Edmund Burke and the Jews.

An article entitled Name Game: How Traditional Is The Conservative Movement?
recently appears The Jewish Daily Forward.

The issue is well summed up in two quotations from the article:

When [Judy] Gold mentions her Conservative affiliation in her act, “you can see people’s heads exploding” because they think she means that she’s politically conservative — something the lesbian single mother of two is decidedly not.

and

This growing misunderstanding of the name “Conservative movement” is proving a problem for rabbis, as well.
“Twenty years ago, when I introduced myself as a Conservative rabbi, people understood. But now they think I’m defining my political or theological stance as opposed to just labeling my denomination,” said Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin, director of the Baltimore Jewish Environmental Network. “This is a real issue. Now I simply introduce myself as a rabbi, not a Conservative rabbi, and that’s harsh.”

Ordinarily I would say that this is a matter of no interest to anyone on the outside. 

But what appalls me is what it says about political language.

Historically, the definition of conservative in Anglo-Saxon polities has been traced to the 18th Century British politician and political philosopher, Edmund Burke.  For the record, he was acknowledged as a leading influence by William Buckley and Russel Kirk).

It was characterized by an opposition to government  based on abstract (ideological) ideas, a preference for what could be described as 'organic' change, and a care to respect political liberties (which led him to support the American colonists petitions of grievance and relief to Catholics).

It has not, historically, ever implied a particular economic strategy (though Burke was an 18th Century liberal --- that is supported what we would call a free market), no a doctrine.

The choice of the name Conservative for the "middle" movement of Jews in America (between Reform and Orthodox) was chosen to encompass this idea.  That is the movement wanted to conserve that which was of value from the past, modifying with care and over time practice.

Let's not address the place in Jewish thought of this "conservative" position -- besides mentioning the fact that I agree with it.

Instead, I contend this  position is consistent with the historical meaning of "conservative." One which I in fact subscribe to.

That reactionary positions -- that is ideologically driven (as opposed to pragmatic) free marketism, coupled an expressed desire to dramatically reverse that last 100 years of history -- are called conservative is a debasement of political language.