Why I use "conservative" to describe people

Because that's what many Americans are, on many of the issues.

The Republicans have successfully manipulated the language of the debate since the Reagan years, and it worked because people routinely espouse conservative views and call themselves "centrists".

They are not, and it is not I, but the rest of the civilized world that says so.

Go to Britain, or the Netherlands, or France, or Spain, or Canada, or Sweden, or Denmark, or Japan, or any other number of places on this planet where they have

- Abolished the death penalty and/or
- Some kind of universal health care and/or
- Gun control and/or
- Social programs for children and/or the elderly and/or
- Government regulation of big business and/or
- Environmental policies, taxation of polluters, subsidizing of clean industry and/or
- Government run pension plans, adequate welfare system and/or
- Some kind of system that redistributes wealth from the rich to the poor and/or
- Prison systems that focus on rehabilitation instead of punishment and/or
- Reasonable drug laws and/or
- Non confrontational, diplomatic foreign policies
etc etc etc....

In these places, the above things are centrist, not liberal. They are things that have come to be expected from the government, not debated.

If Democrats are to win, they have to take back the language that the Republicans have abused for decades.

is good for perspective. The only problem I have with it is when people use this strategy to lose perspective--that is, when they say things like "Hillary Clinton is conservative. So is Mitt Romney. No difference."

K&R'd anyway. Good post.

if an American father had his kid taken away by a foreign-born wife to her homeland and died on the way, and the kid was being held hostage there, there would be no end to the outcry here ...

money does!
money and corporate interest have and will continue to run ALL aspects and affairs of our government so long as we keep electing corporate money loving politicians into office..

this whole deal on DU lately with 'centrist against leftist' is obsurd!

nobody is slaming a canidate for being 'to moderate' or being a 'centrist' ... because frankly i dont see a centrist running for president in our party.
i see progressives and some people who love money and power.
thats all.

dont let these corporate shrills trick you into beliving theres a war between centrist and leftists.

there isnt.

but whats a good way keep us all occupied while they AGAIN take OUR party and OUR country away from us?

its really not that complex.

want to get laws and government to be more like our european brothers?

maybe we should remind the corporations in the united states just who exactly is boss around here...

and i gotta newsflash for 'em....

change is coming, no matter who they throw in our way.

Where this country of ours is at right now is so far right as to be nearly unrecognizable.

It is our Corporate Owned system of Government FOR the RICH that is the problem.

Here is what the MAJORITY of Americans (Democrats AND Republicans) want from OUR government!



The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

Aren't you, uh, kinda',...fugging with language?

Why can't we drop the "conservative"/"liberal" lingo all together and simply talk about issues people care most about?

WE CAN'T!

Why?

Because the tactic of dividing people into this or that category is so effective for those who rape the coffers and act in complete contradiction of advancing democracy.