I've heard things to the effect of "Conservatives have opposed all positive change." And while it may be true that the forces behind slavery, or against women's liberation, or whatever, were conservative forces, I think it's unfair to say that they're the same conservatives. Also, I think that there probably are some things that conservatives opposed that, rightly so, never got wide acceptance. We just aren't as familiar with these because they're losing causes, lost in the dustbin of society. (I can think of some examples. There are plenty of religious cults--Shakers or Oneida, for example--that promoted deviant (to the time) sexual behavior. Mandatory celibacy in the former case, and sex without marriage in the latter. These behaviors would have been opposed by conservative factions in the culture. And, indeed, they more-or-less died out. I think there may be a few Shakers still around. There may also be some movements in communist countries to raise children communally, or other social experiments that just didn't work
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