Conservativism can only flourish when the Republican party is viable in the state. When you can't even win an election against the liberal party, you want to be as "moderate" as possible. There is just no room for conservatives on the statewide ballot in the CAGOP right now.
How would you know whether a conservative could win in the state? It's been decades since anyone tried it.
I remember a republican party that refused to help with prop 187, and several others because they were devisive and couldn't possibly win.
Prop 13 was something that Jarvis and his team drove through. Did the republican party champion that? I seriously doubt it.
When the rank and file determined to retire Rose Bird and her cronies from the State Supreme Court, did the republican party leadership take a leading role? Did they drive that through?
Frankly, the republican party leadership of California probably couldn't name 1 tenet of what conservatism is.
The truth is, if our conservative values were explained well, and the candidate were to have adhered to conservative values his whole political life, and the party were to fund that individual commensurate with the stature that this state could hold in the nation for conservatism, I think we could win.
As it is, conservative values are seldom preached, so many moderates just dismiss what they think conservatives are. At this rate we might just as well turn the state over to some foreign nation. Perhaps that nation would cherish California's assetts. At this time the only assetts cherished in our state by the republican leadership, are the ones beneath them when they sit down.
Do you live in California? The reason Republicans are doing poorly in California is because their organization is so bad, not because of their positions. How do you explain the fact that Bruce McPherson did so badly in 2002. He was way to the left of Simon and McClintock, but did much worse. And explain to me why liberal republican Tom Campbell lost by 20% to Dianne Feinstein. If what you say is really true, Campbell should have been the dream candidate. Instead he lost about as badly as possible, worse than any of the conservatives.