[B-Chan]

True conservatives are not authoritarians, they promote Freedom.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. An overriding dedication to "freedom" or "liberty" (i.e. a wordview which enshrines individual impulse and desire as absolutes) is the hallmark of the political Liberal, not the Conservative. A true Conservative is dedicated to an entire different set of supreme values: religious and cultural Tradition, the Family, and private Property.

Most "conservatives" these days have no idea what the word means. Those who want to learn the real difference between liberals, libertarians, and conservatives should read the Traditionalist Conservatism FAQ and educate themselves.

[spunkets]

"An overriding dedication to "freedom" or "liberty" (i.e. a wordview which enshrines individual impulse and desire as absolutes) is the hallmark of the political Liberal, not the Conservative.

No. The dedication to Freedom honors the individual as a being entitled to life and the sovereignty of will he was born with. You've placed a quality on that being that is not inherent in him. It is in fact bearing false witness against him in a general way.

"A true Conservative is dedicated to an entire different set of supreme values: religious and cultural Tradition, the Family, and private Property.

Freedom! Without it, all you have is the clash of wills of the petty tyrants. Freedom was and is God's gift, it's not yours to take and He told you so.

[WOSG]

B-chan, nomenclature issue: As a Burkean Conservative, I can pass as a classical Liberal, these are shades or subpopulations of the same species.

Issues like this strain the boundaries of the American Conservative philosophic construction: We need to believe in FREEDOM *AND* CIVILITY. Each supports the other. Freedom, properly construed, frees us to create and build a social and moral order of voluntary associations. Those associations and allegiances maintain the Civic Order.
American Conservatives defend *freedom* because that is the 'tradition' we want to preserve!

The alternative is socialism, repression, autocracy, etc.