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But there’s a wrinkle here, one that’s crucial to unwrinkle: the word “conservative” has long had a double meaning.

Many of our political terms do. In the US, for example, “liberal” means “left” unless you’re a leftist in which case it means “laissez-fair” or “neoliberal” or something incoherent but Definitely Bad. (I refuse to even use the word “socialism” anymore without specific clarification about its meaning in a given conversation.)

It’s the double meaning of “conservative” in particular that muddies this discussion about views on campus.

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