Essay:Best New Conservative Words

Each year the English language develops about a thousand new words. Over the course of a century, that amounts to 100,000 new words. Since the King James Version of the Bible was published in 1611, perhaps a half a million new English words have been developed.

The "tax-and-spend" slogan stuck to Harry Hopkins like a well-fitted suit.

The inevitable triumph of conservatism over liberalism is apparent from comparing the rates of generation of new terms of each type, and the quality of the terms so generated. Conservative terms are being generated at a faster rate, and with much higher quality, than liberal terms are. In the 20th century, for example, more conservative terms were developed, and they were developed at a steadier pace. The new liberal terms were clustered in the 1920s and 1960s, were fewer in number, and lacked the same high quality.

A small percentage of those new words are tremendously powerful. Here are some examples developed since the King James Version was published. Not a single one of these words was available to the translators of the King James Version:

New Term	Origin date	Comments
accountability	1794
American dream	1911
bailout	1951	wasting taxpayer money to rescue, temporarily, a failing company
bork	1988	coined by William Safire to refer to how Democrats savage a conservative nominee, such as their defeat of Supreme Court nominee Robert H. Bork.
bureaucracy	1818
Columbian	1757	relating to Christopher Columbus or the United States
competitive	1829
conservative	1831
copyright	1735	extending private property to protect expressive works
constant	1832	(noun) something unchanging in value
culture war	1991	widespread use after the book Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America by James Davison Hunter
demagogue	1648
deregulation	1963	Reagan won in 1980 by campaigning on this.
design by committee	before 1958	Pejorative directed against collective production by a group
deterrence	1861
dumb down	1933
efficiency	1633	Ultimately from the Latin efficientem, meaning "working out, or accomplishing"
elitism	1950
entitlement	1944
family values	1916	widespread use after a speech by Vice President Dan Quayle, 1992
fellow traveller	1925	May have existed earlier, but popularized in 1924 by Trotsky. Describes a sympathizer of a cause but who does not formally belong to the cause, such as a communist sympathizer who is not part of the communist party.
forward-looking	1800	planning for the future rather than dwelling on the past
free enterprise	1820
free world	1949	areas of the world free of communism
go-getter	1921
Good Samaritan	1640	how genuine charity is the best approach
grade inflation	1975	the tendency by Liberal educationalists and public schools to increase marks, irrespective of merit or actual achievement.
grassroots	1901
homeschool	1980
inflationary	1920	policies causing inflation of the monetary supply
initiative	1793	self-starting first step toward improvement
interventionism	1923	"governmental interference in economic affairs at home or in political affairs of another country"
invisible hand	1776	Coined by Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations and widely used today, yet Merriam-Webster fails to recognize it!
Iron curtain	1945
judicial activism	1947	First coined in an article in Fortune magazine by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and repeatedly used in U.S. Supreme Court opinions since 1967, yet as of 2009 Merriam-Webster dictionary still fails to recognize this widely used term.
junk science	1962	the corruption of the scientific method to advance other goals
jury nullification	1700s	the power of a jury to overrule the law and acquit an ostensibly guilty defendant; first established in colonies in 1735 in the trial of John Peter Zenger
hysteria	1801	From the Latin hystericus, from Greek hystera meaning "womb" (an old notion that hysteria was caused by the womb).
microeconomics	1947	the study of the economics of the individual person or business
meritocracy	1958
me-too	1881
mobocracy	1754	rule by a mob, as at Wikipedia
ne'er-do-well	1736	"an idle worthless person" - Merriam-Webster
opportunity cost	1911
optimism	1759
parenting	1958	Children raising
patriotism	1726
personhood	1955	Inherent rights guaranteed to all human beings from the beginning of their biological development, including the pre-born, partially born. Also, the state or fact of being a person.
phonics	1684
politically correct	1983	This term originated among radicals at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to enforce radical orthodoxy, but immediately flipped in usage to become a term of mockery of radicals. The term may have come from Chairman Mao in 1936.
potential	1817
privatize	1940	to return a business or enterprise from state to private control; to de-nationalize.
productive	1612
pro-life	1960
property right	1853
responsibility	1737	1787 HAMILTON Federalist No. 63 II. 193 Responsibility in order to be reasonable must be limited to objects within the power of the responsible party.
reverse discrimination	1969	the use of quotas or affirmative action to use race or gender to discriminate against a better qualified person
self-defense	1651
self-discipline	1838
self-indulgence	1753
self-reliant	1848
spend-and-tax	2009	a variation on "tax-and-spend" (see below), "spend-and-tax" consists of spending the money first and then trying to justify raising taxes based on the deficit created by the spending
straw man	1896	an imaginary argument or example set up for the purpose of easily knocking down, while distracting from valid arguments
tax-and-spend	1937	Not yet recognized by Merriam-Webster, it is included in dictionary.com and it means the liberal policy of raising taxes and increasing government spending
terrorism	1795	this was during the French Revolution
trademark	1838	extends the concept of private property to the marks used by business
vandalism	1798	malicious destruction of someone else's property
victimization	1840
wannabee	1981	the third most recent entry; a word that criticizes liberal status worship
War on Terror	2001	no listing at Merriam-Webster, Encyclopedia.com has an anti-American version February 2, 2009 Obama ends use of the conservative lexicon.
work ethic	1951	a habit of working as a moral good
worldview	1858	a comprehensive way of looking at life and the world; sometimes used to criticize a liberal's irrational belief system

