Thomas Edsall looks at the dilemmas facing members of the Christian Right as they try to settle on a Republican to back. He argues that the movement is still trying to adjust to the shifting opinions in the general electorate. This applies to the entire party as well:
The larger issue facing the Republican Party is how it will respond to political market forces, to the pressure of changes in public opinion. The party could open up beyond its core believers to accommodate old-school Republican moderates and hold on to its libertarians and still have decent size, strength and power.
But the country is going through a profound restructuring in moral and economic thinking and the danger for Republicans is that their current coalition might become obsolete. If the party doesn’t adapt, the alternative is that its power centers — the Christian right, anti-immigration forces, and proponents of policies that benefit the affluent at the expense of the less well-off — will refuse to adjust, in which case the party risks going the way of the Studebaker.
In 2301 we will be discussing parties soon enough and come to terms with their coalition nature - they each tend to be composed of groups that fight among each other for control.
