Social 'Conservatives' Are Not Real Conservatives

[Person Man]

Question:

Was it the case that the most powerful institution before the Industrial Revolution was the state/crown and that this changed with the advent of combustion, electricity, secularism, and other things like that and as a result, either 1) what being "liberal" or "conservative" at least changed for a while, or 2) that it never changed but simply what constituted "traditional authority" did?

That is, is there a case for a narrative where a conservative in 1723 supported a strong central government because it was, especially when it controlled religion, the dominant source of tradition and authority and if that same person was a vampire or a wizard and lived to 1923 without changing their underlying worldview, they would be more hostile toward centralized government because they then would see the source of traditional authority more vested in large businesses, their owners, and  independent-from-the-state religious figures of the community's dominant religion?