How sad and infuriating it is to read and hear how many times the Bush-Cheney administration as well as members and supporters, are referred to as "conservatives."

The brilliant and notable personages who created the synergy in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century London that ultimately bore the name conservative would, were they alive today, rhetorically kick and scream at virtually every policy move that the Bush-Cheney neoconservative team sprang on the American people.

The name that above all others is linked to the word conservative and the creative thinking behind it is Edmund Burke.  While Burke wrote a great deal, the effort that has received the greatest continuing attention from historians and political scientists is "Reflections on the Revolution in France."  

In this seminal work Burke reveals why he supported the American Revolution while opposing that in France.  Both revolutions occurred during the final quarter of the eighteenth century.  Burke's position was substantiated by rapidly advancing events.  He stood on the fundamental principle that governments need be based on laws advanced by men to protect the liberties of their citizens.