BRACK: “Conservative” doesn’t mean much anymore

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |  You don’t see political yard signs in South Carolina that say, “Vote John Smith, liberal.”  All over the state, however, it is common for candidates to tout they are “conservative.”

In today’s media-saturated world of buzzwords, does the word “conservative” actually mean anything?  Hasn’t the word lost its meaning, just like the words “liberal” or “progressive” are relatively simplistic frames of reference that do little to outline a candidate’s full perspective?

“The word ‘conservative’ now causes some people to wince because they think they’re being perceived as [state Sen.] Lee Bright rather than [President] George H.W. Bush,” said Upstate political analyst Chip Felkel.

You might be surprised to know the actual dictionary definition of “conservative.”  It’s an adjective that describes a person “disposed to preserving existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.”  A companion definition is one who is “cautiously moderate.”

In other words, “conservative” generally is accepted as “resistance to change,” according to College of Charleston political science professor Gibbs Knott.

So let’s look at how serious South Carolina’s conservatives were about opposing change this year:

• They voted for $40 million more for farmers hammered by flooding.

• They voted to borrow $2 billion to pay for much-needed road improvements by obligating the state for years to spend $200 million annually of existing tax revenue.  They dumped jumping at something that was all the rage in conservative circles in years past — a “user fee” of an increased gas taxes paid, in part, by visitors.

• They voted to ban abortions after 19 weeks — a huge change from the constitutional standard on abortion.

On the national front, self-proclaimed conservatives want to change immigration laws and trade agreements.  They want activist judges who will change Supreme Court precedents.  And they want to create wholesale change by eliminating some government agencies.

All of this zeal for change doesn’t sound too “conservative.”  Of course, there’s also something to be said that with a whole lot of nothing going on in Washington, the do-nothing GOP-led Congress really has some credibility about being “conservative,” although many think they mostly waste time.

Knott suggests the word “conservative” doesn’t have as much of a punch any more other than being a synonym for “Republican,” as the label “liberal” is often trotted out to describe all Democrats.

“I also think the rise of hyper-partisan media has continued to keep words like ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal’ alive,” he said.  “So yes, I think the word still has meaning in 2016.  But it is much more connected to partisanship (conservative equals Republican, liberal equals Democrat) than ever before.”

University of South Carolina political science professor Mark Tompkins had similar thoughts.

“It seems to me that many on the right have succumbed to a tribal impulse– our folks and their folks.,” he said.  “This impulse leads to a variety of policy positions and legislative and regulatory actions that abandon ‘conservative principles.’”

Felkel added that “conservative” meant a broad range of things today, which leads to adjectives to explain what kind of Republican they may be — tea party conservative, evangelical conservative or country club conservative.

“Does it mean ‘fiscal conservative’ or “social conservative?’  Or is it a mix of both?” he asked.  “In our own state, we see how you tend to have more fiscal conservatives and social moderates [in the Republican Party] on the coast, where in the Upstate there are more social and fiscal conservatives.”

He added, “Unfortunately, there’s so much controversy within the GOP on what that term means — and disagreement over what is required to meet the criteria or even what is that criteria — that it has lost its punch.”

All in all, it seems the red GOP tent is packed with “conservatives” of various stripes, from the bombastic, fire-breathing Bright of Spartanburg to Gov. Nikki Haley to thoughtful senators like those targeted by Haley in the coming June primary.

Nevertheless, it’s important to know the big red tent is also pretty white.  It’s not very brown or black because the state’s minorities don’t seem to feel comfortable inside. Maybe that’s because they’re not sure exactly what a “conservative” is, but they don’t like what they see now.

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