The Gathering Storm within the GOP

[Geee]

American Thinker:

Though all conservative hands must be on deck for Mitt Romney between now and November 6, there is little doubt that from that day forward, America will witness the final foundation-shaking battle in a long war -- namely, a fight for the heart of the Republican Party. Either the current, longstanding GOP establishment will finally cede control of the official banner of political conservatism, or the traditional two-party system, and with it the American republic, will dissolve.

That there is a GOP establishment ought to go without saying, although this self-evident fact has been vehemently denied by a few of the establishment's most prominent representatives. These denials ought to be a heartening source of amusement to anti-establishment conservatives, as they confirm the extreme degree to which the old guard fails to recognize its exposure, and the severity of the light that has been cast upon it of late.

The definitive quality of an establishmentarian is, of course, the quality of being "established." Being established, in general usage, means having a secure place, and being firmly entrenched in one's respected status within a social structure. Being a member of a political establishment entails being aligned with, and firmly entrenched within, the presiding power structure.

The primary argument used to deny the existence of a Republican establishment is to point out that there are differing opinions among its alleged members. In fact, internal disagreement does nothing to countervail the reality of an establishment, as it is a given that any broad group of people in the business of creating, advocating, and defending policy positions will be beset with factionalism among its members.

No one but a dyed-in-the-wool conspiracy theorist believes that the establishment is literally a homogeneous group, a club with initiation rituals and a secret handshake. Rather, the establishment is that collection of men and women who have had prominent and "respected" roles in directing party platform and policy for a generation or more, along with those who have subsequently been absorbed into the higher reaches of the party's intellectual and electoral structure through a gradual and implicit vetting process carried out by the various party elders within the existing framework.