and who keeps putting them in leadership positions if they are such a small minority [question mark]
We actually have the Jebs and the Mitts forced on us by the GOPe, which is actually a very small but powerful group who magnify their effects through money and the media.
The reason why Ronald Reagan made it through the country-clubbers was the absolute crush caused by the grassroots. That is why Bush had to step aside briefly before he was asked to be VP.
The problem is that the GOPe is made up of people who do not really believe in the first principles of life and liberty. If they were they would really listen to the will of the grassroots, because that is where the life of the Party really is.
The GOP is separated by two facts. The so-called economic conservatives and the so-called social conservatives. The economic conservatives are pro-choice and would very much like to have all the social issues thrown out of the platform.
The social conservatives are actually pro-life and pro-business. They are not disjointed like the eco-only types. The social conservatives are actually Constitutional conservatives as Mark Levin correctly describes them. The eco-only types do not (or maybe they do) realize it but they are actually head-butting our "Life, Liberty and Pursuit" in order to knock Life out of the picture.
I have been involved at the state party level and the most shameful thing is to see eco-only glad-handers pushing their agenda where it does not belong, absconding with the will of the people.