Rate of Generation of Conservative Terms

The rate of generation of conservative terms is increasing:

Century	# New Conservative Terms
1600s	5
1700s	15
1800s	17
1900s	32
2000s	2

Conservative Words Not Yet Recognized by the Dictionary

A thousand new words are developed in English each year. Here is a growing list of conservative concepts, each of which is not yet defined by a single word or two.

Not Yet Recognized Terms	Suggestions	Comments
Unaffected by, or impervious to, the media	mediaproof	cf. bulletproof. Once John became aware of the extent of liberal deceit, he set about mediaproofing his mind.
easily amused by deceit	dolophile	from Greek/Latin root dolo- meaning guile, deceit, deception [1]
the opposite of materialism	spiritualism and idealism have been its philosophical opposites, historically	dualism has been suggested, but it is not the opposite of materialism; "spiritualism" is not a common term and is the "opposite" of materialism
runaway jury		The term has existed for decades, but Merriam-Webster has not recognized it yet.
second-generation atheist	cradle atheist
denial that Hell exists	Hell-denier? Antinfernal?
deliberate ignorance		the term exists; the dictionary does not yet include it
proven wrong, a refusal to admit it	mulism; heel-digger?	cf. mulish. This refusal is what promoted the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
slippery slope	term has been widely used for decades to expose the fallacy of "it doesn't hurt to try"		term limits		can you believe this is not in the dictionary yet? Merriam-Webster omits it, but dictionary.com includes it with an origin date of 1861[2]
illegal alien		widely used in court decisions and political discourse for years, Merriam-Webster still does not recognize it is as a term.
strict constructionism		an important term for over 200 years to describe adherence to the text of the Constitution, Merriam-Webster still does not recognize it.
denier of the effectiveness of abstinence	abstinence-denier?
anti-family	tradition opposer, familiopathic
dramacast	tabloid news	mainstream media presents drama fluff stories as news, e.g. 20/20 - Dateline
militant gays	intimidating homosexual
causing harm by spreading falsehoods		e.g., denying or concealing disease and infertility caused by promiscuity
peer pressure		can you believe that isn't recognized by Merriam-Webster?
modern idolatry	"media idolatry"; "money idolatry"; "celebrity idolatry"	idolatry conjures images of golden calves, and a modern version is needed
Rule of Law
schlockumentary	propaganda film	documentary films based falsehoods and half-truths

New Liberal Terms

New liberal words often have deceptive, or nonsensical, meanings. Here are some new words created by liberals to combat conservatism:

