# Kaylasdad99, a sincere question about conservatives and MAGA **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 25, 2024, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kaylasdad99-a-sincere-question-about-conservatives-and-maga/1006193 "2024-08-25T14:21:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 21
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kaylasdad99-a-sincere-question-about-conservatives-and-maga/1006193/21 "2024-08-25T15:45:25Z")
> [@NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 3)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/7300): > > From an exchange in the Stupid Republican Idea thread: > > > [@NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 3)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/7300): > > > > I wish people would stop using the word “conservative” when talking about radically right-wing. > > > [@NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 3)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/7313): > > > > The other conservatives DID go along with the MAGA takeover. Sure, there’s a remaining vocal minority decrying the current situation but they are decidedly a minority and have even less power. > > > > The rest are either fine with it or have decided to stay quiet. Well, that’s on them. They decided MAGA as the conservative standard bearer was no dealbreaker. > > > [@NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 3)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/7316): > > > > I’m not buying it. There are more of us (with respect for the language) than there are of those craven assholes. > > > [@NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 3)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/7329): > > > > > [@NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 3)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/7316): > > > > > > I’m not buying it. There are more of us (with respect for the language) than there are of those craven assholes. > > > > Then why do you let those craven assholes run your party? > > > [@NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 3)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/7330): > > > > He don’t know me vewwy well, do he? > > > [@NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 3)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/7331): > > > > We know the cwaven assholes awe still wunning the countwy. > > Why is that? > > > [@NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 3)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/7332): > > > > Why don’t you tell me? You’re the one who seems to be content with fucking Republicans getting away with calling themselves “conservatives.” > > @kaylasdad99, this exchange has me a little puzzled. You say you are a conservative, but object to the radical MAGA being referred to as conservatives. I get you are trying to protect the label, to defend a space for people who are moderate right versus the people backing Trump and Boebert and Greene, et al. Thank you for the humbling reality check _vis a vis_ how noteworthy I am around here. That OP suggests that I have failed to make my inclinations clear over the past twenty-five years. Allow me an attempt at clarification: I am a progressive, and a registered Democrat. I am STILL more conservative than today’s generic Republican. I won’t say that no Republican _can_ put forward an idea that will make the country and the world better, but I will say that I’ve seen precious few of them. I believe there is value in the notions of incrementalism, and in the concept of Chesterton’s Fence (a quick google of the term should be instructive, although there doesn’t seem to be a wikipedia article on the term). I’m not fighting for a _label_; I’m fighting for the language. The Republican Party basically ceded any right to the adjective “conservative” (and by extension, the noun) back in 1994, when they endorsed Newt Gingrich’s radical Contract On America. They have become even more radical in the intervening years. > [@](#): > > You say there are a lot more of you than them. Again, not a Republican, just a prescriptivist. I know which one _ **I** _ use as a snarl word. > [@](#): > > So the question now arises why do the majority of conservatives allow the minority MAGA right control the Republican Party? No idea, beyond what I said in my own post: they’re craven assholes. > [@](#): > > Do you not consider yourself a Republican? Not only “No,” but “Ew, no.” > [@](#): > > That would raise more questions, but the key question remains - Why do the majority of moderate conservatives let the minority of extremist reactionaries control and dominate the conservative side of the political conversation? See above allusion to craven assholes. > [@](#): > > And to answer _your_ question, American politics is thought of as a line. There are two halves: liberal and conservative. > > Other categories are subsets. Just like _conservative_ includes “reactionary” and “fascist”, _liberal_ includes “progressive”, “socialist”, and “communist”. I’m not happy about that, either. The manifestation of communism as an actual government is by no means liberal. It’s totalitarian. But that’s the framework of thought in this country. I reject the “line” thesis. You’re welcome to join me, if you’re _really_ not happy about it. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kaylasdad99-a-sincere-question-about-conservatives-and-maga/1006193)._