"...conserve traditional values"?? We want the government out of our everyday lives. We want finacial freedom from excess taxes that support entitlements to freeloaders. We want the Constitution to be held sacrosanct by the ALL branches of government. Want all life to be considered precious. We want parents to make the decisions in the upbringing of their children. We view freedom as a God-given right, completely separate from the government. I could go on...as I said, he over-simplifies what it means to be a conservative. Liberal=bigger government less freedom. They're simple to encapsulate. Conservative=smaller goverernment and a whole lot more.
downtown:
"...conserve traditional values"?? We want the government out of our everyday lives. . . . he over-simplifies what it means to be a conservative. "
Maybe so, but that's beside the point. You didn't address Stossel's statement. Conservatives do NOT want the government out of our daily lives. In fact, conservatives want the government in the daily lives of a lot of other people too, for example Iraq, Germany, Japan, S. Korea . . . Conservatives want the government to tell me who to sleep/not sleep with, what substances not to put in my body, and a lot of other things. That's not an oversimplification, it's a fact, and it's the reason so many people who otherwise support ideas like fiscal responsibility and limited government power find conservatism distasteful.
Think of libertarians as conservatives who don't want the government dictating stuff that's none of their business.