On the Left we often talk about the Republicans as conservatives. The assumption is that conservatives are generally Republican and Republicans are generally conservative. I am quickly coming to the conclusion that while this might have been true at some point, continuing to use conservative as a descriptor for Republicans is no longer accurate.

Dictionary.com defines conservative as follows.

con•serv•a•tive
Show Spelled[kuh n-sur-vuh-tiv] Show IPA
–adjective
1.
disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
2.
cautiously moderate or purposefully low: a conservative estimate.
3.
traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness: conservative suit.
4.
( often initial capital letter ) of or pertaining to the Conservative party.
5.
( initial capital letter ) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Conservative Jews or Conservative Judaism.
6.
having the power or tendency to conserve; preservative.
7.
Mathematics . (of a vector or vector function) having curl equal to zero; irrotational; lamellar.

Tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions or institutions, this is what I was taught as a kid was the really mark of a conservative. Unfortunately the modern Republican party is showing in its policy that it is not in any way conservative, but instead is radical.

A dangerous movement in Western MA sets the foundation for expanding anti-choice activism into the bluest states….