Conservatives, Liberals, and conservatism

When discussing politics, we often speak of Conservatives and Liberals. The idea behind this appears to be that Liberals want to forge ahead, to solve problems, to embrace change and make things better, while Conservatives want to take a cautious approach, to consider possible unintended consequences, to avoid throwing out the baby with the bath water. Yet there is a dichotomy between Conservative vs. Liberal politics, on one hand, and conservatism and liberalism as ideas, on the other. Liberals often embrace change in some contexts while holding conservative positions in other contexts, and Conservatives cannot escape the paradox in which preventing change in one context can accelerate change in another.

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