Barry Goldwater described himself as a "19th century liberal". Historically, liberalism is concerned with individual liberty. And that is what conservatism is all about today.
Today, it is liberals (or "progressives", as they prefer to call themselves) who are defenders of the status quo.
Conservativism has never been about the status quo -- except as defined by the Constitution.
In the above sentence do you mean Conservative to be synonymous with Republican? IE - "Republicans [in the year 2003] do not want to maintain a status quo..." ??