The problem with conservatism is that it hasn't rose to have a downfall. To fall, you actually had to rise up. Look at your government. Look at its trajectory since World War 2. Conservatism has never succeeded, never been the ruling philosophy of government since FDR. You had Reagan, the one conservative president (if you don't count Kennedy). He managed to moderate temporarily the trajectory towards today's soft socialism - for a brief time. But that has been over for more than 30 years. Conservatism exists only in a relatively few people's minds. It is in practice nowhere. It is now, today, the emptiest of empty slogans. A near religious mantra to be uttered at election time like a visit to the confessional.
Conservatism cannot fall. It never rose in the first case. It is an empty platitude.
Reagan was a man, and served in an era which, which have become a "conservative" mythology not unlike Camelot.
Based on his entire political life he could also be called a liberal and or democrat, much like some do with Trump now.
Your assessment is a great starting place for accepting reality, and deciding what is practical, realistic, sellable in todays American society.
A continuing commitment to (mostly) free market capitalism,
(readily admitting we do not have it now and won't go backwards to it)
Smaller, not larger government (has not been done in modern times)
Lower, not higher taxes (Kennedy, Reagan)
Fewer, not more services (reduce dependency, Gingrich/Clinton)
Greater military strength, but fewer wars (Reagan)
Wars that settle matters, not go on forever (Eisenhower)
Social issues belong in families and churches. Quit using schools to indoctrinate kids.
