Since you reject the philosophy of the Founders as outdated just like the liberals do, what makes you think you're a conservative?
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.