Sure, and so has "democratic" - eg DPRK. That doesn't mean we shouldn't call out abuse of the term when it's used for something decidedly anti-democratic. And "

Sure, and so has "democratic" - eg DPRK. That doesn't mean we shouldn't call out abuse of the term when it's used for something decidedly anti-democratic. And "democratic" is at least a purely political word, whereas "conservative" has a strong meaning outside of politics.