Brooksie nails it

Brooks is amazingly inconsistent. He’ll go weeks in row with unimpressive, routine, sometime bizarre, hash. Then, he’ll nail one.

Like this one on the future of conservatism (aka the Republican Party).

Without taking sides, or expressing any personal preference, this last paragraph seems to be absolutely correct:

The debate between the camps (“Traditionalist” vs. “Reformist” Conservatives) is heating up.

Only one thing is for sure: In the near term, the Traditionalists are going to win the fight for supremacy in the G.O.P.

They are going to win, first, because Congressional Republicans are predominantly Traditionalists. Republicans from the coasts and the upper Midwest are largely gone. Among the remaining members, the popular view is that Republicans have been losing because they haven’t been conservative enough.

Second, Traditionalists have the institutions. Over the past 40 years, the Conservative Old Guard has built up a movement of activist groups, donor networks, think tanks and publicity arms. The reformists, on the other hand, have no institutions.

Yep. the reformists, seem to me, to consist of Brooks and Ross Douthat and a few other columnists. Wow, are they gonna get clobbered in the coming years of the GOP.