Thursday, January 01, 2026

The Fracture: Pence, Heritage, and the Integrity Test

The integrity test now reshaping the American right

Comments

snip ...

Welcome back for this final article in a three-part series on power, principle, and the fracture that happens when one replaces the other.

In Article II, we traced how MAGA didn't evolve conservatism so much as hollow it out.

What had once been organized around restraint, institutional legitimacy, and the rule of law was steadily replaced with loyalty, grievance, and personal power.

The language of conservatism remained intact.
The structure did not.

Conservatism didn't collapse"it was emptied.
That hollowing could never stay abstract.

Once an ideology loses its internal coherence, the pressure doesn't disappear. It migrates"into institutions, into leadership, into public conflict.

Eventually, it becomes visible.

That's where we are now.

#1 | Posted by A_Friend at 2026-01-01 04:58 PM

snip ...

The Fracture Isn't a Revolt"It's a Sorting

What we're witnessing inside American conservatism is not a revolt against MAGA.

It's a sorting process.

Not between left and right.
Not between establishment and outsider.

But between those who still believe democracy imposes limits"and those who believe limits are optional if power is within reach.

The public implosions.
The loyalty tests.
The factional warfare.
The quiet exits and sudden resignations.

These aren't isolated dramas.
They are symptoms of the same structural failure.

And when enforcement mechanisms stop working"when norms are no longer enforced internally"movements don't self-correct?

They fracture.

#2 | Posted by A_Friend at 2026-01-01 04:59 PM

snip ...

The Integrity Test
This is what ties Heritage, Greene, and Pence together.

  • Heritage shows what happens when legitimacy is abandoned.

  • Greene shows what happens when loyalty stops paying off.

  • Pence marks the last broadly recognized boundary before obligation itself became betrayal.

Together, they expose the integrity test now reshaping the American right:

Whether conservatism still recognizes limits on power.
Or whether power itself has become the organizing principle.

This isn't about policy direction.

It's about legitimacy.

#3 | Posted by A_Friend at 2026-01-01 05:01 PM

I can't remember which pundit made this observation the other day.

Democrats are the part of corporations.
Republicans are the party of oligarchs.

Corporations depend on government to enforce the rule of law to conduct business in an orderly fashion.
Oligarchs depend on government to protect them from the rule of law, to conduct business as they see fit.

#4 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-01-01 05:41 PM

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