Like all political parties, the Liberal Party is a coalition of ideologues and opportunists: those who enter politics to get something done, and those who are in it for something to do. It has ever been thus.
What has changed is the correspondence between the two. In previous generations, the ideologues made use of the opportunists to achieve their ends. To do things like, say, medicare, you first had to get into government. If that meant consorting with rather less high-minded types – thugs, to be blunt, but thugs skilled at getting elected – so be it. For the ideologues, the ends justified the means.
Today the relationship is the reverse.
WARNING – Andrew Coyne ahead. Go incognito.
