Random initial thoughts:
1. Civilization does probably impose a certain amount of unhappiness on man. This is why “the fruit of knowledge” is a curse. Add in technology and “social development”...
2. Most “conservatives” are merely liberals who have some limited quarrel with some aspect of the liberal project. Liberalism is much stronger than most people on FR can fathom.
3. While Liberalism inspires strong faith, it is at its core a nihilist ideology that seeks to preserve some ideals cobbled together from Christianity and other old religions. This is why liberal moral philosophy is a joke (Rawls, anyone?). This is why Liberalism is so intolerant in the face of dissent - Liberalism fails any non-superficial examination. This is also why liberals are compelled to falsify wide swathes of reality.
This is a party of liberal theology I deeply sympathize with. There's a part of every man that wants to make the world better.
From my own experience, I've seen poverty, true poverty, the kinds that exists in China, Latin America or Central Asia. Up close. You can't help but think, "Man, there's got to be a better way. Isn't there some reset button we can push to start over and redo life without letting some people live like this?" Life is more complicated, of course. We often have no good options, or do more good than we get credit for. Still you can't deny the pull of emotions can make our sane and rational choices as a civilized society sometimes feel heartless and wrong.
2. Most “conservatives” are merely liberals who have some limited quarrel with some aspect of the liberal project. Liberalism is much stronger than most people on FR can fathom.
Humans aren't Vulcans. We're creatures of emotion as well as logic. Within limits, this is a very wonderful thing. Some limits we have in society are very reasonable and survival oriented. Others are cultural and arbitrary.
I could say the words "Prohibition of Alcohol" and "War on Drugs" and start a massive battle that has far less to do with logic than it does with our deep seated core beliefs. Conservatives are still creatures of logic and emotion. The pull to bend morality one way or another, even if it's less than the level liberals desire, still exists.
3. While Liberalism inspires strong faith, it is at its core a nihilist ideology that seeks to preserve some ideals cobbled together from Christianity and other old religions
The universal aspects of religion are often similar, because certain themes resonate with humans on an instinctual level. Part of us wants to be told what to do. We want the stability of knowing that we're good members of our group, that we are respected, and our actions serve a higher purpose. People that don't get that feeling from God invariably get it from somewhere else. People that think they don't need that particular itch in their soul scratched are easy to spot. They're either deeply unhappy individuals, or they deeply passionate about a substitute religion.
As far as that goes, I don't think that liberals care to retain any true part of the past. Things like Christmas, sure. Giving presents, decorating trees and having family over is a fun cultural event that people are used to. Otherwise, liberalism speaks to a pre-civilized spark in humanity. The kind that has no gods, but knows they are missing something in their lives. They want a warlord to kill for, a prophet to die for, or some story teller to come along and explain why they feel empty when they look in the campfire.
People that have drifted away from civilization, be they rich liberals or poor yutes, are, in a very real, sense going feral.