This has happened because the California GOP attempted to become a “big tent” party and precisely because they elected a RINO to replace Davis. Electing Rinos is not a “lesser of two evils” act, it is the path to oblivion. They taint the party label for generations and destroy the party’s ability to take principled stands against collectivism. In short, they turn the GOP into the very thing conservatives are fighting.
I’d rather fight a pitched battle against a Dem marxist with a small number of true liberty loving conservatives at my side then capitulate with a Rino’s dagger in my back.
That is exactly the case that Jim Rob, I, and others have been making on this site, since before Romney secured the Republican nomination.
People will wag their heads in agreement with you, as long as you're describing what's happened in California, but when you try to make the same case for the national situation, their logic circuits disconnect.
It's infuriating.