Depends on your definition of "conservative," I think, Mark. I don't really think there *is* a center -- there are too many other viewpoints. Truth is, conservatives and progressives agree on a lot of basic ideals (at least in America). Stuff like the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and fundamental freedoms FROM and freedoms TO.

Your new generation of neo-conservatives should repulse both sides, but they have very effectively convinced the vast majority of conservatives that they are on their side.

"Liberal" is a word that has become so tainted in the US that is bears no resemblance to what many of us grew up thinking of as a political philosophy. I fear that conservative is moving in the same direction -- but unlike former liberals, conservatives aren't letting go of the handle even though it means lumping them in with some very unsavory fundamentalist and fascist types.