the Conservative cliche

Hello internet world,

This is my first attempt at a blog. I've always had so much to say and finally decided to find an outlet for it.

So I was doing some silly research on what the word conservatism means and what the synonyms are out there for it; and what I found, on a commonly used site in my world dictionary.com, just made me laugh out loud. My what a cliche it has all become, what negative connotations have become so habitually associated with the word that even dictionary.com seems to have a bias now. Here's some of the wonderful synonyms that can commonly be found with the word conservative, some are accurate, but I kid you not these were all on there:

Inflexible, middle-of-the road, bourgeois, unimaginative, orthodox, right-wing, unchanging, old line, reactionary, uncreative, redneck (yep I said redneck!), sober, guarded, stable, fuddy-duddy, unprogressive, traditional and white bread.

When I read these all I could think of was WOW. Now I didn't include all that I found but trust me when I say the negative to positive ratio falls high on the negative. What has happened to this world and our society that we as Conservatives have let conservatism get so lost and open to anyone's random interpretation? Now take a look at the definition that pops up first when I do the search:

Disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.

Now granted the first part of that definition sounds ok, it might even be accurate in most ways, but "limit change?!" When and how did conservative ever become synonymous with "limiting change?" I am not an expert, as you can tell, but I just wanted to pose the question because it concerns me. I'm still growing in my political knowledge, I grew up as a Conservative and try every day to understand what this really means and be proud of it. But by no means have I ever thought of it as being adverse to change, maybe I'm just naive. I know that there are aspects that we hold strong to (as we should) that we try to keep alive; but it's no wonder the mantra of "change" is being used by the Obama liberals so much, yet is never even mentioned in reference to McCain, with a majority of people out there having been brainwashed into believing that all Republicans/Conservatives are adverse to change and are unwilling to be open minded.

I think its time to redefine the word, the world is changing and we are changing; I will continue to hold strong to my conservative ways, but I also intend to show at least in my little world that this doesn't mean I'm incapable of adapting or embracing what is fast becoming a need for change. But I do say this, maybe people need to think about what specifically it is that they desire to have change, because if you ask for too much and you let it become too radical, don't complain when everything we built this country on comes crashing down around you. Yes, change is good, but there's also a thing called responsibility, accountability and there's absolutely nothing wrong ... with tradition.