The most fascinating thing about the House Freedom Caucus, their tea party antecedents, and the conservative movement in general, is what looks like a refusal to think strategically. What is going on here is best explained by John Gilmour's Strategic Disagreement. The basic issue in the book is the strategic question of whether or not it is better to settle for a compromise when there may be the promise of getting one's ideal later. The problem is that one may be mistaken about the likelihood of total victory later, and the Freedom Caucus is certainly mistaken if they believe that here. It is also worth noting that Gilmour was concerned with disagreement between rather than within parties, but the Republican Party has faced a level of internecine warfare that really wasn't the subject of Gilmour's text.
The Freedom Caucus: the best friends Obamacare could have, thanks to a stupidity-driven civil war in the Republican Party.
Somewhere on a golf course, John Boehner is laughing instead of crying today.