{"id":298829,"date":"2017-03-13T14:27:06","date_gmt":"2017-03-13T13:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/restoring-a-responsible-conservatism\/"},"modified":"2017-03-13T14:27:06","modified_gmt":"2017-03-13T13:27:06","slug":"restoring-a-responsible-conservatism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/restoring-a-responsible-conservatism\/","title":{"rendered":"Restoring a Responsible \u2018Conservatism\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>As much as \u201cliberal\u201d has become a dirty word in U.S. politics, the word \u201cconservative\u201d has been ripped from all its honorable traditions and redefined as a dangerous form of radicalism, says ex-CIA official Graham E. Fuller.<\/p>\n<p>By Graham E. Fuller<\/p>\n<p>What is it about the U.S. that makes it virtually the only country in the world where a political Left scarcely exists? We have a center Right \u2014 the Democratic Party. And we have a far Right \u2014 the Republican Party. In fact, just invoking the L-word \u201cLiberal\u201d can inflict quick political death.\u00a0Yes, we\u2019re safe from the Left here in America.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6959\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/eisenhowerfarewelladdress.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/lazy-load\/images\/1x1.trans.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/eisenhowerfarewelladdress-300x246.jpg\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6959\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"246\" srcset=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/eisenhowerfarewelladdress-300x246.jpg 300w, https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/eisenhowerfarewelladdress.jpg 584w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"\/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6959\" src=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/eisenhowerfarewelladdress-300x246.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"246\" srcset=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/eisenhowerfarewelladdress-300x246.jpg 300w, https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/eisenhowerfarewelladdress.jpg 584w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Dwight Eisenhower delivering his farewell address on Jan. 17, 1961.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Having such a stunted political spectrum is bad enough in itself. Still worse is the utter corruption of the word <em>conservative<\/em>. U.S. society has allowed the Republican Party to hijack the word, distort it and redefine it to its own ends, against its real meaning.<\/p>\n<p>Isn\u2019t it time for progressives to stop bashing their heads against the \u201cliberalism\u201d wall? Even the Democratic Party machine itself has barred the gates against progressive Democratic candidates. At this point, we need a rethink.<\/p>\n<p>Wouldn\u2019t it make more sense simply to yield up the term <em>Liberal<\/em> to all its many enemies? Put it in the cold freeze? In a doggedly right-of-center country, it might instead be smarter to seize back the term <em>conservatism <\/em>out of Republican hands, re-own it, and restore it to its true meaning.<\/p>\n<p>Conservatism has a venerable history. The very word says a lot. It seeks to <em>preserve and conserve<\/em> fundamental human institutions, values, and lives in a precarious world.<\/p>\n<p>Such as, for example, conserving the planet we live on, its forests, its water, its creatures, its bounty. It\u2019s our only home. In fact, preserving and conserving the earth really is the ultimate conservative agenda. We have been given a stewardship over this unique and precious blue orb in the cosmos upon which all life depends.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, it\u2019s the Republicans who are False Conservatives. They place the interests of the corporate world, profit and the welfare of a minority above all else. Their agenda is clear: generating ever more&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2017\/03\/12\/restoring-a-responsible-conservatism\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As much as \u201cliberal\u201d has become a dirty word in U.S. politics, the word \u201cconservative\u201d has been ripped from all its honorable traditions and redefined as a dangerous form of radicalism, says ex-CIA official Graham E. Fuller. By Graham E. Fuller What is it about the U.S. that makes it virtually the only country in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2524,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-298829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2524"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298829\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}