The conservative idea of literature is that everything that had to be written has already been written in an ancient times. Therefore what has been written must never be challenged. And everything that is written in present times must agree with what was written in ancient times.

The conservative idea of science is that all the science we need was already in existence in ancient times. Therefore, we aren't really inventing anything new. And if a discovery we make now contradicts what "ancient science" teaches, then the new thing must be wrong.

The conservative idea of politics is that ancient power structures were ideal. If anyone questions them, they are wrong. In fact, the ideal society is one where we all return to the discriminations of the past. And the categories that are asserting themselves now must be denied.

The conservative idea of the future is that it's a nuisance. The present is terrible and that's because we did the future thing in the past. The past was great. And the future would be amazing if we could all just return to the past somehow. Ideally, we should avoid the future.