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This is kind of a non-starter, because there can be a lot of variance in what you mean by the term "conservative."
A lot of the people running around in Washington today being called "conservative" would have been called "ultra-right wing wackos" in my youth. when real conservatives believed in small business, isolationism (the cold war was a Democratic invention), a balanced budget, self-reliance, and no gov't interference. Whereas today's presidential administration believes in large business, empire-building, deficits (they say otherwise, but....), and serious interference in the rights of individuals and states _in those areas where it has political interests._
I miss the old conservatives, the old Main Street conservatives. I'm a liberal, but I knew a lot of them and respected most of them. They talked the talk of self-reliance and community volunteerism, and they walked the walk with campaigns to fix up schools, help the hungry in the community, help fund free clinics, and so on. I think that this approach is an incomplete one to the nation's problems, but they were sincere and community-minded. They're still around, but they're not in power anymore.
After my dad died, my mother married a very conservative old gentleman named Lloyd. Lloyd has a portrait of Ronald Reagan on the wall -- which he painted himself. He's has a master's in education and is a skilled furniture maker and upholsterer, and for many years ran a nonprofit school which trained the unemployed in upholstery. He never took a dime of government money, because "then you've got to do it their way." On the side, he bought, fixed up, and sold houses to pay for his retirement. Lloyd and I disagree on a great many things, but he has a ready mind and is willing to consider a different point of view, if not accept it. That's the kind of conservative I admire. And like I said, I don't see a lot of those in power today.
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