Yeah... This is more a desperate plea from the author - a relatively moderate former cabinet colleague of the thuggish Opposition leader - than an honest take.
They are making the same mistake that 'reasonable' Republicans keep on making by misunderstanding what's happening here:
Their party has been taken over lock-stock-and-barrel, and they simply cannot see it.
It's built into traditional conservatism to think things will stay okay until they don't. See one N. Chamberlain for reference.
I honestly believe it's more tribal than any kind of rational thing. People have shown time and time again that they will stay aligned with a flaming paper bag full of cow chips as long as it has their party logo on it.
Their dislike/fear of the other outweighs everything else, and they tell themselves it's all okay until either they capitulate or the abuse becomes too much to bear.
The latter is, sadly, the minority case in my experience 🤷♂️
@DyDave I'm inclined to believe the tribalistic nature of politics has been (whether intentionally or not) cultivated & massively amplified above normal by profit-seeking behaviour on the part of corporate media, and by social media algorithms.
I do not believe this level of polarization and division is at all normal considering the magnitude (or rather lack thereof) of the root issues motivating voters to pick a side.
Seems to me this mess was wrought by the selfishness & greed of a few.
Where I live, people voted for a guy that they openly hated for years because he was in the party they habitually voted for.
Then, he became Prime Minister and his own party knifed him out of the job in his first term because he was crap, but even that didn't stop him getting re-elected to his seat.
It was only when he literally ran out of the Parliament to avoid voting on legalising same-sex marriage, even though 75%+ of us voted for it in a plebiscite that he lost his seat.
@DyDave I think part of the problem is the linear way most people view politics, arbitrarily bonding social policies, economic policies, and civil liberties into a single incredibly reductive left-right axis.
Perhaps if they were willing to open their eyes and view each component independently, they'd recognize that their parties are being hijacked in the name of a characteristically completely different ideology... which merely stole some of the trappings of the old, or is wearing its skin.