[logician2u]

I think few "conservatives" know what the hell the word means.

Can that be due to its relative meaninglessness since Reagan left office?

I use that as a proximate benchmark, because it was around then that the remaining conservatives in Washington pretty much threw in the towel. They had lost any sense of power with passage of the 1986 tax bill.

[TheBigTown]

I think it's hard to keep the meaning of the word because it's not an ideology, as Kirk says, and the meaning can evolve. It's somewhat elusive. But I don't think it should be splintered into factions, which is what has happened.

Few people understand that conservatism doesn't mean standing still, for example. It doesn't mean wearing a three-piece suit and slipping pocketwatch in your vest.

This is a massive topic, actually. Interestingly, and not ironically (another severly misused word), I had searched amazon.com a while ago for conservative books and this one popped up: "Bob Cobb's Dittohead Bartender's Guide."

I guess this is where we are, eh?

[Texasforever]

I use that as a proximate benchmark, because it was around then that the remaining conservatives in Washington pretty much threw in the towel. They had lost any sense of power with passage of the 1986 tax bill.

There came a realization that the 'New Deal" programs were so entrenched that it was a losing battle. Reagan tried to starve them to death with tax reductions but also had to make large concessions for the same strategy of spending the Soviets into bankruptcy on defense buildups.