A big difference is that a typical socon is a typical conservative of the same type that we have had since the beginning, he is the whole package and he is the majority of the conservative movement and tradition.
There is a modern branch of self described “conservatives” that are actually against it but they do like it’s economics so they have tried to make war against the conservatives, it is not the socons that are trying to stop anything, socons are fighting and voting for all three, Americanism, strong defense and conservative economics and low taxes.
In some cases, I think you’re right — I know plenty of socons who are also for small government and a strong defense.
However, what I’m saying is that a number of socons, including folks right here on FR are for “solving” a wide variety of social problems at the federal level — e.g., drug addiction, pornography, gambling, etc. Federal solutions to problems like these are not fundamentally conservative, IMO, because they are not fundamentally Constitutional.
And I would add, a number of defense hawks are for things like national ID cards, etc. — also not fundamentally conservative and Constitutional, IMO.