Up with the Establishment and Other Heresies
McDaniel thinks: “Let’s have a smaller party without any elder statesmen and with no one allowed who does not meet the McDaniel standards of ideological purity.” Of course, McDaniel’s only candidate is Mr. Anti-Establishment, Ted Cruz, who has spent his time in the Senate alienating almost every one of his Republican colleagues.
I hate, loathe, despise, and abominate the kind of ecclesial establishments I describe above. And, while I am a bona fide member of the “down with the establishment generation,” I believe in establishments. I do not consider the word “establishment” a pejorative. Every organization needs an establishment. A establishment is the keeper of corporate memory. Establishments conserve and transmit the organization’s values and traditions. Establishments provide continuity and stability. Establishments have the apparatus by which to run and win elections. Establishments make it possible to run a government to govern effectively. Establishments are organization parents – the kids indulge themselves while the adults keep things stable. This year, if the Republican Party survives, and it may not (the insurgents would really like to see it burned to the ground), and if either Trump or Cruz gets the nomination and the expected disaster follows, the Republican establishment will have to pick up the pieces and try to rebuild the Party.
Just a Curmudgeon
3/4/16
Magnolia Tribune
