[EricT.]

American conservatism began as a kind of intellectual hobbyists’ group with little hope of changing the broader society. Albert Jay Nock, the cape-wearing libertarian intellectual — he called himself a “philosophical anarchist” — who inspired a very young William F. Buckley Jr., argued that political change was impossible because the masses were rubes, goons, fools, or sheep, victims of the eternal tendency of the powerful to exploit the powerless.

The last election was proof that Nock was correct.

To listen to many grassroots conservatives, the GOP establishment is a cabal of weak-kneed sellouts who regularly light votive candles to a poster of liberal Republican icon Nelson Rockefeller.

I'm still waiting for some verifiable evidence to support this statement.

[EricT.]

I'm still waiting for some verifiable evidence to support this statement.

Correction:

I'm still waiting for some verifiable evidence to support that the view held by grass-roots conservatives is wrong.