You said — What we have is a majority of folks who call themselves conservatives, with no one to represent them.
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And when you “sort out” all those who “call themselves conservative” with those who *are* conservatives, that’s where you end up with less than the majority....
And that’s just the plain truth of the matter and why liberals win a lot...
Yes, I suspect you are right. Folks like to call themselves “conservative” because the alternative (liberal) sounds less respectable. Otherwise, they’re happy to live and think (if you can call it that) like a liberal.