Rand Paul’s surprising new enemies: Why GOP establishment wants him to get crushed

The Republican Party created a monster: Its rabid base. And there's only one way to wrest the party back from it

HEATHER DIGBY PARTON

In a time of partisan gridlock and a political scene that’s become so dull and predictable that cable networks are devoting weeks of 24-hour news coverage to an airplane that doesn’t exist, progressive news junkies can turn to one bright spot to lift their spirits and feed their political souls: the open warfare breaking out between the various factions of the Republican coalition. The tension between the radicals and the establishment has been around for decades and the energy waxes and wanes depending on the circumstances. Even in the bright glow of the Reagan apotheosis, Newt Gingrich and his revolutionaries were making trouble from the back benches. But this time is a little different.

What makes this episode refreshing is not the Tea Party/far right screeching about the GOP establishment. That’s just their longtime business model. As the conservative movement godfather Richard Viguerie likes to say:

Sometimes a loss for the Republican Party is a gain for conservatives. Often, a little taste of liberal Democrats in power is enough to remind the voters what they don’t like about liberal Democrats and to focus the minds of Republicans on the principles that really matter. That’s why the conservative movement has grown fastest during those periods when things seemed darkest, such as during the Carter administration and the first two years of the Clinton White House.

Conservatives are, by nature, insurgents, and it’s hard to maintain an insurgency when your friends, or people you thought were your friends, are in power.

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http://www.salon.com/2014/04/16/rand_pauls_surprising_new_enemies_why_gop_establishment_wants_him_to_get_crushed/