What's conservatism in a nutshell?

It's justice/righteousness prudentially applied

it's recognition that some things are established and you may not understand why, and so you should wrestle with them until you do, because most likely the established wisdom of the ages past surpasses your current, individual, small portion of wisdom

that's why one should study history, to see how things happened, so they can in many ways understand what's possible, and what's not possible

conservatism in Burke's sense promotes justice first

but it then looks to established wisdom

and says, you don't have a right to destroy what's been preserved for you so that those who come after you cannot enjoy it as you did

but because justice comes first it says, just because something is established doesn't make it good

there could be established injustice

now, here is where conservatism and prudential political action comes into play

wisdom and righteousness would say the following

suppose some injustice exists in the establishment which is currently being tolerated

prudential wisdom would say the following

you have a right to reform if you can alleviate the injustice, engendering more justice, as long as your reform does not elicit new injustices

thus, if you cannot relieve a current injustice without creating other injustice, you ought to leave it be for the time being, but continue to strive in thought for a reform

thus, conservatism, conserves what's good, and illustrates that reform is good, but good reform is hard

and such should be the case for disrupting the social structure and cultural environment of a people

another fundamental feature of true conservatism is the religious component

one must have faith to be a true conservative because a true conservative must recognize the fallenness of man

only such humility will keep a man from too much action and tether him to justice

the man who fears God will fear judgment pertaining to any injustice he commits

likewise, the man who fears God need not fear man, and so is more concerned with righteousness/justice than what men think