I think Stross is on the right track but doesn't get the whole story. It's all about regulating the rate of change in society. Institutions naturally tend towar

I think Stross is on the right track but doesn't get the whole story. It's all about regulating the rate of change in society. Institutions naturally tend toward preserving the status quo, for all the reasons Stross specifies. But institutions that prohibit change altogether do not survive. The tendency toward "beigeness" comes about as political actors converge on a level of change-permissiveness (and thus functional rate of change) that optimally compromises between conservatives and liberals (in the sense of those against and for change respectively). Too much change is scary because it seems unstable. Too little is scary because it seems oppressive. So political actors seem beige because they are selected for moderation between those extremes. The changes they permit are thus inoffensive to a plurality of citizens and the changes they prohibit are equally inoffensive. And therefore equally distinteresting.