I find it very amusing is that somehow American "conservatives" feel patroitism = conservatism. Also, as long as a self-proclaimed conservative supports concepts that are defiled by conservatives as bad liberal ideas, it's okay b/c since a conservative did it, it's no longer liberal. I.e. conservatives say less govt, Bush just added some new bureacracy that even the White House press secretary has said in not so many words has no real power, just another beaurocratic layer. This is okay b/c Bush is conservative, if a Democrat did this, there would plenty of whining about extra unnecessary govt. Conservatives say there should be less federal govt influence in matters that belong to the states. However, when it comes to school vouchers, it's okay to push a federal agenda down the throats of a local govt b/c hey it comes from the mouth of a conservative, not a liberal. If a liberal tries to push an educational agenda down federal channels, there is a hypocritical uproar. There is some strange perception that liberals are anti-war, even though both world wars were fought with the support of liberal presidents in the White House (both very liberal). Even the past election, Gore supported more military spending than Bush.
Most people who label themselves "conservatives" in the US, are actually only conservative when it's convenient, liberal when it's convenient, but wait for an appointed leader to say "hey since I'm doing this liberal action, we can call it conservative; follow me my dutiful sheep without fear of being labelled a liberal!" btw, sorry about spelling.