Definition of a conservative.

One of the commenters at Ace O'Spades HQ mentioned that he had been talking with his wife and she had asked him for a concrete definition of conservatism, and he was wondering what the Horde's definition would be. Another commenter came up with

"Conservatives recognize that human beings are inherently flawed and are not perfectible outside of miraculous/ supernatural means and there will never be a utopia of human making. Therefore, we seek to strike the balance between having just enough in the way of law and authority to hold together a stable coherent society, but not so many as to make tyranny easy. Because people in government are still people, just as susceptible to flaw and selfish impulse as are the regular citizens. "

Which I think covers a lot of the world view, although I would add that conservatives also realize that each human has a value beyond their perceived usefulness to the whole.