Conservatism at its core

Here are the basic tenants of conservatism in bold.
I believe that conservatism is generally defined by as little government intervention in our lives as possible.
Our Declaration of Independence prescribes that each citizen has certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Right to Life: Abortion laws obviously restrict a person's life and have been incorrectly inserted into our legislative system. To restate, you can't enjoy any American freedoms or rights if you don't make it out of the womb!
A strong national defense helps ensure life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness
Private property rights provide incentive for citizens to pursue happiness, work, and live freely
Low taxes and free markets help ensure a thriving, capitalist economy (Additionally, capitalism doesn't discriminate on the basis of skin color, age, gender, or other handicap)
Strong belief in the first and second amendments (Right to free speech, religion, press, bear arms)
Belief in self reliance, personal responsibility, and the potential within every American life. We are all capable of so much more than we usually imagine. If we just push ourselves, we can accomplish greatness.
There are others issues like the sanctity of marriage between a man and woman, immigration, and support of strict constructionism judges which are important.
In closing, I think the 10th amendment of the Bill of Rights is often forgotten. "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

This tells me that a federal government that has taken over our income (IRS), our property (eminent domain laws, tax assessors, and closing paperwork), our retirement (Social Security), our health care (Medicare, Medicaid and now nationalized health care), our private industries like automobile manufacturers, banking, mortgage, and insurance, etc. is way, way too big and powerful. This huge bureaucracy called the federal government is still growing and has already violated this 10th amendment to the US Constitution.

In short, get out of the way, big brother, and allow Americans to live our lives in happiness and freedom!