Although he doesn’t use the phrase, Douglas Wilson explains what happens when conservative’s lack a robust moral imagination:

One of the biggest problems that conservatives have is that of sharing the liberal view of history. They both believe the same thing is inevitable, but one is for it and the other is against it. This makes the conservative (the one against) the one who is always tagging along behind, trying to keep up appearances with a respectable amount of growling. But he believes, as much as the liberal does, that the fix is in.

But this actually means that most conservatives are liberals in their view of history. They think they can decorate their freight train of liberalism with a bit of opposition bunting, but the freight train is still going to the same place.

This is why the idea of actual victory (as defined by an actual change of direction) is so hard for people to get their minds around. We think that all debates are just over speed of implementation. The liberals want to wreck the country in three years, while conservatives want to do it in ten.