At the end of this post, Erick Erickson of Redstate makes an interesting comment:
Ultimately though, and this is the key everybody is missing, we have arrived at this point because the leadership of the party has fundraised off its opposition to Obamacare in two campaign cycles, but has never aggressively sought to oppose it legislatively.
It's interesting because it reflects a thirty-five year reality that Republican voters never seem to grasp: The Republican Party may tell you they support a position, but that doesn't mean they intend to do anything about it -- except collect your money for the promise.
Social conservatives have waited thirty years for serious anti-abortion legislation. The only President who signed anti-same sex marriage legislation (now to his regret) was Bill Clinton. The Republicans held all of the levers of power for several years under GWB, and their version of tax reform never got a serious discussion. Neither Reagan nor Georgie had a lick of fiscal discipline. The GOP may be derided at the moment as the party of NO! -- but the only thing that's new is that the Marshall stacks are cranked to eleven. They fund raise off the prospect that they'll do things they've never done, and that it increasingly looks like they'll never do. What makes the Tea Party so scary to the Establishment GOP is the sudden realization that THOSE FOLKS ACTUALLY MEAN IT.
Erick, of course, is a Tea Party supporter, though he says,
“Tea party”, like “conservative” and “Republican”, has less meaning these days and I increasingly dislike using the word. Admittedly though, everyone would consider me one based on the general parameters of what the tea party is.
As such, give him credit: He actually means it. And he's correct -- the GOP Establishment doesn't mean it. Here's a tip, Erick: They never did. They like the money and/or energy you can supply them; but they never intended to fight the ACA, or abortion, or their idea of budget discipline, to their dying days. No, to their dying days, they've intended just one thing: To live well off fundraising from people who thought they meant what they said.