Conservatism

Conservatism is a reactionary political philosophy that retards or impedes progress, and is liable, if allowed to reign unchecked, to result in the obliteration of all life on planet earth.

Even to the typical conservative, the term conservatism tends to be problematic, since people who claim to be conservative do not generally agree on what that means. There is even a major strain of conservative philosophy that insists conservatism is not reducible to a set of principles, but is more a matter of attitude.

Conservatism can apply to different dimensions of moral or political discourse. Examples include terms such as "social conservatism," "fiscal conservatism," "monetary conservatism," "constitutional conservatism," "legal conservatism," "neo conservatism," "crunchy conservatism," and "paleo conservatism." If this all seems a bit confusing, then you probably won't be interested in terms like "Randianism," "libertarianism," or "Reaganism," and expressions like "classic liberalism" will really mess you up.

And if that isn't enough to scare you, perhaps you might check out forbidden terms, like subsidiarity and supersidiarity.