Republican donor class has ridden theme of so-called free markets in controlling the party since about 1980. They define 'free markets' as gov. allowing distortion of markets in their favor. This ideology has been exhausted and in any case is incapable of keeping a political party alive-Sept. 2015, Fletcher

"The Republican party has essentially exhausted the two ideological themes it has ridden on since about 1980--free markets--and social conservatism.... (Their interpretation of "free" markets is "government won't interfere with private distortions of markets in my favor.")...
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Sept. 2015 article:
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9/30/2015, "Donald Trump Is Trying to Save the Republican Party From Itself," Ian Fletcher, Huffington Post
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"The Republican party has essentially exhausted the two ideological themes it has ridden on since about 1980-- free markets and social conservatism -- and needs new ones to survive.
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Any ideologues out there, I'm sorry: American history makes quite clear that partisan ideological themes don't last forever, in either party. They're good for a few decades, then they evolve or get dumped....
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First, consider the exhaustion of free-market ideology. This doesn't mean that free markets per se, which obviously have enormous validity, are dead as an idea. But it does mean that pushing even further in the direction of free markets is dead as an idea.
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Why? Most obviously, the 2008 financial crisis, whose effects we're still dealing with, was an effect of markets allowed to run amok, not of markets being insufficiently free. (Yes, I know you can blame it all on the government, but that's a tendentious "reality is the opposite of what you see" argument.) 
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There's a happy medium between too much and too little regulation, and we've basically reached the limit of our ability to improve our economy by deregulating further.... ............

The Republican donor class...while not sincerely socially conservative, very much adores free-market ideology as the perfect rationalization for their crony-capitalist reality. (Their interpretation of "free" markets is "government won't interfere with private distortions of markets in my favor.")...
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The bigger joke is that the Republican establishment is fighting so hard against being saved. They may be the last to figure this all out."




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