Dear Joyce Vance, Concerning your question:
"Does 'conservative' have any meaning today?"
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America’s Ideal - Social empathy
I appreciate you. Thanks for this question. I subscribe to your CIVIL DISCOURSE because your writing seems to align with my vision of America's ideal as strong, diverse communities of nurturing families caring for each other's freedoms.
Consider reading George Lakoff's DON'T THINK OF AN ELEPHANT or YOUR BRAIN'S POLITICS. Your question is about the brain—we all have one. Cognitive scientist, linguist, and progressive activist Lakoff has been warning Americans for four decades about the physicality of ideas and the pandemic of conservatism. It all boils down to the science of the brain. Conservatism and progressivism boil down to social dominance or social empathy, respectively.
Trump and the current SCOTUS are the epitome of conservatism.
Conservatism's social dominance focuses on the core values of the authority of a strong white male, obedience to that authority, and harsh punishment for disobedience. Extreme conservatism is often called fascism. Since Nixon, conservatism has been promoting the "unitary executive" theory—total immunity. Trump and the current SCOTUS are the epitome of conservatism.
Reframing IS social change.
Progressivism's social empathy focuses on the core values of a commitment to the legal duty to care for each other's freedom. A third to half of the country suffers from 4th stage conservatism. However, the treatment is simple, but not easy. Reframe all conversations repeatedly around our mutual duty to care for each other's freedom. The job of the progressive is to physically activate the neural pathways of our listeners or readers with our core values of empathy and responsibility all of the time. We should NEVER answer a question that uses conservative language. We should ALWAYS reframe to fit our values. After all, if we care for no one but ourselves, democracy makes no physical sense.
CARE Education Model Legislation
To that end, my Empathy Surplus Network USA trustees have proposed model state legislation called CARE Education - https://proempathy.us/care. We want to require a state's academic standards for all students in grades K-12 to (1) learn how to cultivate empathy and (2) learn about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - https://proempathy.us/76udhr2p. Thanks for all you do.
#GoEmpathySurplus
Peace and love,
Chuck
Great, Chuck. Thank you for your good work.