Reply #7: What do conservatives stand for?

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It really depends on which "conservatives" you're talking about. If you're referring to the kinds of conservatives I grew up with, back in the 1970s, then what you're saying is not to far off of the mark. On the other hand, if you're referring to what passes for a "conservative" now, we're looking at a completely different fish. These people are better described as "reactionaries." Their goal is to turn the socio-economic clock back to 1928, or earlier. Their idea of "states rights" is the idea that held before the interpretation of the Commerce Clause in the Constitution was broadened in 1937: by that interpretation, any state law favorable to big business was upheld, while any law unfavorable (like minimum wages) was over-turned. They have a blatantly fascistic idea of police powers and foreign policy. That, of course, incorporates their imperialist ambitions and jingoism. Their legislative priorities are unfailingly pro-business. Their economic policies are redistributional; although, in their case, the redistribution is up the socio-economic ladder and from the countries traditional economic heartland to the state's that lend them electoral support (this is accomplished through "block grants," which are readily converted into pork. It is, as Paul Krugman has called it, "crony capitalism." It specializes in Trojan Horse legislation. Really, I don't see a lot that's redeeming about it unless you are, or fancy yourself, part of the economic and power elite.