@Thomas,
Yes words have meanings but the modern American conservative does not fit these definitions. The modern American conservative does pretty closely fit the definition of classical liberal as posted earlier today.
The thing is, people and labels change, and sometimes our definitions have to change with them. It would be simpler and neater to be able to just design a hole and plug people into it, but if you prefer accuracy to labels, you rather have to dig the hole in the shape of whatever you put in it.
Modern conservatives are not at all afraid of change while modern liberals are often the ones with their heels dug in and who resist different ways of doing things such as loosening regulation, lowering taxes, removing tariffs, doing social security in a different way etc., all things favored by today's conservatives. Conservatism today is more about giving people more freedom to do for themselves while modern liberals seem more intent on more and more government control. Conservatives are more likely to want to preserve traditional values and customs more than liberals who are more likely to find ways to diminish or trash them in favor of installing different policies or propriety.
Our new President may break that mold in some key areas, however, and I hope he does. But where his liberalism comes through is in his theory that the government can use money it doesn't have to spend us out of our current economic downturn. Modern conservatives take a skeptical view of that, but if he does get it in progress, I hope he is right and we aren't.
