what are the difference between a Republican and a conservative?
It seems there has been a lot of confusion about the difference between what I am—a Republican—and what conservatives are. Since I always try to tell the truth, let me explain: there is a difference.
I don’t consider myself a conservative, because conservatives generally want to preserve the past. Now, don’t get me wrong—there are aspects of the past that I appreciate. But I wouldn’t call myself someone who simply wants to conserve it. If anything, I want to take the good parts of the past, improve them, and add new ideas as well. A conservative usually wants to preserve traditional systems and values as they are.
So, what is the difference between a Republican and a conservative?
A conservative, as I said, believes in preserving tradition, limiting government intervention, supporting free-market capitalism, and protecting traditional societal values. That is the foundation of conservatism.
A Republican, however—especially a progressive Republican—is different. Many Republicans, myself included, feel disconnected from the modern GOP and want to build something new. What exactly that becomes, I don’t fully know yet, but I believe something is beginning to take shape.
Progressive Republicans want a better world. We want to fight for what is right. In Abraham Lincoln’s time, the great moral atrocity was slavery, and he fought to end it. I would argue that we are still facing a form of that evil today, just in a different form.
Today, it may not be slavery in the old sense, but it is human trafficking that we are fighting against.
I don’t consider myself a conservative, because conservatives generally want to preserve the past. Now, don’t get me wrong—there are aspects of the past that I appreciate. But I wouldn’t call myself someone who simply wants to conserve it. If anything, I want to take the good parts of the past, improve them, and add new ideas as well. A conservative usually wants to preserve traditional systems and values as they are.
So, what is the difference between a Republican and a conservative?
A conservative, as I said, believes in preserving tradition, limiting government intervention, supporting free-market capitalism, and protecting traditional societal values. That is the foundation of conservatism.
A Republican, however—especially a progressive Republican—is different. Many Republicans, myself included, feel disconnected from the modern GOP and want to build something new. What exactly that becomes, I don’t fully know yet, but I believe something is beginning to take shape.
Progressive Republicans want a better world. We want to fight for what is right. In Abraham Lincoln’s time, the great moral atrocity was slavery, and he fought to end it. I would argue that we are still facing a form of that evil today, just in a different form.
Today, it may not be slavery in the old sense, but it is human trafficking that we are fighting against.
