Could America's Republicans learn from UK Conservatives?

[Cephus]

You have to remember that most of the upper echelon of the Republican Party aren't conservatives, they are neo-cons, made up of largely disenfranchised Southern Democrats who left the Democratic Party under Nixon's Southern Strategy.  They are religious fundamentalist liberals at heart, they don't follow any of the classic markers of conservatism:  fiscal responsibility, personal responsibility, small government and keeping the government out of the business of the people.  In most regards, the Republicans have far more in common with the liberals than they do with the conservatives.