Governor Tiny has the chattering classes talking about the brewing fight between “libertarians” and “conservatives” over the direction of the GOP.  Here’s a representative example of the coverage. The writer labels one side the establishment and the other insurgents, but calling the GOP conservative is serious error. That’s the official line, but that’s gratuitous nonsense. America’s ruling elites range from fanatically left-wing to mildly liberal. They agree on everything, except how fast to proceed. That’s the only dispute.

The Republicans are mostly a governor on the Democrats. The Democrats want to rush off and implement their latest fads right now, while the Republicans try to slow them down, but largely supporting them. These “cooler heads” used to be in the Democrat party, but they were chased off in the 1990’s. In every fight, the establishment types find some reason to give into the Left on most of what they want. Not everyone is happy with this arrangement.  As Michael Walsh noted on NRO, it is a good time to have the fight.

It makes for some good theater, but nothing changes until there is catastrophe. That’s why every epoch is book-ended by violent conflicts and great turmoil. The people in charge like the ways things are, so they will not fundamentally alter anything. It’s only when the system becomes unstable or untenable that change can happen. The old guard will not leave quietly, so that means a new guard will have to force them out. That’s the best case scenario, but that’s not the way to bet. What comes next is not going to be pleasant.