Comment 16 Foundationist:

A smart conservative is then merely a person who is all in all happy with the status quo and thinks that the current state of society is a good one and largely deserves to be preserved.

I agree with the definition, but I don't agree that it mitigates the position. Since when in human history has any human society ever approached such a pitch of perfection that it could be considered more important to prevent it from changing than to improve it? Never, as far as I know. Maybe in a few hundred years, once we've cracked hunger, disease, poverty, and disastrous environmental impact and live in a sort of Star Trek society (whether aliens are involved or not), then it will make sense to be conservative. Until then, there are so many things that can be done better, how could any thinking person think it more important to conserve than to improve ... (unless of course they're wealthy and solely motivated by maintaining their personal good fortune ...)?