I am not saying this to be facetious either.
The concept of science is literally at odds with the notions of conservatism. Conservatism is rooted in monarchical government of the 17th and 18th centuries. The founders of conservatism cut their teeth defending the French and English monarchies during the time of the French Revolution. While the ideas of the Enlightenment were typically advanced by and participated in by the more affluent (aristocracy) they certainly began to challenge the old notions of religion and predetermination, which were paramount to monarchical power.
Science is a method of investigation aimed at trying to understand the natural world by postulation, testing and refinement. You absolutely HAVE TO be open to new information and ideas. You CANNOT practice good science without being open to the idea that your observations can be disproven and that they will have to change in the presence of new, tested and verified information. This process is antithetical to any ideology that "values tradition".
There is an old joke that I think sums up conservatism and liberalism well.
A family is preparing their Thanksgiving turkey, the husband prepares the bird and cuts off a chunk of the front and back portions of the turkey continues dressing it and puts it into the oven. The daughter asks her father, "why did you cut the ends off?', to which the dad says, "it's a special Thanksgiving tradition honey". The little girl eager to find out what this tradition is about asks her grandmother, "Grandma, why do we cut the ends off the turkey?" To which the grandma replies, "Family tradition darling". Not satisfied, the girl continues to press until frustrated, the family says, "There is one person who might know how the tradition started. He is grandma's great uncle and he is 100 years old. He was around when your great-great grandparents were alive. We'll call to see if he knows. They call and the man, still sharp for 100 years old, says, "What? Tradition? We cut the ends off because back in those days, the oven was too small to fit the entire turkey".
Traditions, that carry meaning, can be important cultural signifiers. The fact that species earlier in the genus Homo, were burying their dead and ritualizing the process, shows our development of a self conceptualizing animal. We still follow the tradition, and will likely continue to do so with various tweaks as we continue to move through time. Conservatives however, seem to want to hold on to traditions for different reasons, which are not supported by evidence and function.
The problem is that conservatism is an anachronistic ideology. Something that SHOULD be left in the past. There is value in being conservative on a personal level. There are traditions worth having and we don't want to change for the sake of change, but conservatism as a political ideology is bankrupt and based on old outdated assumptions. The problem is that it has made and kept some people very rich and very powerful so people are going to fight to keep it, and they will lie to the gullible to enlist them as foot soldiers in the cause. People like Charlie Kirk, who is a failson, just an idiot who happens to have a rich father with rich friends. Kirk is an absolute moron, yet he has a media platform and organization that gets to sit in front of Congress to provide bullshit testimony.
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