On the basis of a joint radio-optical analysis, different amounts of cosmological luminosity evolution in the optical band for flat- and steep-spectrum radio-loud quasars are found. Specifically, a slower evolution for the flat-spectrum quasars, evidence of a 'sluggish' beamed component in the optical band additional to the canonical 'isotropic' continuum is shown. The persistence of the beamed component in terms of a spectral evolution with the Doppler factor increasing somewhat in cosmic time is interpreted. The BL Lacertae objects are placed into this framework and an evolutionary unified scheme is proposed maintaining spectral and statistical continuity of BL Lacs with flat-spectrum quasars. Supportive observational evidence, and clues for the parent population, are discussed.