[OKSooner]

Vain vanity fee paid.

[goo goo g'joob]

Conservative - 1) to use/apply the powers of the government "conservatively", 2) to interpret the Constitution "conservatively".

Liberal - 1) to use/apply the powers of the government "liberally", 2) to interpret the Constitution "liberally"

[Observator]

Not all inclusive, but a couple to get rolling-

Paleoconservative Haven't heard this as much since the late 90s. Pat Buchanan was an example. Many traditional conservative beliefs, but with notably less interest in foreign intervention.

Neoconservative Now out of favor, but the ascendent force during the Dubya years. Foreign policy based on identifying and neutralizing foreign threats before they could strike the US. Implementing democracy in failed states.

Libertarianism Rand's father Ron was a leading proponent (of at least a flavor). Sided with Paleos in opposing foreign intervention, and generally opposed the social causes championed by both Neo and Paleo conservatives for emphasis on minimal government control.

[OKSooner]

Addendum: When defining any term, avoid usage of the term its own self within the definition.

[DoodleDawg]

Conservatism,

Ask 50 different Conservatives and you'll get 50 different answers. Just saying.

[KC Burke]

From my profile page:

What is the most simple means to convey where the term conservative comes from? Why not go to the man to whom the term was first applied by French writers:
"A state without the means of change is without the means of its conservation."

Edmund Burke

We therefore see that where Tories meant to leave things unchanged and to unflinchingly preserve, the Old Whigs, such as Burke, were true reformers who meant to conserve by carefull reform as time and culture progressed and changed.

Now I will confess that in bitter old age I sometimes get Reactionary. That is the tendency to "go back" to the manner of yesteryear.

[KC Burke]

Also:
What is conservatism and how is it distinguished from the root word “conserve” often thought to be a defining and limiting decription of the overall group of principles?

Conservatives aren’t, as is often claimed, the trolls standing athwart the path of history, yelling, Stop!

Instead, they are those that are aware of the value of what they have inherited: their heritage, their patrimony, their culture. Understanding that the best way to preserve those things is by slow and careful change and reform made in, and by, the time honored and settled means accepted in an ordered society, they work for preservation through innovation. We should understand conservative in a political sense by relating to the root word and how it relates to the definition of “save”. That is what conservatism does: it saves what is of value in our culture and society; indeed saves our nation.

[VTenigma]

Conservatism = punching bags
Paleoconservatism = non-interventionist punching bags
Neoconservatism = globalist world policing punching bags
Liberalism = communists
Libertarianism = conservative punching bags with “flower child” leanings
Neoliberalism = indoctrinated communists
Authoritarian = Marxists

[x]

Conservatism tends to be defined by opposition to what liberals or progressives want to do. That's not to say that there aren't principles involved, but the principles are emphasized when they become relevant to contemporary debate.

There's a small-c conservatism that opposed specific progressive measures, and just wanted things to change slowly or stay more or less as they are. William F. Buckley and others developed Movement Conservatism as a general opposition to the growth of federal power over the previous 40 years.

Neoconservatism developed in the 1960s and 1970s as an acceptance of earlier changes and opposition to more recent liberal rhetoric and government programs. In the second generation, "neoconservatism" came to mean an activist foreign policy, determined to make the world safe for "democracy."

Paleoconservatism emerged in the 1980s and 1990s based on opposition to neocon foreign policy and two main issues that both the neocons and the Movementcons ignored: immigration, and industrial decline. That more or less became the program of the Trump administration. Paleocons also had fringe ideas, like dissatisfaction with everything that happened since 1860. So paleoconservatism was at once more realistic than other conservative factions, and wildly unrealistic and fantastical.

[CodeToad]

Low IQ vs High IQ.

[JonPreston]

Conservatism: I’ve been asking conservatives to help me identify the top 3 successes the movement has accomplished since the Reagan presidency. No luck.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Conservatism - a political stance that believes that the words in the Constitution are meant to be read literally and followed. Conservatism on one side leans toward libertarianism in that it seeks less government control and a smaller, less intrusive government at all levels. On the other side of conservatism, it seeks more control through authoritarianism an more tightly controlled people through enforcement of laws.

The opposite is liberalism which is just out side of socialism and communism. On one side of it are the anarchist and leftists who want no government at all and “anything goes” from government paid abortions to eliminating the police and decriminalizing illegal drugs to the outright murder of perceived political enemies. The leftists are what Lenin called useful idiots because they will be quickly culled when socialism/communism is instated because their tactics will be counterproductive to a rigid socialist/communist society.

Then there is classic Liberalism as mentioned above which I believe that the founding father of this country saw as the ideal government. Governments should be as small and as local as possible. The people should always hold power over the government.

[Terry L Smith]

which does a nation good? a proponent of ‘a universal humanity’, or, a proponent of ‘the nation’s increase’?

i prefer my nation over some cigar and brandy lofty ideals.
it is my nation within which i rise from sleep, eat my food, judge the day’s politics, interject my opinions, and cast my vote yea or nay. it is within my nation that i rest secure that’the men on the wall’ are competent, and are of my nation, as well. it is within my nation that those employed, or self-employed, are receiving competitive wages or earning a profit with which to provide for home and hearth.

having said this, which am i?

[PerConPat]

American Conservatism: A well reasoned support for traditions that have sustained personal freedom, national security and cultural stability...

American Liberalism: An emotionally driven support for the sacrificing of proven traditions to political expediency...

[aimhigh]

And yet, the only terms that matter are; Good, Evil. Everything else is compromise between these two.