Where are all the real conservatives?

Is it just me or politically has this country so confused it's traditional relationship with conservative and liberal values that we no longer have any idea what they actually look like. Set forth historically social conservatism as laid out by Edmund Burke is stated in terms explaining that change can occur but should occur in a gradual manner as to not destroy the economy or the world order. The best example of this is any revolution as it procedes to disorder the country. Currently it seems that social conservatives are not for slow gradual movements but for no movement at all. They don't want to legalize marijuana, they don't want to legalize same sex marriages or allow those individuals the right to see their loved ones in hospital, they seem pretty much the party of the status quo - let's keep drilling because I mean that's what we do right?

Now I know what your thinking, well what about fiscal conservatives? Hailing from New York my father is very much considered one of these. He has almost always voted Republican in elections but when I ask him about social programs or about same sex marriage or other hot button issues like abortion, my father states as long as they do not take any more of my money they can do whatever they want. Is the modern strand of conservativism what my Father stands for. By all social standards my Father is a liberal but one who does not want to part with his hard earned money. And while this current conservative regime has given us some tax breaks it has also given us a huge deficit. It has plunged millions of dollars into a war that my generation will have to bear the burden of. How is this fiscal irresponsibility anything like fiscal conservatism. Instead it seems much more like the military industrial complex that President Eisenhower, a conservative president, warned us of.

So today what does conservative mean? Conservatives would like you to believe that it means less taxes and a safer country. Liberals prefer us to think of it as a rolling back of civil liberties mixed with a demagogic stance on the world. Both seem to have their points and both seem to have their shortcomings. Despite a few key issues it seems like this campaign is slowly revealing the flaw in political parties: they don't make all that much sense. Obama is working very hard to unite both parties, at least the voters of both parties, and independents in a populist appeal for a government that works more efficiently than our current government. More efficient, meaning working better for less. So.... my father is voting for Barack? McCain is encouraging more troops be sent to Iraq, Afghanistan and possibly Iran to push them into a democratic revolution. So...Edmund Burke is a liberal?