It's always the same. Scaremonger about change until the change is made then pretend they were always on the right side of history.
Conservatives exist to oppose, correct. And there is a place for sensible conservatism that ensures progressive reform is measured and considered.
Unfortunately, the modern conservative seems to oppose something simply because it is "the evil socialist left" trying to implement it.
The new way of getting progressive reform seems to be chipping away at the moderate conservatives to get them to implement the reforms themselves (therefore they get the "credit", despite being their party being the reason why the reform hasn't already been introduced).
America's main problem is that these "moderate Conservatives" now lead the Democrats, and the Republicans have gone off the spectrum to the right.