New Term	Origin date	Comments
atheist	1571	useful and often deceptive alternative name for an anti-Christian
"Big Bang"	1948	term invented by the leading British physicist Sir Fred Hoyle to mock this suggestion of how the universe was formed
bilingual education	1972	a euphemism describing a costly and hurtful program that hinders the learning of English by foreign-born children in American public schools, which hurts their future opportunities
carbon footprint	1999	term indicates an individual human's effect on the environment by production of carbon dioxide
chairperson	1971	Even Alice Sturgis, the leading parliamentarian of the 20th century, rejected this cumbersome form of political correctness.
check-off	1911	automatic deduction of union dues by the employer from the employee's paycheck, so he has no choice
class warfare		first entered the political lexicon primarily as an attack by liberals against conservatives.
communism	1840
compassion fatigue	1968	Liberals, driven by materialistic self-interest, are likely to suffer from this.
condescension	1647
Dark Ages	1730	A term coined in the so-called enlightenment to disparage the period between the fall of the Roman Empire and c.1000, when the Christian faith, and its learning and culture, spread across Europe.
dead white males		a disparaging term used of significant figures from previous generations by those who wish to undermine cultural literacy
deconstruction	1973	a style of interpretation of texts that looks beyond the plain meaning of the text and instead infers social bias
detente	1970s	A euphemism referring to pacifist policy re. the Soviet Union
distributive justice		A term used to redefine socialist abridgment of rights as "just"
enlightenment	1669
environmentalism	1922	a mixture of pseudoscience and neo-paganism used to justify the imposition of socialistic controls.
freethinker	1692	the euphemism "free" hides the hostility towards faith, which is not free
fundamentalism	1922	"a movement in 20th century Protestantism emphasizing the literally interpreted Bible as fundamental to Christian life and teaching" From a series of pamphlets called "The Fundamentals" which outlined the movement. Perjorative usage started when the liberal Harry Emerson Fosdick began using the term in a straw man attack against Conservative Christianity.
feminism	1895	notionally, "the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes"; in reality, the attempt to destroy traditional family, societal and religious values by erasing or undermining natural gender differences.
gay rights	1969	The movement for civil rights for homosexuals
glass ceiling	1984	the notion that an invisible barrier prevents women and ethnic minorities from reaching high office; an excuse for feminists and others to demand affirmative action
global warming	1969	The baseless environmentalist mantra that the earth's temperature is rising, and that human intervention is the cause.
gun control	1969	a euphemism for restricting the right to keep and bear arms
homophobia	1969	used by Liberals to describe a failure to subscribe 100% to the homosexual agenda.
humanism	1808
imperialism	1851	a clever term later used by liberals to interfere with Christian missionaries and stopping anti-Christian tyranny
isolationism	1922	a pejorative term that is critical of American politicians putting America first in priorities
Keynesianism	1946	advocacy of 'tax and spend' policies as elaborated by the economist John Maynard Keynes; a euphemism for back-door Socialism.
Living Constitution	2000	a continually evolving Constitution (first used by presidential candidate Al Gore, title of a 1936 book by Howard McBain)
moderate	late 1900s	the original term dates from the French Revolution, but its meaning today is a euphemism for someone who favors abortion and/or supports censorship of Christianity in some ways
nationalize	1800	a euphemism for the government taking over ownership and control of a large company or entire industry, as in socialism
natural selection	1857	a misleading and euphemistic term for the theory that genetic advantages and conflict dictate survival
population control	1968	the issue of population dates back to Confucius. Liberals promoted the term after the book The Population Bomb by Paul R. Ehrlich
pro-choice	1975	a euphemism for insisting on taxpayer-funded abortion; people who claim to be pro-choice typically oppose informed choice, which makes the "choice" meaningless
progressivism	1892	the progressive movement was not entirely liberal; it was started by a Republican and shared some goals with conservatives, and still does
quote mining	non-existent	a term used by evolutionists to describe taking quotes out of context in order to damage the position of the quoted party.
racism		If you don't support Barack Obama, you are guilty of....
sexism	1968	That which is practiced by those who do not give total support to feminism.
situation ethics	1955	a euphemism for denying fixed ethical standards
strict liability	1869	court-imposed liability even when there is no evidence of any fault by the defendant
Swift-Boating	2004	Allegations of unfair campaign tactics.
undocumented immigrant	2000	a politically correct replacement for illegal alien.
unfair	1700
union shop	1904
Unitarian	1687

Rate of Generation of Liberal Terms

The rate of generation of liberal terms is increasing:

Century	# New Liberal Terms
1600s	4
1700s	2
1800s	8
1900s	23 (7 in the 1960s)
2000s	3

New Terms Difficult to Classify

These new terms are difficult to classify:

affirmative action	1961	first used in JFK's Executive Order 10925 in 1961 and subsequently promoted by LBJ.
twilight zone	1949	the realm of imagination that seems impossible but is difficult to disprove, and which challenges ordinary views of reality

Downgraded Conservative Terms

These conservative terms are less significant:

byzantine	1794
entropy	1868
incandescent	1794	bright and radiant, conquering darkness, precursor to the invention of the incandescent lamp (light bulb)
Luddite	1811	one who opposes and even destroys technological advances
filibuster	1851
media	1923
milquetoast	1933
normalcy	1920	related to the election of Warren G. Harding by the largest margin yet in history

Sources

• Merriam-Webster dictionary