Does conservative mean?

The Republicans continue to argue about who is a real conservative. Good question. Those of us who are older can remember that when Pres. Kennedy try to get Congress to pass a tax cut lowering the then marginal high rate of 91% he was stymied by conservative Republicans. They were worried about balancing the budget. Starting with Reagan at least,"Conservatives "never see a tax cut they don't like. If revenues are too high they cut taxes, if growth is too low they cut taxes and I am quite sure they believe cutting taxes will cure cancer. On the deficit side, when Reagan tripled the national deficit and was asked if he was not worried about the big deficits he was running, he said "they are big enough to take care of themselves. 'Cheney said deficits don't matter. All of the current candidates, Particularly Trump Cruise and Bush propose tax cuts creating anywhere from $6-$10 trillion in deficits in a decade. But Of course they claim these tax cuts will create incredible growth, thereby erasing deficits by increased tax revenues. The most charitable thing said about such voodoo economic proposals is that they are"implausible ".

Traditionally conservatives were isolationists as far as foreign-policy is concerned. Now the neocons seem to have taken over and they never see a potential invasion of another country that doesn't appeal to them. The foreign policy statements of the current republican candidates are so muddled and contradictory that is impossible to know what a "conservative" foreign-policy would look like.

Conservatives we're traditionally for free-trade. The current republican presumptive nominee appears to be in favor of erecting trade barriers. He and Paul Ryan apparently disagree on this.

So, what does being a conservative mean? It means whatever you wanted to mean, and if you are a candidate it means whatever that particular candidate says at any particular time. Or, as Shakespeare said it is sound and fury signifying nothing.