Maybe I'm A Conservative

You know, maybe I'm actually a conservative. According to Merriam-Webster, one of the definitions of conservative is "tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions."

That got me thinking. Most so-called conservatives seem to be more radical than most of us so-called liberals. They want to change the way things are done. They want to change the classes of persons. They want to change the rights and opportunities people have. 

For instance, the Citizens United decision. How is this conservative? It is radical. All citizens have the right to free speech. Not corporations. I want to conserve the right to free speech for all people.

National security. Torture. Drones. The PATRIOT Act. All things that are supported and glorified by the conservatives. But they are radical. I want to conserve the rule of law. The right to an attorney. The right to a fair trial. The right to protection from search and seizure. 

I want to conserve the right to a free press. Not a bought and paid for press. A press that reports on events. Not a press that presents information. 

I want to conserve the separation of church and state. I want to conserve my right to worship how I wish without having religious influence in my government. 

I want to conserve my right to be free of discrimination. We all created equal. Not just men. Not just white men. Not just wealthy white men. Not just wealthy heterosexual white men. All of us.

I want to conserve the rights my mother's generation won for me. I want to conserve the America imagined by Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F Kennedy. I want to conserve the America imagined by Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I want to conserve the America imagined by Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. 

I want to conserve the word conservative from the conservatives.