Whatever “conservatism” is, it does not involve the conservation of a stable climate, or the polar ice caps, or the coral reefs, or the global food supply.
“Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” Francis Wilhoit
but it conserves the status quo
This is literally it. The thing they want to conserve is the way society is, or rather, the way it was back in the mid-1900’s. That’s why they’re on the other end of the spectrum from progressives, who want progress and change.
The thing they want to conserve is the way society is, or rather, the way it was back in the mid-1900’s.
I don’t even find that to be true. They adopt technology based on the whims of advertising they consume. Donald Trump was king of Twitter and they ate that up. They just don’t follow what they say. They say they hate California, but consume every bit of technology (like Twitter, Apple, Disney, sports teams) they can that comes out of it.
I had a funny experience of this recently. I was looking for conservation and found what I thought was an empty “Conservative” community over on kbin so I started posting conservation articles there.
Turns out it did have one poster but they are banned by Beehaw so I only saw them when I was logged out. Anyway he was annoyed and told me Conservative is a political term meaning conserving traditions.
So I started posting articles about conserving traditions, especially about how conserving the traditions of Indigenous people is good for the environment. But he still complained.
They ended up polling the !conservative@kbin.social community to see what it should be about, majority voted for environmental conservation anyway.
