system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
Perhaps a better way to clarify part of the difference is that progressives think the current system is deeply flawed and needs overhauling, while conservatives ‘conserve’, they think the status quo and the former system are good and they resist changes.
gpt
Plus the good stuff that conservatives want to keep, liberals don't want to change. So the conflict is over introducing new concepts or expanding existing ones and the conservatives resist moving away from the negative stuff like racism and sexism even though addressing those issues would fit their freedom mantra if they just understood they are not under attack by being told to stop being jerks. Sometimes they backtrack on progress to what they remember as children as well. 

Examples: Gay marriage, racial equality, and gender equality are all things that should align with their values of personal freedom but they want to conserve the status quo they know of where gays were in the closet and both minorities 'knew their place'.