The Republican Party

The Republican Party (often GOP for Grand Old Party) is one of the two major political parties in the United States. The current President of the United States, George W. Bush, is a member of the party – and by rules common to both major U.S. parties, its head – and it has majorities in the Senate and the House. The GOP is a conservative (or right-wing) party, and it has numerous internal factions.
The party was organized in Ripon, Wisconsin on February 28, 1854, as a party opposed to the westward expansion of slavery. It is not to be confused with the Democratic-Republican party of Thomas Jefferson or the National Republican Party of Henry Clay. The first convention of the U.S. Republican Party was held on July 6, 1854, in Jackson, Michigan. Many of its initial policies were inspired by the defunct Whig Party. Many of its early members came from the Free Soil Party and American Party. Since its inception, its chief opposition has been the Democratic Party.
Today, its primary political principles include deregulated free-market capitalism (excepting corporate tax breaks and subsidies), along with nationalism, religiosity, social conservatism, privatization of social security, Pro-Life stance on abortion, and opposition of federal funding for abortions, and opposition to gay rights. Refer below (Factions of the Republican Party) for a detailed explication of its ideological spectrum