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Polyphobic: yes and no.
Conservative means: wanting to keep things as they were. It really depends on *how* things were.
In the US, people seem to be interpreting it as meaning "keeping the government out of my backyard" - in essence, they want the government to go away as much as possible (like in their wild-west fantasies about the olde days).
Conservative in parts of Europe means, in the extreme examples, a right-wing party going back to the olde days where everyone was the same (i.e. white), where the government was strong and everywhere (!), and people listened to authority. Practically the opposite of what an American conservative would want, methinks.
Besides, conservatism is just one part of the party line - it means pretty much nothing without other information. For example, Al-Qaida is conservative, in that they want to go back to their old days, but they're also radical, in that they want change NOW.
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