Look, folks, I hate to point this out but the Republican party has been the party of the aristocrats for its entire existence. Throughout that time they’ve incorporated other elements because neither money nor purity of heart makes a person’s vote count for more than that of anyone else.

This does not make them bad, any more than the Democratic history of being the populist party makes them always good. It is, however, reality.

Part of the GOP’s present problem is its schizophrenia, caused by the consequences of the aristocrats encouraging part of the populist (though exclusionary) to merge.

At the same time the Democrats have a problem as well, though it’s neither as severe nor as obvious at this time. That’s the fact they’ve let aristocrats of their own develop. They crushed their populists back in the 1960s, and the lack has made them vulnerable to the Republican’s coopted forces in a number of ways.

We have these multitudes of oppositional elements, and they have to split between two parties due to some errors in our governmental structure. The consequence is that both sides consist of uneasy partnerships, each member of which is trying to not only defeat the other ‘side’ but to dominate the partnership to which they belong. Right now the GOP is the most obvious - but it’s foolish to think they’re going to become what they used to be OR that the Democrats are immune to following the same path in the future.