Words matter
Using the label Conservative to identify anyone who isn’t a liberal or is a member of the Democratic party is like calling a mob collector/enforcer an agent of economic redistribution.
The definition doesn’t fit the reality, but then denying reality is the first premise of the right.
Regressive is the label which should be used. Regressive is the opposite opposite of progressive, not conservative. A Conservative wants to halt progress. If their actual desire is to return to some imagined time in the past when “things were better/easier/clearer/” then they are in fact regressives who want to move in opposition to progress.
The main problem with using conservative as the descriptor of the right, is that it dresses the individual’s or group’s actions in the garb of preservation: wanting to preserve the status quo.
Any person or group that aims to take us back to the good ol’ days, no matter how far back, deserves the correct label: Regressive. For example imagine reading about or hearing a news reader say the following:
“Regressives in congress voted unanimously against protecting the right of fill people to elect their public office holders by free and fair elections.”
or
“Regressive (fill-in-the-blank) called for reducing funding for all social program that do not exclusively benefit the .01%.”
IMHO Such clear descriptions would be most beneficial to public understanding and informative to the decision-making process.