Considering I am ‘conservative’ I don’t find my premise inaccurate.
There is nothing at all wrong with taking a ‘wait and see’ approach to ‘new theories’. Most of them end being up wrong.
As far as ‘new deal’ economics I don’t see a lot of conservative opposition to ‘Social Security’ for the elderly. Some conservatives will argue that it shouldn’t be ‘means tested’, even fewer will argue that it shouldn’t exist at all.
The vast majority of conservatives have accepted ‘some portion’ of ‘New Deal’ economics as necessary. The discussion has moves from ‘should we have a social safety net’ to ‘the size and shape’ of the social safety net.
Too generous a safety net produces a lot of free loaders and a resulting loss of productivity which makes us all poorer…too small produces a lot of unnecessary suffering.