×
Jon Henke has an interesting post detailing the "three main factions within the Republican Party," and examining how they could clash or compromise en route to a conservative restoration. He identifies:
1) Progressive Republicans (aka: Teddy Roosevelt Republicans) - These are the Republicans who may be solid allies on many issues, but who also seem to want a Great Leader who can do Big Things. They are Crusader Conservatives - generally reliable on limited government, but willing to go off on Big Government crusades.2) Goldwater Republicans - These Republicans vote for limited government, individual liberty and strong defense; they may have various opinions on social issues, but they subsume those views to the goal at hand: limiting government.3) Bush Republicans - these voters may or may not care about limited government, but they're willing to accept Big Government, so long as the government does socially conservative things.It's possible that Henke is tucking this group under "Progressive Republicans," but I'm skeptical of any taxonomy of the modern conservative party that doesn't have a specific place for "War on Terror" Republicans or some equivalent category. So far as I can tell, the primary emotional commitment of the Republican base -- and of Bush, and of McCain -- is a hardline take on a diffuse group of projects and countries grouped under the "War on Terror" rubric. This aggressive posture towards Middle Eastern countries picked almost at random has been, for the past few years, the coherent thread in the Republican Party, even as social conservatism has proben malleable and fiscal conservatism and civil liberties gave been tossed out the window.
