re: #97 Killgore Trout

Possibly but not by force. The Republican insiders rolled over for the Tea Party. They are/were in a tough spot. Reagan, Bush were all happy to exploit the old standby of the religious right but there’s nothing of substance the political machine could deliver them. School prayer, outlawing abortion, etc are all political dead ends. The churches and preachers make a great established ‘grass roots” infrastructure but the agenda and public image were demographic dead ends. My guess is they saw the “libertarian” repackaging as an image makeover. Kind of like rebooting a movie franchise. Update the costumes and aesthetics, add a few catch phrases and relaunch a younger hipper brand. It didn’t work out for them.

even after you subtract the tea party and other varieties of wingnut, i find myself wondering what is worthwhile about the policies of the republican party