Conservatism and Insanity

Seen in the comments section of the 21-07-2011 ABC's Drum Unleashed piece "Obama's Re-Election Hurdles":

"(...) And by the way, I'm not a libertarian, I'm primarily a conservative with a few modest libertarian leanings on a few specific topics." (22 Jul 2011 8:17:09am)

Let's not nitpick: the differences between "libertarianism" (which the author uses as a synonym for Austrian "economics") and "conservatism" are of little consequence here.

What does it mean, then, to be a "conservative"?

Dictionary.com offers the following definition:

"con·serv·a·tive
"adjective
"1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.

(...)

"4. (often initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the Conservative party."

In other words: a conservative is someone who dislikes or fears change; things must be done the way they are done now, or the way they were done in the "good old times".

In a world in crisis, we should remember this quote:

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Attributed to Albert Einstein.