Conservatism and Pessimism

George Will explains why he became a conservative:

"Rooting for the Cubs of the late 1940s and early 1950s, I became gloomy, pessimistic, morose, dyspeptic-in a word, conservative."

I'd always thought that conservatives were supposed to be the optimistic ones. People on the Left are always complaining about how they're being oppressed by corporations, white people, and the bourgeois. I also find that white people on the Left are especially gloomy because they're always feeling guilty because they think they're the cause of the current condition of African Americans, the environment, and whatever else is a victim this season.

Conservatives on the other hand are generally people of faith who believe that hard work will pay off in a free market economy. Shouldn't they be the optimistic ones?

But maybe Will is referring to conservatives of the 1940's, who were understandably gloomy under FDR and Truman. In that case, we'd all be pessimistic.