For the most part, politics isn't about radical change or rollbacks. It's about gradual, considered, incremental change. And conservatives and Republicans can surely cooperate in that process, even if their final goals aren't identical.
From this I conclude that politics isn't always a matter of "us against them," "good against evil" or "black against white." By all means fight for what you believe. But understand that you'll often have to make common cause on some issues with people that you disagree with on others. Realizing that all the good isn't on one side and all the evil on the other gives me more respect for less conservative Republicans than I had earlier. Moderate and Liberal Republicans are very wrong about some things, but not about everything.
It made sense for Barry Goldwater to paint the starkest contrast between himself and Nelson Rockefeller. He was right about the difference, and on the better side of most of their conflicts. It made sense for Ronald Reagan to stress the Cold War issues that separated him from Liberal Republicans, even though the neo-cons who supported him weren't so different from on domestic issues from the less conservative wing of the party. But today, in the age of President Bush's "compassionate conservatism" differences are -- or should be -- more muted. What Mr. Bush is saying now -- more or less what any electable conservative President would say -- is something moderate Republicans can subscribe to. Indeed, much of what he's saying or doing is what they've argued for in the past.
The leaders of any "movement" like liberalism or conservatism sometimes carry it in directions the rank and file don't want to go. At such moments, you may find that you have more in common with people outside the movement. Don't be phased by it. It's a part of life. A party isn't everything. It isn't life or truth or God. But neither is an ideological movement. Parties may be wrong or misguided, but the same is true of philosophies or political movements.
Conflict and division are inseparable from politics, but it's a mistake if tribal affiliations become the purpose of politics and put what's actually done into the background. Bulletin boards and chatrooms emphasize what divides us -- an essential part of politics. It's important not to forget what unites us as Americans.