When someone identifies as conservative, it means they have a strong preference for no change happening (and even undoing more “recent” change, although what qualifies as “recent” usually is viewed through the lens of personal preferences). That’s what it means. You don’t seem to even dispute it. It’s what the word means.
And when a conservative tells you all the other things they AREN’T – as the modern conservative usually jumps to do – believe that those are the values. If they say they aren’t liberal, it means they don’t care about preserving individual liberties. If they say they aren’t progressive, it means they do not want to see progress. If they say they aren’t a socialist, it means they do not care about an egalitarian and pro-social society. And when they say they aren’t a “neo-marxist”… well, that one really is meaningless gibberish, pay it no mind at all.
I feel like you keep bringing up labor unions because you think it’s going to be some kind of gotcha for me, but it super duper isn’t. One of the major reasons we saw such a profound weakening and collapse of labor unions in this country that only (maybe) reversed recently is because the older unions were seen as swinging way too conservative. That they became more concerned with maintaining power and status quo than doing the job of unions. Whether or not that criticism is fair is, I’m sure, a topic of much argument – I definitely think this view was part of a very serious disinformation campaign run by capitalist and ruling class-types to fight back against the working class – but this is certainly what your typical boomer/anti-labor-type will cite as the reason they don’t care for labor unions.
Let’s not forget who “the right” originally was: the conservatives who wanted to preserve the monarchy and stop the french revolution. They didn’t want to change from the old way to a new one. They thought the transition would be too chaotic. They were certainly correct that it would end up being quite chaotic indeed, but if they’d had their way there may still be a fucking divine right king prancing about in court while the people staved.
You have not spelled out a counterargument here.
When someone identifies as conservative, it means they have a strong preference for no change happening (and even undoing more “recent” change, although what qualifies as “recent” usually is viewed through the lens of personal preferences). That’s what it means. You don’t seem to even dispute it. It’s what the word means.
And when a conservative tells you all the other things they AREN’T – as the modern conservative usually jumps to do – believe that those are the values. If they say they aren’t liberal, it means they don’t care about preserving individual liberties. If they say they aren’t progressive, it means they do not want to see progress. If they say they aren’t a socialist, it means they do not care about an egalitarian and pro-social society. And when they say they aren’t a “neo-marxist”… well, that one really is meaningless gibberish, pay it no mind at all.
I feel like you keep bringing up labor unions because you think it’s going to be some kind of gotcha for me, but it super duper isn’t. One of the major reasons we saw such a profound weakening and collapse of labor unions in this country that only (maybe) reversed recently is because the older unions were seen as swinging way too conservative. That they became more concerned with maintaining power and status quo than doing the job of unions. Whether or not that criticism is fair is, I’m sure, a topic of much argument – I definitely think this view was part of a very serious disinformation campaign run by capitalist and ruling class-types to fight back against the working class – but this is certainly what your typical boomer/anti-labor-type will cite as the reason they don’t care for labor unions.
Let’s not forget who “the right” originally was: the conservatives who wanted to preserve the monarchy and stop the french revolution. They didn’t want to change from the old way to a new one. They thought the transition would be too chaotic. They were certainly correct that it would end up being quite chaotic indeed, but if they’d had their way there may still be a fucking divine right king prancing about in court while the people staved.