[lliamander]

> conservatives see it as a power tool.

That is not an accurate statement of the conservative view of government regulation.

I think a more accurate description of the difference would be to look at Jonathan Haidt's Moral Foundations theory, and in particular how the political left and the political right understand the idea of "fairness"[1]. I think it is our ideas about fairness that primarily drive the different views of regulation.

What is that difference? Well, as you said about social democrats, I think that people on the left view regulation primarily as a way to protect the little guy. Conservatives see it as a way to ensure that rewards are proportional to one's contribution and merit.

[1]https://moralfoundations.org/

[tgv]

I agree I used the word conservatives too loosely, mainly to avoid the word "liberal". Indeed, there are ideological conservatives. However, they are few. Very few: it's a bit of an intellectual thing. In the political right, they are vastly outnumbered by other movements. Large factions among those are economic (European, not US) liberals, populists, and authoritarians. None of these have morals of contribution and merit.