Playing devil's advocate:

Conservative tendencies include but are not limited to: wanting more free stuff from the government in the form of lucrative contracts, price supports, infrastructure and the like while preaching otherwise; minimizing personal freedom by imposing restrictions on speech, sexuality, victimless crimes and the like, fixation on maintaining male WASP hegemony, the systematic imposition of Christianity in American culture, emphasis on prudery in the public arena, adherence to an "I'm self-made" mentality even when they're not, and belief in US sovereignty at the cost of global cooperation. Overall, conservatism employs an narrow thought process that leads to illogical conclusions, but appeals to the emotions. And of course, no taxes, unlimited corporate power and a dislike of firm disciplinary action against their own should be thrown in for good measure.

Conservatives tend to believe in less government intrusion except when there's money in it, an emphasis on arming bears, adherence to the idea that abuse of the freedoms one enjoys will reap serious consequences and not petty fines or weak sentences except for their own, emphasis on archaic, oppressive values (founded in Judeo-Christian theology) but to the non-religious based on narrowness(tm), belief in a mentality that emphasizes self-interest above public or community interests, upholds national sovereignty over the utopian ideal of globalism, and insists on the use of emotion that tries to cut through the smokescreen of logic. And of course I'll add lower taxes for people who don't need them, smaller government except when there's money in it, and support for the use of capital punishment (i.e. the ultimate use of state power over the individual) even though it's been demonstrated repeatedly that innocent people get wrongly convicted.


Now, is it fair to generalize conservatives in such a manner? No - it's just to illustrate the problem with generalizing from either side of the spectrum.