Local conformal symmetry: The missing symmetry component for space and time

Local conformal symmetry is usually considered to be an approximate symmetry of nature, which is explicitly and badly broken. Arguments are brought forward here why it has to be turned into an exact symmetry that is spontaneously broken. As in the BEH mechanism in Yang-Mills theories, we then will have a formalism for disclosing the small-distance structure of the gravitational force. The symmetry could be as fundamental as Lorentz invariance, and guide us towards a complete understanding of physics at the Planck scale.