are either unaware of the political scene, willfully ignorant (talking points types), or start from the wrong premises. Most of those who are willing to examine their premises have become conservative, or at least, more conservative.

I think that the fact that conservatives are willing to examine their own ideas, and have a built-in critical audience in the media, has helped them to constantly examine and re-examine their ideas. If you look at Barack Obama’s platform, it reads like the wishlist of a 1960s radical. OTOH, when you look at Republican policy, you’ll see significant changes, whether economic (from undistilled classicalism to monetarism and free trade) or military (from the realist school to neo-conservative views). Social conservatism is, of course, a movement that continues to evolve (not in ways that are beneficial, IMO, but that’s another story ), perhaps moreso than any of the other segments that make up conservatism. Yet they claim to be the true liberals.