The Origins of Conservatism

A conservative says, I begin with my existing nation and its existing traditions. That's a completely different starting point from the liberal starting point. Conservatives are not like liberals - we don't have a universal political theory that is supposed to apply in all times and places. But when we talk about English conservatism, British conservatism and its variations in the anglosphere, that's a particular conservative political tradition which developed over more than a thousand years through the common law tradition.