Of all the silly ideas to have emerged from the wreckage that has been Canada’s conservative movement for the last 50 years, none has been more damaging for the prospects of conservatism, or more vacuous, than the idea of bifurcation, a notion that has now also taken root in American politics, manifesting itself in the conflict between conservative Republicans and their "Tea Party" allies on the one hand, and so-called moderate Republicans on the other.