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I don't think that the tactic is one used exclusively by conservatives. To provide an example from an entirely different context, aren't "pro-life" and "pro-choice" equally ideological and loaded terms? Each makes a certain value assumption in an attempt to constrict debate in favor of a certain ideological view.
I think the fact that we're talking about Gramsci should in itself be enough to tell you that this game has been played and innovated by both sides of the political spectrum.
Whether a 'war of position' is being waged with symmetric ferocity by the American left and the American right today is another question, and one I'm not sure I can answer. I would venture that it is in fact the conservative discourse which makes far greater use of prepackaged symbols and ideas in order to push a policy agenda. I would further guess that the relative lack of such ideas is part of what makes the left appear to be so disunited and in such disarray. We do not share a common narrative which, while imposing constraints on thought, would also give us a coherent unified core vocabulary with which to engage the right.
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