I do regard myself as generally conservative. I mean, I'm talking about straight-out-of-Edmund-Burke conservative. Most institutions persist because they do some good; except in the case of outright oppression, that good should be identified and preserved while the rest of the institution is reformed gradually. A society is made stronger if it is stable, and if its inhabitants are confident, well-informed, and respectful in regard to it; a free society that wishes to remain free should therefore avoid jeopardizing the sources of these traits. The application of reason in policy-making leads to favorable outcomes, but the human ability to apply reason or to accept decisions made according to reason is finite and usually smaller than anyone realizes; it is best to err on the side of caution, preferring policies that have been well-tested by time, warts and all, over radical reinventions that may only be appropriate for the contemporary culture (if even that much). Peace is better assured by demonstrating the ability and willingness to retaliate with force than by gestures of goodwill, if a choice must be made. While a perfect free market is a theoretical proposition, it is still the fairest and most efficient allocator of resources; the extent of government intervention in an economy should be to ensure its functioning resembles a perfect free market as closely as possible, and eradicate barriers to trade in such ways as maintaining infrastructure, quelling violence, theft, and fraud, and regulating monopolies. A respect for rule of law is a cornerstone of a democratic society; government should enforce the law universally, but a law whose letter differs from its spirit, whose adherence leads to disaster, or which is routinely and casually broken by well-meaning citizens is very probably a bad law. The fewer laws, the better, since the excessive proliferation of laws leads to arbitrary enforcement en masse, an invitation for oppression. Policy should reflect society, not the other way around; however reprehensible the mores of the society may be, it is an abuse of power for government to attempt to change them coercively.
Y'know. Things like that.