If you ask someone who has studied political science, they will tell you that Liberal is the view that individual rights matter, and that supremacy of the group

If you ask someone who has studied political science, they will tell you that Liberal is the view that individual rights matter, and that supremacy of the group should be allowed to suffer if it infringes on the rights of individuals. Conservative is the view that the supremacy of the group is paramount. Conservatism is what backed monarchies and imperialism and justified slavery and all manner of mistreatment of large numbers of individuals in the name of aggrandizing the group (whether that be the state, church, whatever). Conservatism on that scale had been on the decline from the late 1700s up to the end of the 20th century. I'm not sure any more. With the little letters, the split between conservative and liberal normally comes down to how the "rules of the game" are seen. Little-c conservatives are willing to cheat and change the rules of the game and do whatever necessary for their tribe to win. Little-l liberals are not willing to cheat, and see the 'rules' being fair as more important than whether their tribe rules supreme or not. There's lots of research supporting a notion that this sort of divide is very real in people, potentially even biological in origin (though I do not personally believe we are even capable of determining something like that yet), and active successful exploitation of the idea by advertisers, politicians, and others seeking to influence the public for one reason or another.