Conservatives

What do conservatives conserve?  Conserve: protect (something, especially an environmentally or culturally important place or thing) from harm or destruction. Based on their political behavior we seem to have a contradiction, but that is based on emphasizing the parenthetical.  That which they really conserve i.e. protect, is their own privilege, wealth and power.  There are basically 2 kinds of conservatives.

The conservative leadership is dominated by white, old, rich, men (WORMS).  To give them credit they are very good at raising banners that collect followers who do not fit the whole description, but meet at least one of the criteria.

The other kind, are the idealogs who believe in the conservative philosophy even if it is not working so well for them, they may be comfortable farmers, or small businessmen.  Another group are those whose work atmosphere is authoritarian: police, military.  They call for less government for themselves, but law-and-order for those that they perceive as Liberals or undeserving. Typically the conservative has not been the victim of discrimination so they do not perceive it as a problem.  Very few conservatives are a member of a minority.  They tend to support discrimination e.g. complex voter ID rules, and regressive taxation e.g. retail sales tax on food.   

Conservatives unite on anti-liberalism, without ever defining Liberal. They often give it the same inflection as vermin.   Liberal is not a species.  White American conservatism tends to unify on many seemingly disparate issues, pro-life, pro-death penalty.  Liberals on the other hand are famously disorganized, because by definition a liberal is one open to new ideas.  
Admittedly many are just as dogmatic about their individual core beliefs.  The ACLU has to adopt a vague position on the second amendment because they can’t risk losing Liberal members by supporting it the way they do the first.  Liberals often agree to disagree, unlike the GOP booing Ted Cruz for "Vote your conscience"