Modern "conservatism" is simply yesterday's liberalism; liberalism on the cheap, as it were. You get your leftist socialist welfare/warfare police state, tomorrow, instead of today. But you do get it, eventually.
Given enough time, gay marriages will be a "family value" and the federal disarming of civilians will be "constitutional". Why not? Most of the things conservatives support today would have horrified conservatives of a 100 years ago, but today's conservatives like to pretend otherwise.
The Conservative revival that ran from the 1950s until it finally gained a momentary dominance over the Left in 1980, has definitely dissipated its energy since 1984, save for a brief final stirring in 1994. Calling what is now going on in Washington, "Conservative" is a misnomer. However, one must not despair. The very excesses of those inside the Beltway, and among the Federal Judiciary, could well trigger a new birth of sanity among intelligent Americans. How we who care about the American heritage handle the reaction, when it gathers momentum, will determine the future of all our hopes and aspirations.
We do, indeed, have our work cut our for us. But it is a mistake to accord the "Conservative" label to innovations that completely alter the warp and woof of what the Fathers gave us. Deliberately mislabelling concepts is one of the principal tools of totalitarians. It should never be accepted by free men, who would remain free. There is no line in Washington's Farewell Address that is more vital to the preservation of our way of life, than this:
"Honesty is always the best policy."
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site