Excellent post by Daniel Larison. Excerpt:
Stanley is right that lack of interest in conservation, rejection of limits, opposition to austerity, and disapproval of pessimism make many Americans more likely to be Republican voters. These are also the reasons why temperamental and philosophical conservatism fares so poorly in the political coalition that identifies itself with ideological conservatism. If there is one thing truly alien to a conservative temperament, it is the rejection of limits. The Republican nominees believe that there ought not be any limits to American power in the world, and if they do exist at the moment they ought to be overcome. They are convinced that growth can be without limit as well. As far as they are concerned, acknowledging and respecting limits are the equivalent of embracing national decline. Unfortunately, it is exactly their rejection of limits that exhausts national strength and natural resources more quickly and hastens the coming of decline in the future.
Charles Cosimano 
cka2nd 
EngineerScotty 
All I can say is ‘amen’, Rod. I’d seen Daniel’s piece, and went to the original Telegraph op ed to which he had linked. The idea of speaking to a conservatism of limits is really difficult in the present context where ideology trumps philosophy, and where there has been a changing of the guard in terms of gatekeepers for the conservative perspective, from the Kirks, Buckleys and Burnhams of yore to the talk radio entertainers on your AM dial. But if yours is the kind of conservatism that embraces the importance of timeless values to culture and society, but recognizes the inappropriateness and impossibility of seeking to achieve the acceptance of those values through government edict, a conservatism of limits becomes your destination.
We cannot command the retreat of the oceans through industrial policy, the cultural renaissance of the Islamic world through imperial adventurism, or the conformity of the culture to the imagined perfection of the Ozzie and Harriet era through political mandate.
The only consistent thread is to recognize limits, and to work creatively within them.
Richard