What are you conserving?

So, what are we afraid of that we believe being conservative and religious can cure or fix or save us from? This is what comes into my head as I read about Bush's new nominee for the supreme court. See the thing Ive noticed, and this isnt just because Im a tad left of center, is that this country, while it has been more or less conservative straight through its history, is clinging desperately to its past now more than ever. By this I mean we are trying to undo the years of success and movement we have had toward truly equal rights. Sounds like a big statement, I know: let me finish. When I look at conservative views of abortion, birth control, womens rights, minority rights, the rights of the poor, rights of the homosexual community,welfare, medicaid, and a whole slew of other areas pertaining to the previously ignored groups in this country and ignored relations with other countries, I am completely saddened and very disheartened. And yet we move more and more towards conservativism with this president, with this cabinet and with this supreme court. So I ask myself, why is it when we have made so much headway in terms of actual, geniune equal standing that we as a people would try so hard to lean so far right and try to revoke those rights and turn around decisions and defund programs and force ourselves on other countries in " the same old ways"? The conclusion I came to is that we are scared. And who wouldn't be if you were in our position? I mean genuinely you see the hatred metered out to our troups in occupation of Iraq, you know we've been bombed by terrorists with something against us and our allies, I think we are right to be scared. But the thing that we are neglecting is that conservatism, racism, and type casting of certain religions all had a hand in bringing us to each situation we find ourselves in currently as a country . We made piece of this mess and as such we have to deal with it. So with this accurate fear in mind, people seem to believe that if we just go back to "then" and practice isolationism and keep people "in line" by giving the government more power over our rights and our movements then we will be safe. But safety is an illusion isnt it? Its an illusion we pay for in many small ways in our own individual lives and its an illusion we believe we can pay for and recieve guaranteed from our government. But its still an illusion to a degree. I mean dont get me wrong, there are safer choices and there are more reckless choices, my point is not that danger is lurking around every corner, my point is only that with this in mind, which seems like the more realistic view: dealing with problems in a way that is different from how we've handled things in the past and therefore maybe more innovative and up to date, or relying on the old ways that have brought us to where we are now, and have in many cases shown themselves not to work?Yes, they say history just keeps repeating itself, but then they also say that the definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over but expecting different results. But this is all just my opinion and who am I but some left of center, tree hugging, peace loving, neo hippy...right?