As a government is no more than an aggregate of the people whom it represents, liberals would embrace a powerful government made up of liberals because that government would always act for the benefit of the community. At the same time, conservatives would fear a powerful government, because of the risk of abuses of power from the people in charge. So conservatives would advocate less government, and propose that people should be left alone, while liberals would advocate more government to help more people more thoroughly. In practice, all governments are corrupt and bureaucratic, and both liberals and conservatives propose legislation that impinges upon the rights of the individual, regardless of what their philosophies are supposed to uphold. I consider myself a conservative primarily because I'm a cynic.
People are basically vicious, selfish, and nasty, and the masses are stupid sheep.
Hate will always triumph over love, and there will never be world peace. Look at Kosovo, where Serbs are being slaughtered by Albanians in revenge. Look at any high school in America. That's why I run the Spectator, even though I'm more of a libertarian than a conservative. Because hate is a fact of life, and it is better to use it than to repress it and pretend it doesn't exist.