote because they give them everything they want, despite the fact that hardcore environmentalists are loathed by the population.
Ultimately if you purge the social conservatives and foreign policy conservatives, there will be nothing but liberal Republicans and a tiny minority of fiscal conservatives left in the party. Liberal Republicans are going to have to learn to compromise with neocons and social conservatives if they want to get your agenda passed (or else they’ll need to switch parties). That’s just reality.
Chasing the mirage-like Hispanic vote or whatever fad group our so called “intelligentsia” have declared is the wave of the future (for this electoral cycle) is a very quick path to defeat.
Doomberg on December 10, 2012 at 11:19 AM
No one who is alive today has personally experienced genocide either. But it still has a generally bad connotation anyway.
Pretty much any of those terms work: “non-racists,” “taxpayers,” “Tolerant Americans….”
Read 1984: power worshippers will always whitewash whatever they’re doing at the moment with whichever antonym they think sounds prettiest. You can’t stop them from doing that. All you can do is keep using the thousands of words they haven’t outlawed yet to describe yourself in relation to them.
logis on December 10, 2012 at 11:29 AM
Let me be COMPLETELY clear on this matter once and for all: I am not saying we merely ‘purge’ SoCons and NeoCons.
I am saying we need to make it clear to them that they are not going to get their way no matter which party wins. That they need to get off the railroad of one-issue voting and start driving on the highway of reality.
And while you’re at it, please stop putting words in my mouth.
I am not saying and will not say that we chase after Wetbackistan for their illegal votes. We cannot out-liberal the liberals.
MelonCollie on December 10, 2012 at 11:29 AM
Let me be COMPLETELY clear on this matter once and for all: I am not saying we merely ‘purge’ SoCons and NeoCons.
I am saying we need to make it clear to them that they are not going to get their way no matter which party wins. That they need to get off the railroad of one-issue voting and start driving on the highway of reality.
And while you’re at it, please stop putting words in my mouth.
I am not saying and will not say that we chase after Hispanics for their often-illegal votes. We cannot out-liberal the liberals.
MelonCollie on December 10, 2012 at 11:30 AM
Well, if there is truth in advertising, I think “sissy” is appropriate.
beatcanvas on December 10, 2012 at 11:30 AM
I would rather like to see the Democrats use Ant Colony as their image and the Republicans would then be the termites that ant colonies take as slaves to make their work and lives easier.
astonerii on December 10, 2012 at 11:31 AM
!@#!@%#!^$ computer! Mods, can you please delete one of those posts?
MelonCollie on December 10, 2012 at 11:32 AM
Whatever the new small strategy we come up with will be turned into racism by the media and a lot of the country will believe it.
The root of the problem is the media.
GardenGnome on December 10, 2012 at 11:33 AM
It’s going to be more of the same until conservatives realize that the establishment republicans do not actually want smaller government, nor do they respect the US Constitution, support federalism or nullification. The establishment republicans can vote anyway they want. The only thing they have to do is say that they are against abortion and don’t want to touch a dime of DOD spending. Then the neocons and SoCons dry-hump themselves all the way to the polls.
MoreLiberty on December 10, 2012 at 11:38 AM
I’m sure the media would gladly get in on this game, offering up a few alternatives, such as
* barbarians
* class enemies
* fascists
* homophobes
* kulaks
* neanderthals
* philistines
* racists
* reactionaries
* regressives
* retrogrades
* sexists
* troglodytes
* xenophobes
steebo77 on December 10, 2012 at 11:38 AM
LOL..funny
MoreLiberty on December 10, 2012 at 11:39 AM
I agree 100% with this article. We need to ditch the name conservative . Other possible terms we could take is “Enlightenment Liberals”, or, “American Liberals”, etc.
As for those who say we don’t need to worry about symbolism, I would suggest you look at history for guidance. Ben Franklin for instance did not want a Bald Eagle as our national bird and emblem. He actually thought other birds were a better choice…including a Turkey.
William Eaton on December 10, 2012 at 11:40 AM
What conservatives should do make everything into an attack on the individual.
-Raising the tax rate on the top 2% is nothing but an attack on individuals – the government targets them over others – and one day the government might be targeting you.
-As a conservative I support the ultimate minority – the individual.
-Foreign aid – regardless of which country receives it – is nothing but redistribution of wealth. The government forcibly takes $$$ from an individual and gives it to foreign regimes.
MoreLiberty on December 10, 2012 at 11:46 AM
Your forgot a favorite of Commies around the world: Counterrevolutionaries.
But Knowing the BSM and their tendency to turn things upside down in their ongoing effort to muddy the waters – I can see them start calling those on the right side of history Marxists, Communists and of course – REDS.
Galt2009 on December 10, 2012 at 11:47 AM
How ’bout Bob? I’ve always liked that name.
Ladysmith CulchaVulcha on December 10, 2012 at 11:50 AM
Shorter Politico: NAME CHANGE = GAME CHANGE!!!
steebo77 on December 10, 2012 at 11:59 AM
They don’t expect to have “their way” … and in fact, they’ve NEVER gotten their way.
Their “way” is small government – and you keep nominating dunderheads who have a reputation for GROWING GOVERNMENT. Google which Republican Presidents in the last 50 years have left office with a government smaller than the one they inherited. G’head – you’ll get goose eggs on that search my friend.
“Have their way?” That’s patently ridiculous – did they hold a gun to your head as you nominated a squish with a socialist healthcare system named after him for President? Was that what conservatives “wanted”?
Did they want the amnesty that the neocons and RHINO’s tried to foist on them?
Did they want Medicare Part D … the biggest expansion of entitlements since LBJ – brought to you by the Republican party and laid at the doorstep of every American … UNPAID FOR.
I just find it hilarious that you insist that Conservatives accept the fact that they won’t get their way.
They’re quite used to that already.
HondaV65 on December 10, 2012 at 11:59 AM
FTFY.
And apparently they’re not used to it enough that they won’t stop insisting for it at the expense of everything else.
MelonCollie on December 10, 2012 at 12:01 PM
Same media we had in 1980 through 1988…
So, if we were successful then, why is it the media’s fault now?
Same media we had in 1994 through 1998…
So, if we were successful then, why is it the media’s fault now?
Yes, the media is an obstacle. But it is not an obstacle if the Republican party embraces a conservative (SINGULAR) agenda, pounds that agenda everywhere and in in everything.
The problem is that we have way too many progressive (R)s and they divide our message and this allows the media to pick and chose what to talk about. Hmmm, should we talk about the Cut, Cap and Trade push or should we talk about how Senator Graham wants to push comprehensive immigration reform?
astonerii on December 10, 2012 at 12:01 PM
Here, here, it short, and catchy. Ah oh, I don’t think we can do it because it is also a Palindrome. To much of a hot button that will cause hate and discontent.
Cindy Munford on December 10, 2012 at 12:04 PM
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