The United States was founded when the colonists revolted against the greed and privilege of the English aristocracy, who continually sucked wealth from English citizens and the colonials.  It was not merely a case of being against taxes per se, but against taxing the hard working people of the 13 colonies to enrich the privileged English aristocracy.  It is worth noting at this point that there were many people living in the colonies who were more sympathetic to the English aristocracy than to the revolution, and those were not liberals; the revolution was a new (i.e., liberal) idea, the conservatives were quite happy with the way things were. 

The core values of conservatives have not changed since then, and conservatives will be the first to admit it.  They still believe in the special rights of a conservative aristocracy, which is reflected in the  way they voice contempt against what they describe as the “liberal elite.”  But the word “elite” has its origin in the Latin eligere, which means “to choose.” It is the same root from which we get our words “elect” and “election.”  Aristocrats are born and liberals are chosen.