I view DailyKos as a surprisingly conservative venue.
Conservative is not really a bad word, no more than liberal.
It is conservative to stand up for paying bills on time. Every good conservative hates a deadbeat. The Bush Administration is hocking our children's paychecks for future taxes to pay down debt before our children are even born. Who is the conservative - the anti=debt pay-as-you-go Kossack or the borrow-like-hell and tax-the-diaper-babies-when-we-are-old-and-wearing-Depends Bush Administration>
It is conservative to believe that if you play, and you lose, you take your lumps like a man. By this stretch, Lamont is a conservative; if Lieberman wins the Democratic primary, Lamont will back him all the way to the Senate.
It is conservative to revere the Bible. Not just the parts describing sexual practices between men; despite the rumors, other topics do appear in that book. The parts about not standing idly by at our brother's blood, that it is "justice, justice" that we must pursue (Tzedek tzedek tirdof), that we must stand by the widow and the orphan, not make widows and orphans for a deceitful, vain cause. The parts against bearing false witness against our neighbor and against boastfulness, though in fairness were these commandments to be strictly followed no government would open for business at 9:00 AM.
It is conservative to believe that you do not tinker with a government's operating software for a foolish purpose. You do not propose a "flag desecration" amendment because a few baby boomers lit a flag on fire in the age of bell bottoms. You do not propose an amendment banning gay marriage in all 50 states order to stoke a theocratic rabble to the polls. You do not erase the parts of the country's operative software firewall against tyranny that are inconvenient to your task list. There is a reason why the constitution is hard to amend; it is because no one can be trusted with unlimited "admin rights" over the way of life of 300 million people.
It is conservative to believe in independence (Yay!) and in not funding your enemies by buying critical resources from them. It is conservative and patriotic to say no to the pump, to take public transit, to live modestly when practical, to combine trips in a spirit of thrift and eschewal of the Dennis Kozlowski-esque excesses of our benighted age. Thrift and modesty have vanished from the vocabulary of the modern religious lexicon, save for the conservatives like the Memmonites, the Amish and the Quakers. It is conservative to find something to do in a period of national mourning other than to go to the mall.
It is conservative to have a skeptical view of nation-building after an intense period of nation wrecking. George Bush said so before he began saying the exact opposite after Bin Laden attacked us. When Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, the conservative thing to do is... to go to war with Japan. Not to strafe bomb the shit out of Tijuana. Likewise, attacking Iraq for being, well, Arab and obnoxious and tyrannical, made no sense in 2003. So of course it took a mound of non-conservative bullshitting to get it done. What would Ike have done? (Isn't Ike your favorite conservative, more and more each day?)
It is conservative to think that government should not be for sale, that bribery is a jailable offense, not a tool of partisan funding and that defense contractors should provide value for value, not a cushy ass for anyone. It is conservative to resent welfare queens. Like Halliburton.
It is conservative to think that warrantless snooping in other people's homes, papers and electronic records is un-American. It is conservative to believe that your home is your castle and the government cannot spy into your home without neutral proof of probable cause.
So in a spirit of patriotic goodwill and charity toward all, I wish all of us conservatives a very happy Independence Day.