I'm saying that I haven't seen any evidence that supports your statement, and that my personal experience, anecdotal as it may be, seems to contradict it, that's all.
Frankly, it reminds me of the sort of statement I hear on conservative talk radio... so I'd love to find out if there are any sorts of treatises, studies, papers, or such that provide support for your assertion. I really think that it's oversimplified, to be honest.
I think that your description of conservatives probably correctly describes a minority of conservatives... many of them libertarian by bent if not by party affiliation. I number many friends among such, and I assume this describes your personal views, many of which it sounds like I respect and een sometimes agree with (as long as it doesn't involve your judgements of "liberals":) But there are many conservatives in this country who seem to have no taste for libertarianism, and want to dictate behavior whenever it could be at odds with their sense of propriety and morality. I'm curious how your description accounts for them - I don't see how it does, and that's one reason I think it's oversimplified.
Isn't it possible that there are a significant percentage of conservatives who hang on to the past because they are simply afraid of change? Isn't it possible that there are people who embrace moral absolutism because the don't want the personal responsibility that comes with the adoption of moral relativism? (Or because they have trust issues that they use as a reason to not trust other people to be responsible?)
As far as liberals go, there was a great article in the WSJ - I think yesterday or Monday - talking about how the Democratic party is having to bind together its fractured groups to attempt to be cohesive. I think that both conservatives and liberals in this counrty are far more diverse than you represent - and I think that liberals are even more fractally diverse in actual philosophy than conservatives. But I think oversimplification is easier to sell on talk radio.
