Here’s the thing. The GOP since 1988 hasn’t scored one, enduring conservative goal.
The proponents of the Bush-Dole-Bush-McCain-Romney model can’t defend the GOP’s (and the nominally conservative in that group - principled or otherwise) record over that period of time.
Continuing along that path and expecting a conservative renaissance is absurd. It’s not going to happen.
Conservatives are in “take whatever we can get” mode. It’s the best play at this point in time.
There’s a lot going on at the state level which is why the GOP now has most governors and state legislatures
Welfare reform? Partial birth abortion ban?
The nature of politics is that there aren't final victories or final defeats -- everything is up for grabs every minute -- and the nature of American politics on the national level is that it's hard to get much done at all.
And how many enduring conservative goals were achieved before 1988?
I'm not saying we were on the right track for the last 20 years, just that lasting policy changes in politics are rare in politics. If you're thinking you can change the direction the country's moving in if you just insist on it, you're going to be disappointed most of the time.
One of the great ironies of the last 40 years was that the height of the GOP’s conservative dominance came when Bill Clinton was in the White House. The post-1994 changes in the national political conversation were far more dramatic than anything the GOP came up with when that dope George W. Bush was the president.