That's a cop out. What's YOUR definition? What do conservatives advocate? Not concerned with what they oppose. What kind of world do conservatives want to see? And what has this congress done to achieve that end?
(For what it's worth I'm a libertarian. I dislike this congress as much as you. I just wonder what it is that makes you call this a conservative congress.)
MY definition is what the dictionary says. I don't take a word that means something and re-define the word because I want it to mean something else. A definition is an objective thing, imo. A dictionary definition is a fact. That's the definition, and it mystifies me why anyone would read that and say, "Yeah, I want to resist change as a political ideology."
Examples? Congress just invalidated laws to return to the old, shitty, status quo, i.e. no health care regulation. Rather than refine and improve, they want to return to laissez faire health policy, like we're in the 1800's. Regress. Go back. Look backward. Make the same mistakes. Allow the citizenry's health care to become polarized and controlled by a few big business insurers that don't die, bleed or sleep.
Second example: Biff's (campaign? Him? Manaforte? I don't know) phone call last year with some Russian intel target was swept up in legal eavesdropping that had a FISA warrant. Biff wins the election and pops off that Obama wired Trump Tower. He can't back it up and the media derides Biff and people mock his lying. Biff digs up evidence that the NSA eavesdropped on the prior call with a russian, FISA-approved, target. The White House calls the Republican chair of the house intelligence committee that is supposed to be investigating Biff's Russia connection and has him come to the WH and look at the evidence of the eavesdropping. The Chair goes back to his office, calls a presser and says as the Chair that he has been provided something that substantiates Trump's claim, and makes a production out of going to the WH to tell them about this
REVELATION! the WH actually just gave him. He doesn't inform the committee of any of it. He refuses to say where he got it, but the entire charade is exposed. Not a peep about it from the conservatives on here. The corporate "liberal" media moved on in about 24 hours.
Conservative? I can't say that charade addresses the "conservative" definition but it's an example of conservative congressional conduct b/c:
1. It was done by self-professed conservatives, and
2) It was all enabled by conservative voters. FISA judges, Trump, Nunes, all of it.
That's enough to fairly label Congress and Biff's conduct as "conservative", sort of like how the Soviet Union was "communist." An ideology in real world practice is what it is. There is an example of a law they passed and their conduct when they're in charge of an objective investigation. The last two republican presidents and congresses are self professed conservatives, elected as and by conservatives, for some time now. It is what it is.
What do they want? I think their preferred country is all about plutocracy, control, ignorance, and personal greed. They dry up opportunity because they sell out to Big Business/corporations that never die. Their intellectual forefathers owned slaves, opposed medicare and social security, opposed I-40, demanded religious conformity, opposed equality in all its forms, reject modern scientific consensus.... Wm. F. Buckley was accurate when he said they stand astride history and yell "Stop!" It's a defeatist ideology. They are manipulated into hating irrelevant strawmen and obsess over the extremes.
Their religious wing is a big part of it. That demographic used to be pacifist, now they're jingoist. Christ said render under Caesar what is Caesar's, give the g-man your cloak, get along with and stay out of government. He said don't concern yourself with acquiring money and acquiring wealth is to be avoided. The modern Christian (biggest "Conservative" demographic?) actively and unabashedly lobbies for control of tax policy so they can build wealth.
I SEE these things, these aren't opinions. We haven't even discussed the conservative/libertarian small government paradise that is Oklahoma. Your turn: If small government is so great, why is Oklahoma so bad at education, health care and transportation?
