The old definition that says conservatives want to keep things as they are doesn't fit the people who call themselves conservatives in America today, i.e. the Republican Party.

Republicans/conservatives want to change lots of things. They want to bring back compulsory prayer in public schools. They want to decorate courthouses and other public buildings with Christian religious symbols. They want to overturn Roe v. Wade so they can make abortion illegal. They want the right to ban anything "obscene" from public school libraries, public libraries, and the Internet. Some of them want creationism to be taught in public schools, and to teach that evolution is "only a theory."

They want to abolish affirmative action or anything resembling "quotas." (This means you will no longer be able to use statistics to prove a pattern of discrimination, and therefore anti-discrimination laws will be practically impossible to enforce, since most bigots now have the good sense not to SAY they are discriminating). They want to abolish the Miranda warning (so police will no longer have to say, when they arrest someone, "You have the right to remain silent . . .") and they want to abolish the rule that says evidence that is obtained illegally cannot be used against you.

They want to abolish taxes on capital gains, estate and gift taxes, taxes on corporations, and progressive rates on personal income taxes. Instead of supporting public schools, they want to give vouchers to parents to be spent at any school of their choosing. They want to deregulate practically all businesses. Under the banner of "tort reform," they want to make it harder for consumers to sue businesses, for employees to sue employers, for tenants to sue landlords. They want to make it easier for people to buy, sell, keep, and carry guns of all kinds. They want to abolish public support for such things as public transport (except they want to build more highways), public television, public radio, and the arts. They want to increase spending on the military.

According to the old definitions, all these changes would be called "reactionary." (Except perhaps school vouchers - I don't think that has been done here before.) But for some reason, nobody wants to call a spade a spade.

According to the old definitions, instead of having a liberal and a conservative party, it seems to me that we have a conservative and a reactionary party.