The political right is great at inventing, redefining, and co-opting language to suit their purposes. Back in George HW Bush's time they were so successful at turning "liberal" into a dirty word that liberals including Hillary Clinton starting calling themselves "progressives." More recently they invented "RINO" (Republicans In Name Only…
The political right is great at inventing, redefining, and co-opting language to suit their purposes. Back in George HW Bush's time they were so successful at turning "liberal" into a dirty word that liberals including Hillary Clinton starting calling themselves "progressives." More recently they invented "RINO" (Republicans In Name Only) to isolate and punish Republicans who didn't support Trumpism. The same people who ban books and campaign against any mention of racial or LBGT issues in our schools have managed to associate "cancel culture" with "leftists." Likewise "woke" and "wokeness" originally used by black folk to describe the process of becoming aware of racism and white privilege is now used to denigrate and excoriate people for being ridiculous and excessively concerned about political correctness.
So why does our side of the political fence (currently comprised of a coalition of sane liberals, moderates, and traditional conservatives) still continue to politely - and incorrectly - refer to radical rightwing extremists who are edging toward fascism as "conservatives"? Donald Trump, his enablers, his base, and the host of imitators and wannabe autocrats like Ron DeSantis are not conservatives - they do not subscribe to conservative political philosophy. I am a liberal but I have more respect for true conservatives than to lump them in with those who are running today's GOP.
It's past time to stop calling the radical right "conservative" - maybe hold a national contest to invent a catchy name or acronym that reflects the reality of who and what they really are.
The political right is great at inventing, redefining, and co-opting language to suit their purposes. Back in George HW Bush's time they were so successful at turning "liberal" into a dirty word that liberals including Hillary Clinton starting calling themselves "progressives." More recently they invented "RINO" (Republicans In Name Only) to isolate and punish Republicans who didn't support Trumpism. The same people who ban books and campaign against any mention of racial or LBGT issues in our schools have managed to associate "cancel culture" with "leftists." Likewise "woke" and "wokeness" originally used by black folk to describe the process of becoming aware of racism and white privilege is now used to denigrate and excoriate people for being ridiculous and excessively concerned about political correctness.
So why does our side of the political fence (currently comprised of a coalition of sane liberals, moderates, and traditional conservatives) still continue to politely - and incorrectly - refer to radical rightwing extremists who are edging toward fascism as "conservatives"? Donald Trump, his enablers, his base, and the host of imitators and wannabe autocrats like Ron DeSantis are not conservatives - they do not subscribe to conservative political philosophy. I am a liberal but I have more respect for true conservatives than to lump them in with those who are running today's GOP.
It's past time to stop calling the radical right "conservative" - maybe hold a national contest to invent a catchy name or acronym that reflects the reality of who and what they really are.
They are neo-fascists. And it's about time that we start calling them that.