Revised July 31; Original posting published July 22.
Last night, I met a man who heard I was an author – so I gave him the titles of my books, and he asked, “If you had to place yourself somewhere, do you lean more liberal or more conservative?”
Now the conversation took a turn after that – and I did discuss how I came up with my own political spectrum (see below) – but here is my answer to that question: (Not how I actually answered the question at the time.)
The word “conservative” has come to have negative connotations. No one quite wants to identify as a conservative anymore. But instead of shying away from the moniker, liberty-minded people should be seeking to change the connotations around it.
The current connotation adopted by centrists, liberals, and the apathetic is quite negative. What do conservatives want to conserve according the mainstream narrative? Bigotry? Hate? Racism? Misogyny? Jingoism? Xenophobia? Arrogance? Imperialism?
I don’t identify with any of those aspects of conservativism. But I do want to carve out a place in society for conservation of language (definitions, connotations, and context), shared values (most especially freedom and liberty), constitutional republicanism (instead of democracy), and the unique and beautifully woven fabric of this country (based on a checkered history where our national crimes pricked our collective conscience and sparked needed change).
I want to conserve an understanding of natural law, including natural rights, equality, and justice.
I want to conserve the values of loving one’s neighbor, a good work ethic, and doing good to those that hate you.
I believe in the conservation of wildlife and good stewardship over ecosystems – and I DO want to conserve and protect the American way of life.
The truth is, conservatism should be seeking to conserve liberalism.
(The connotation connected to "liberalism" needs to revert back to something before it was equated with radical progressivism...maybe all the way back to "classical liberalism.")
And each of us can make it so within our own personal sphere of influence. But this should also be a national conversation.
Yet “conservatives” like me face the same problem “black Americans” who seek to change the narrative surrounding the “African American Community” do – identity politics and other Americans who are all too ready to exploit them.
Not only ARE there those who claim to be conservatives who enjoy pointing out the cultural differences of between inner cities and small town rural America to prove a point about “race,” there are also those who claim to be conservatives and use their platform to demean women and seek to eliminate them from the political debate on all fronts – they even see women as unfit to even vote in elections!
I have seen this firsthand on Twitter (X) especially, and not only do I take great affront to this personally, arguments like these give destructive progressives the ammunition necessary to delegitimize the more rationally minded individual responsibility arguments that also come from the “conservative” side.
And this is just one example of how just a few bad apples can legitimize the negative connotations surrounding a word that should be much more positive than it has been so far represented by anyone with a greater reach than I.
So to wrap up this idea, we have an opportunity to change the narrative by changing connotations of words. And honestly, the two words that I think should come first are “conservative” and “feminist” because I am also a feminist.
I believe in the intellectual, political, legal, spiritual, and moral equality of women. I fight for the advancement of women, for their recognition when due, for their protection from immoral, unethical, illegal, and unjust treatment.
I fight for our differences from men to be honored and even revered. I want women to know how amazing and strong and powerful they truly are, and I want men to know how amazing and strong and powerful their women are.
But where I want to stop female genital mutilation and child brides and sexual slavery, where I want to elevate women’s minds over their bodies, their intellectual capabilities over their physical limitations, where I want them to be honored for their differences and held in the same esteem as their male counterparts – or even in higher esteem because of the obstacles they had to overcome that their male counterparts did not – other people who call themselves “feminist” want something very different.
For them, it is not about sharing power, it is not about equal opportunity or education, it is not about equal dignity nor about equal respect regardless of the role they play in society. These other people who call themselves feminist see the world very differently. To further understand what I think such "feminists" want, pick up a copy of Black and White: An Essay on Critical Theory, Freedom and the Pursuit of Happiness.
What can we do, together, to change the connotations of these words?
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