I think I reached an epiphany. “Conservative” is a completely vague word. It should be no less useful than “progressive,” but it hasn’t seemed to work that way. What are we conserving?

What if we drop “conservative” for “federalist”? The issue is not between being a “Republic” or a “Democracy.” The issue is whether we are a federation or a nation-state.

Because if we are a nation-state we are a nation-state without any lawful foundation or legal history.

What this means is that we can forget about abstract eternal principles like “capitalism” v. “socialism” or whatever. The issue is narrowly American and narrowly procedural.

Contrary to public opinion, no one turning point changed us from a Federal Republic into a nation. No amendment did so. The very fact that amendments were once required reminds us of the days when we were legal–when we operated according to the Federation that we are.

(Example: think of all the stuff said about how prohibition was repealed by a second amendment to the constitution that voided the prohibition amendment. Yet we have a more extensive Drug War and network of controlled substance laws than anything under prohibition, including the torture of American citizens by Federal authority in defiance of California state law. Did we amend the Constitution to prohibit Marijuana use? No. The Federal Government just did it. It has been acting as a de facto national government, even though that is blatantly illegal.)

The turning point was the “progressive” movement, which then explains the true essence of being a progressive. Being a progressive means forgetting about all past laws and founding charters and simply getting progressives in power to do whatever they want.

That has been the operating system for “progressive” Liberals and Conservatives for decades.

So the question is: is Federalism worth conserving? If not, is there a way to create a legal nation rather than the illegal piracy that now operates?

Personally, I assume real federalism would still do a bunch of things I don’t approve of. But it would still be safer and saner than the outlaw usurper we have now–the United States as a singular noun.