I am personally insulted my such labels, since I am in fact a person, and I am in no way old or rich. Judging from the results of the last election, more than just old white rich men voted conservative. Let's move beyond labels and look at the record. The Republican party has voted for just about as many tax increases as the Democrats, despite their claims of financial responsibility. The Democratic Party has gotten us into more major wars than the Republicans ever have, all the while protesting the very concept of war.
Conservatism is freedom.
Conservatism states that the people are best able to decide what is right for themselves, within certain boundaries, and should be left alone. Throughout history, power has corrupted people's minds and caused them to believe that they knew better than the rest of us. I don't pretend to know what is right for you, and I don't want to force you to conform to my way of thinking. I just want everybody to have the right to think and say what they want to. The very notion of government control implies a superiority on the part of those who are members of the government.