Conservatism is not about the size of government.

[Kantor]

I agree completely, and that's why I dislike the use of the word "conservative". It doesn't mean "conservative" at all: trying to constitutionally ban gay marriage, overturn all gun control legislation and prohibit abortion are not conservative, they are positively radical.

The political argument in Washington is between right-wing statists and left-wing statists, with the occasional libertarian (Kucinich on the left, Amash on the right) thrown in.