Define "conservative:"
Someone who, without necessarily having well defined guiding political principles, wishes things to remain as they are. In the United States, things have moved pretty far towards statism, so it's not surprising that the conservative position can be fairly authoritarian.
I don't necessarily subscribe to that, but in alot of instances, it's appropriate.
In the United States, it's someone who adheres to the ideals on which the nation was founded. That excludes A CA Guy, who rejects those ideals as outdated.