I think one good measure of an ideology is how well it can be universally applied.
If an ideology can't easily be universally applied, then that is likely to merely be self serving to those who advocate it.
I think this is one problem with conservative ideology (by conservative, I mean, wanting to preserve traditional values), is that it can't easily be universally applied. A conservative from one culture, wouldn't want people from other cultures to be conservative, that is, to try and preserve their traditional beliefs. Conservatives often wish for individuals from other cultures to adopt their values, which would make those people progressives or liberals.
People who are the conservative within one culture are often those most at odds with conservative individuals from other cultures. Members of the Taliban are considered extremely conservative and their greatest enemies are conservatives of western culture. I would imagine that many of those who most oppose the Taliban in the US are those who would most likely be among it's ranks had they been raised in an Arab country.
Progressive/Liberal ideology doesn't have this problem. It can easily be Universally applied. Progressives from one culture will often relate most to progressives from other cultures.
(this entry used the word 'most' 4 times. 5 counting the last sentence. I tried to think of another word to use, so I would sound repetitive, but didn't think of one quickly so gave up)
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Although I hear this used by conservatives all the time, specifically with homosexuality. If everyone were gay it wouldn't work. That argument is obviously problematic but I guess that is one reason why I don't always find this idea applicable. We seem to count on the fact that everyone is different to make things work. If everyone were an artist or a lawyer or a janitor things wouldn't work. Jobs obviously aren't ideologies but there are some correlations.
I think the difference between ideology and behavior/sexual orientation/career are vast enough that it is difficult to infer one principle from using the other.
For example, while it may not work if everyone were a homosexual, it would work very well if everyone had the ideology that homosexuality is okay. The world wouldn't work well if everyone were a janitor, but it would if everyone held the belief that janitors perform a necessary role.
There is one area where I think it is important to have conservatives though. Without a group of people questioning and fighting progress, it is likely that change would come about too fast and unchecked. Communism for example. Without conservatives, it is possible America would have become a communist country some time last century and history has shown that probably wouldn't have been good.
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