The primary problem with writing about conservatism lies in defining it. The Republican President Eisenhower reportedly said he had never found anyone “who could convincingly explain his own definition” of either a liberal or a conservative. Few of us can. After all, conservatives can be found in just about every culture, upholding a broad array of political infrastructures and cultural configurations. Historically, they have defended monarchies, communist bureaucracies, caste systems, polygamy - you name it, They’ve even defended liberal democracy. President Bush and Osama Bin Laden are both conservatives by any standard, after all, and most would put Joseph Stalin and Gerald Ford in the same camp. But just imagine them all on a camping trip together.If the meaning of conservatism differs with the nature of the status quo, is conservatism simply whatever set of beliefs, values, and programs are favored by the status quo? Is conservatism, in other words, simply the ideology of the powers that be? This is a rather unkind view, but often it appears that way, and political opponents never tire of the charge. A conservative incapable of answering it appears suspect. So perhaps it goes without saying that a thorough going justification of conservatism is necessary, for better or worse, if conservatives are to be respected.