Liberal and Conservative - A suggested definition

Politically in the US, I am experimenting with a definition of terms for Conservative and Liberal: Posit that the topic of discussion is Political Liberty. To begin with, there are Close appliers and Lax appliers. The Lax applier can rarely expect to understand why he encounters a problem or contradiction in his application of his philosophy - it may simply be a mistake. Whereas the Close applier will try to be sure that it is the rule, and not his application that has conflicted within itself. To say the least, it disturbs the Close applier far more to find a contradiction than a Lax applier, since it may call on him to change his philosophy, whereas the Lax applier does not necessarily feel this need - it may just be a mistake. Having spoken of Close and Lax application, we turn to Conservatives: What are they preserving? I posit that they are not merely conserving the status quo, but rather that they seek to preserve Old Liberties. The Liberal, by contrast is seeking to bring New Liberties, and thus will agitate for change more often. This "explains" the bias of Close appliers in Conservative groups, while the Lax applier defaults to Liberal more often. This would go along with the CIA recruiting heavily from Liberal Universities... they seek to bring new freedoms to others.