Am I unprincipled?
It was people adhering to the principle of voting only for THEIR “pure” conservative candidate, rather than settling on an acceptable conservative and avoiding splitting the conservative vote, which got us Romney. Was that people being “unprincipled”, being “principled”, or just being short-sighted?
Being unprincipled is always being short-sighted, no matter now “wise” it may appear to some.
Being principled is always the practical thing to do over the long haul, because the natural law is that you reap what you sow. Some crops take longer to mature than others, but this has always been true, and it will remain true as long as this creation lasts.