Red State’s Erick Erickson has some provocative thoughts today on “dead wood” in the conservative movement:

Inside the conservative movement, there is a lot of deadwood — institutions and personalities who continue sucking up resources long after the usefulness of the organization is over. . . .
There are few truly indispensable people in the movement and far too many dispensable people who think they are indispensable. Likewise, there are too many conservative organizations that operate as employment vehicles for out of work politicians still needing their egos stroked.
Conservatism must be about the advancement of freedom and opportunity, not the advancement of any one person. Thus we need to rebuild the movement and burn up the dead wood.

A more constructive approach might be to invigorate the movement by the formation of new institutions, an  approach that University of Georgia law student Steven Lee is taking with his Internet-based group, The New Republican.