Here’s my problem:

I’m starting to write an essay which simply outlines my personal political philosophy. The reason I’m doing it is because I don’t feel confortable with the label “left” or “right,” and I want to make a statement to break free from the old framework. But the sticking point is: I’m looking for a “name” for this philosophy, and I still don’t have one.

(As to what exactly this philosophy will be — well, I haven’t written the essay yet, but it’s not much different than the typical “9/11 neocon” or from most people here: hawkish on foreign policy, laissez-faire on social issues; strongly against extremism at either end of the political spectrum, pro-freedom, anti-totalitarian, complete rejection of Marxism and fascism, strongly pro-Constitution but not chauvinistic or xenophobic in my pro-Americanism, anti-discrimination, pro free speech, etc. etc. — you know the drill.)

What I’m tired of doing is defining myself in terms of what I am not, or in terms of what I oppose. And more importantly, I’m tired of using co-opted, hackneyed and spoiled political terminology. But after a great deal of thought, I’m absolutely convinced that I need a name of some kind to describe what exactly I am. And it needs to be a fresh word — not necessarily a newly coined word, but a word that isn’t already completely tainted with prior associations.

And so to my problem: The word needs to be able to function as both an adjective and a noun. Consider:

I am a conservative. I have conservative ideals.
I am a progressive. I have progressive ideals.
I am a libertarian. I have libertarian ideals.
I am a radical. I have radical ideals.
I am a liberal. I have liberal ideals.
I am a reactionary. I have reactionary ideals.
I am a revolutionary. I have revolutionary ideals.

See how, in every instance, the defining word can be used as a noun or as an adjective? That’s what I need. A word with that flexibilitty, but which is fresh, and yet can somehow be affixed to my philosophy.

I tossing this out there to gather some suggestions. The best example of a recently coined political term is “progressive,” which existed as a word prior to its political meaning, but was given a new definition — and which functions as both adjective and noun, and has a ring of positivity (which complete disguises its true nature, but that’s a different story).

Concepts that appeal to me, around which you can muster your thinking, include:

Balance, freedom, rational, forward, obvious, sensible … (…I know these are fairly limp — that’s why I need help!)

Concepts I’m trying to stay away from include:

centrist, middle, conservative, liberal, left, right …

(And please, don’t say we need to “reclaim” the word “liberal” or “classical liberalism.” That’s already been suggested to me a hundred times. I need something new. Also, don’t tell to simply admit that I’m “conservative”; there will be many specific policy positions in my essay which are distinctly not old-school conservative.)

Note that almost all pre-existing political adjective/noun labels have one of these four endings:

-ive
-al
-tionary
-ian

We may have to end up with one of these endings, but if you see a different way of formulating the word — go for it.

Put on your thinking caps! What suggestions do you have?