I can come up with the following starters:
1. The nation is more than a collection of individuals. The nation exists as an entity in its own right. The support and defense of the nation is an important responsibility of each citizen within the nation.
2. Government has a specific purpose that is not given by the Constitution, but is outlined in it. The purpose is to uphold the rights of the individual as given by G-d. This isn't written in the Constitution, it is written in the Declaration of Independence. Sometimes the Government best secures those rights by being active. Sometimes it best secures those rights by being inactive. But securing those rights is its goal at all times. Note, the Government does not secure the blessings of those rights. That is up to the individual. You receive your rights. What you do with them is up to you.
3. It is very difficult for men to walk the fine lines which the role of Government calls them to walk. It takes nearly infinite knowledge and a perfect thought process to avoid the law of unintended consequences. Men have neither. Therefore, when making Governmental decisions one should look at the vast sweep of history and stick with what has worked in the past. Note: This doesn't mean to blindly be a slave to tradition. When what has been tried in the past has failed, it should be abandoned. When it has succeeded, it should be advanced with all the strength we have.
Those are foundational principles of conservatism, as I see it. If the GOP no longer holds to those principles, perhaps it is no longer conservative.
I certainly agree with you, OWK, that the GOP has not effectively rallied conservatives. I wish they would stop trying to follow our culture and lead so they could again become a conservative party.
Shalom.
"The purpose is to uphold the rights of the individual as given by G-d."
What an interesting set of principles. The first has collectivist overtones; the second sounds resolutely individualistic. With them, I think you have captured nicely the essence of modern conservatism -- sometimes collectivist, sometimes individualistic... but always conflicted.