"The left calls us closet conservatives, though nothing we believe is compatible with modern Republican/conservative politics."
Clearly they are compatible, as I'm a conservative republican and I've found far more to agree with than disagree with in your writing since subscribing here. I think there's a bit of a false dichotomy being made here. I'm also something of a Classical Liberal (of the John Stuart Mills, John Locke, more Enlightenment thinker and American Founding Father variety, not what gets labeled 'liberal' since progressives misappropriated the label). I find very little contradiction between those particular philosophies. When you call for foundational liberal beliefs and values to be constantly defended, that is an essentially conservative sentiment that you've expressed. You're upholding and defending a long-standing intellectual tradition against forces that seek to corrupt, distort, or replace it: actively 'conserving' a more classical liberalism.
I'm not sure if this is deliberate or not, but I suspect that we aren't quite using the term "conservative" the same way though. The way you've used it in this post at several points seems to be as a synonym for "collectivist", which it very much is not, especially in the American political context. The modern illiberal left is many things, but 'conservative' isn't remotely one of them, not politically or psychologically.
Words make things a lot harder. I'm from Canada, and until relatively recently, Canadian conservatism and American conservatives were so different, they couldn't be called the same thing
I struggle with the term "feminism" in the article. Over the years I've seen that tent grow and shrink so much that I have no idea what it means and who gets to call themselves one anymore
I admit I'm not well versed on Canadian conservatives, though I assume they're broadly similar to UK conservatives, so yeah it's a bit different than American conservatism. Still, that's kinda the thing about 'conservatism'; it isn't a single universal ideology. Political Conservatism is a philosophy that respects the particularity of each place and people, their history and traditions, so it naturally differs across different places and peoples.
As for feminism, I 'think' this is mostly talking about the generation that grew up with 1990's 3rd Wave Feminism (people less than 45yr old) and those born since because that's the inflection point where Feminism shifted from focusing on Civil Rights and equality under the law towards intersectionality analysis and forced equity of outcomes ('got woke' in modern parlance), though there ARE still some significant internal conflicts between 3rd, 4th, and 5th Wave Feminism on certain recent culture war topics (like 'TERF' vs trans-inclusive Feminism).
Anybody can theoretically call themselves 'feminist', but at least here in America self-identification with that label has been dropping consistently as it has become more and more associated with radical 5th Wave 'feminazi' types who seem obsessed with performative excesses like 'pussy hats', 'shout your abortion', and "deconstructing", "dismantling", and "queering" everything. Pretty typical left-leaning purity death spiral.
"The left calls us closet conservatives, though nothing we believe is compatible with modern Republican/conservative politics."
Clearly they are compatible, as I'm a conservative republican and I've found far more to agree with than disagree with in your writing since subscribing here. I think there's a bit of a false dichotomy being made here. I'm also something of a Classical Liberal (of the John Stuart Mills, John Locke, more Enlightenment thinker and American Founding Father variety, not what gets labeled 'liberal' since progressives misappropriated the label). I find very little contradiction between those particular philosophies. When you call for foundational liberal beliefs and values to be constantly defended, that is an essentially conservative sentiment that you've expressed. You're upholding and defending a long-standing intellectual tradition against forces that seek to corrupt, distort, or replace it: actively 'conserving' a more classical liberalism.
I'm not sure if this is deliberate or not, but I suspect that we aren't quite using the term "conservative" the same way though. The way you've used it in this post at several points seems to be as a synonym for "collectivist", which it very much is not, especially in the American political context. The modern illiberal left is many things, but 'conservative' isn't remotely one of them, not politically or psychologically.
Words make things a lot harder. I'm from Canada, and until relatively recently, Canadian conservatism and American conservatives were so different, they couldn't be called the same thing
I struggle with the term "feminism" in the article. Over the years I've seen that tent grow and shrink so much that I have no idea what it means and who gets to call themselves one anymore
I admit I'm not well versed on Canadian conservatives, though I assume they're broadly similar to UK conservatives, so yeah it's a bit different than American conservatism. Still, that's kinda the thing about 'conservatism'; it isn't a single universal ideology. Political Conservatism is a philosophy that respects the particularity of each place and people, their history and traditions, so it naturally differs across different places and peoples.
As for feminism, I 'think' this is mostly talking about the generation that grew up with 1990's 3rd Wave Feminism (people less than 45yr old) and those born since because that's the inflection point where Feminism shifted from focusing on Civil Rights and equality under the law towards intersectionality analysis and forced equity of outcomes ('got woke' in modern parlance), though there ARE still some significant internal conflicts between 3rd, 4th, and 5th Wave Feminism on certain recent culture war topics (like 'TERF' vs trans-inclusive Feminism).
Anybody can theoretically call themselves 'feminist', but at least here in America self-identification with that label has been dropping consistently as it has become more and more associated with radical 5th Wave 'feminazi' types who seem obsessed with performative excesses like 'pussy hats', 'shout your abortion', and "deconstructing", "dismantling", and "queering" everything. Pretty typical left-leaning purity death spiral.
I don’t get it. What was the leftist objection?
I guess it’s emblematic of the old horseshoe, wherein the far left reminds of the right some decades ago