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Smooth -
My answer to you regarding reconciling conservation with conservatism is related to what I'll say to Pennington.
Pennington -
I did read the article - I forgot to thank you for the link. Sorry, my comments were not a reaction to the article you referenced. I thought that it was a refreshing look that allowed for the complexity that real people's political ideas reflect.
I can buy the idea that liberal and conservative are complete opposites. That makes sense to me, because a true liberal or true conservative package of ideas seems to be quite self-consistent, unlike the "right" or "left" packages that are peddled by our two dominant parties. It is this polarity that is commonly accepted as being opposite that I don't understand, because the left and right alike both borrow from conservative and liberal ideas.
As far as my hijacking comment, this is what I meant (and should have taken the time to say more explicitly). I can deal with the idea that labels drift. That todays conservatives have the same ideas as yesterday's liberals doesn't bother me. This is seen in doctrine and in our political parties. What I mean is that the term conservative, which I believe to be used more effectively and with less contradiction by the libertarian party refers to a principle of thought and governmental roles that leads to positions such as favoring drug legalisation, banning capitol punishment, flat or no taxes, and reducing government's intrusion on our lives. The Republican party has been labeled conservative in the media (though now that I think about it I am not sure if that label was taken by them or given to them). However, the conservatism that their party planks embody is not an outgrowth of the idea of restricting governmental power. To be sure, it is there in some ways, such as fiscal policy, but I think in social policy, the Republicans seem to support more government interference, not less. So, I mean that it feels like the Republican party has hijacked the word conservative (but maybe it isn't just them - I mean look at Robertson and those guys too) but abandoned the principle behind less government when it isn't convenient to the social agenda of the party.
Heck, I don't really care whether my ideas are liberal or conservative, because they have been called both at different times. I'll have to try to read up on Bukunin, Kropotkin and Proudhon. I honestly don't know enough to make any comments on your observations.
Perhaps it is my understanding of conservatism equating to less governmental power that is causing the confusion between conservation and conservative. Classical liberalism is closer to libertarian. Anyways, thanks for the responses and please let me know if you can think of anything else for me to check out that will clarify this issue for me.
uber
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Cogito ergo spud -- I think, therefore I yam
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