Labels are a great impediment to progress in general. conservative and liberal often are used as pejorative terms. The intent is to inflame emotions which rapidly displace rational thoughts. The labels also find their best fit at the extremes. Most thinking people tend to the middle, or moderate persuasion. I see little value in staking out an extreme position in a serious negotiation.

The way I understand it:

"conservative" = keep what works

"liberal" = change what doesn't

There's a time and place for each. I don't see why we need to choose one or the other. I think that's rather moronic, actually. It's totally a case-by-case, situational thing whether we keep something as is, update/revise, or junk it and reissue. I'm not going to hop on either bandwagon as a matter of course.

And I really don't like caricaturing either side. I think it just reinforces divion, which hinders progress.

I don't mean to throw cold water on your post--just sharing my perspective.

Although I'm pretty liberal now, I grew up in a politically conservative family and I don't recognize the conservatism I grew up with in today's political conservatives. Conservatism as it was presented to me was the notion that we don't want change for the sake of change, that prudence and methodical caution and respect for the law of unintended consequences should be the rule of the day. That "things are the way they are because they got that way" so be careful to learn the lessons of history (past experience), etc.

In other words, conservatism used to be about judicious change ... now it's somehow come to be about NO change, ever ... unless it's some form of regression.

The kind of conservative thinking I used to experience is today called "traditional" or "principled" conservatism by most people. Although I think what's left of that sub-group are very much on the outside looking in. Trumpism, sadly, will likely outlive Trump. I'm not sure that Trump is its cause so much as its symptom.

It's also not confined to the Republican party, because Trumpism is not just proto-fascistic white nationalism, it is also elitism. And the Democratic party is shot through with elitist elements too.