G. O. P. & G-O-D

Two views of conservatism/Republicanism, one from self-styled "crunchy con" (Sounds awful, dunnit?) Rod (Tee hee!) Dreher, who thinks the conservative/Republican movement is composed of

Traditionalist conservatives [who] focused on questions of cultural and social health; libertarian conservatives [who] were more concerned about the economy and the overweening state. The two tribes sometimes fought bitterly, but they eventually reconciled and established what has been for nearly half a century a successful political partnership

& one from Neal Gabler, whose take is a little different.

The creation myth of modern conservatism usually begins with Barry Goldwater, the Arizona senator who was the party's presidential standard-bearer in 1964 and who, even though he lost in one of the biggest landslides in American electoral history, nevertheless wrested the party from its Eastern establishment wing. Then, Richard Nixon co-opted conservatism, talking like a conservative while governing like a moderate, and drawing the opprobrium of true believers. But Ronald Reagan embraced it wholeheartedly, becoming the patron saint of conservatism and making it the dominant ideology in the country. George W. Bush picked up Reagan's fallen standard and "conservatized" government even more thoroughly than Reagan had, cheering conservatives until his presidency came crashing down around him. That's how the story goes. But there is another rendition of the story of modern conservatism, one that doesn't begin with Goldwater and doesn't celebrate his libertarian orientation. It is a less heroic story, and one that may go a much longer way toward really explaining the Republican Party's past electoral fortunes and its future. In this tale, the real father of modern Republicanism is Sen. Joe McCarthy, and the line doesn't run from Goldwater to Reagan to George W. Bush; it runs from McCarthy to Nixon to Bush and possibly now to Sarah Palin. It centralizes what one might call the McCarthy gene, something deep in the DNA of the Republican Party that determines how Republicans run for office, and because it is genetic, it isn't likely to be expunged any time soon.

That would be the gene, as Gabler goes on to demonstrate, that allows Republican candidates to campaign on platforms of fear, resentment, jingoism & every other pathetic emotion to which the species is prey. Karl Rove is only the latest in a long line of dividers/polarizers, & so-called Reagan Democrats are really Nixon Democrats.