2007 has seen the repudiation of Bushism by some long term Republicans, public and private citizens alike, who have considered themselves "conservative" but find their conservative principles in opposition to ideology and practice of the Bush administration.
Examples include former Congressman Pete McCloskey’s switch to the Democratic Party and the recent emergence of the American Freedom Agenda, initiated by Constitutional attorney Bruce Fein and other long time conservatives in opposition to a perceived authoritarian power grab by this executive branch.
Centrists and liberals alike have wondered at the apparent abandonment of long time conservative ideals both political and economic by this administration, as it has become obvious to observers of various political stripes after 9/11 that there has been a massive and multifaceted attack on American freedom and democracy undertaken by its own government on multiple levels aimed at coercing rights (Patriot Act), compromising justice (Justice Department, aka "Ministry of Justice") and laying the foundation for a Bushie dictatorship and "permanent Republican majority."
The Republican Party (hereafter called The Party), highjacked long ago by authoritarian ideologues both political and theological embracing the spread of hatred based on race, gender, and sexual orientation and hot button "moral" issues (Pro-Life), embracing Orwellian newspeak as an ironic and cynical nod at postmodern self-awareness, has established an agenda by definition corporatist and fascistic. The destabilizing of language ("Clean Air Act") and Moonification via mass media have rendered terms such as "conservative" and "liberal" useless. As Representative McCloskey describes the Republican party he joined in 1948, "We were the party of civil rights, of free choice for women and fiscal responsibility. Since Teddy Roosevelt, we had favored environmental protection, and most of all we stood for fiscal responsibility, honesty, ethics and limited government intrusion into our personal lives and choices. We accepted that one of the duties of wealth was to pay a higher rate of income tax, and that the estates of the wealthy should contribute to the national treasury in reasonable measure." Now the Party has alienated and abandoned "conservatives" like Pete McCloskey.
Apparently, to Bushies, "conservative" means something more akin to "belligerent." Diplomacy is feminized along with intelligence and the ability to adjust one’s thinking according to developments or new data. Strength over wisdom. Force over reason. Will over "reality". Bushies identify with inflexibility, the sheer will to "get’r done", the privileging of perserverance, even on a course proven or believed faulty, over astuteness, or even competence.
"I’m gone do things muh own way, by Gawd, and aint no sumbitch on earth gone stop me."
Think of the Party actors—Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield, Rove, Libby, Gonzales, Hastert, DeLay, Frist, McCain, Giuliani, even Goodling fer Crissakes —from top to bottom a plethora of refusals to comply, punctuated by a reluctance to remember, a total rejection of oversight or transparency. Think of the periphery players: Dobson, Falwell, Roberts, Gingrich, Limbaugh, Malkin. Think of the underbelly: Freepers, Gannon/Guckert, Horowitz, Katherine Harris. The clusterfucks. The "heckuva job Brownies."
What’s the common denominator? Pure, unadulterated belligerence.
The belligerence of people who believe they are racially, ethically, and/or morally superior. The belligerence of people who could give a flying fuck if they’re only at 24% or 28% approval. The belligerence of people who believe they will hang on to power by sheer will, which presupposes force. Authoritarians and authoritarian followers believing they can control their environment.
The belligerence of people, really, who act as if they’re only waiting for the time when Bush will enact the provisions of the Patriot Act that allow him to declare himself dictator for reasons of "national security."
The belligerence of the burning cross and the boot to the neck.
Today when someone says, "I'm a conservative," he or she most likely means, "I am belligerently [choose one or more of the following: racist, xenophobic, homophobic, hegemonic, Christian, anti-choice, anti-Enlightenment]."