[Pelayo]

LoL... that def is so meaningless it fits perfectly in this situation. "Republican" has no specific definition beyond "anti-royalist" and "anti-monarchical." Forming a party around that has no meaning in the modern world (and it certainly isn't conservative). It used to be the abolition party, then the party of reform, then the party of industry, then for a long time nothing until it became the party of anti-socialism/communism (which if you ask me is ironic and I think was partly, at least originally, a faux agenda merely as a response to the democrats, who seemed to be the party FOR socialism & communism.) "Conservatism" hasn't ever been a practical platform as such, because it's ambiguous. Evidently the public isn't buying the "party of anti-terrorism."

[unspun]

Well... the principles of the formation and maintenance of the American republic are very well thought out, very well described, and to a great degree, exhibited in our history and documents.

Hardly meaningless.