[T]he GOP ... increasingly looks like internecine warfare between wealthy paternalism and eschatonic populism.
I've taken to calling the modern right-wing movement "post-Voegelinian conservatism" -- as bad as old Buckley was when it came to, oh, all the critical social movements of the 20th century, at least he wasn't into immanentizing the eschaton as the new radical right are wont to do.
Incidentally, if you haven't read Lowi's End of the Republican Era, do check it out. He was about two decades early on his diagnosis, but he accurately sets up the conflict between the Mark Hanna business-friendly versus the Falwell-inspired culture war wings of the party.
Left and right are just an illusion - a kind of very expensive theater to distract and make people think they have a choice.
All that smoke and mirrors just hides the fact that the incumbents run everything and don't really care what anyone else thinks as long as they continue in power.
I've taken to calling the modern right-wing movement "post-Voegelinian conservatism" -- as bad as old Buckley was when it came to, oh, all the critical social movements of the 20th century, at least he wasn't into immanentizing the eschaton as the new radical right are wont to do.
Incidentally, if you haven't read Lowi's End of the Republican Era, do check it out. He was about two decades early on his diagnosis, but he accurately sets up the conflict between the Mark Hanna business-friendly versus the Falwell-inspired culture war wings of the party.