I am not sure that it is a totally fair question. The question which precedes it, is what would Ronald Reagan have done? He would not have gotten in this stinking position in the first place. I take Ronald Reagan at his word and the first thing that he would have done with congressinal majorities, is ABOLISH the Department of Education, instead of getting in bed with Teddy Kennedy letting him write the bill which the federal government further destroyed the public education system.
And Ronald Reagan would not have let a MAVERICK game the nomination system so that New Hampshire and South Carolina, and blues state wins on super tuesday could lock up the nomination. Reagan would have supported the nominee but had he had influence instead of lip service to his legacy over the last eight years then a MAVERICK/collaborator would not have gotten the nomination.
32 states have voted in primaries/caucuses.
Hardly anyone in any state voted for the more conservative candidates.
Even if the GOP had a proportionate award of delegates system like the Rats, that system has a political viability cut-off of 15%. 15%! That’s pathethic, considering that primaries/caucuses supposedly attract the hard-core base and the most political active and motivated in each party.
Yet not one of the more conservative candidates consistently got even near that cut-off for political viability.
IOW, even with some kind of different way to hold primaries, there’s no indication whatsoever that conservatives in sufficient numbers were rallying to any one candidate.
And historically the nominations have often been locked up after Super Tuesday. This is nothing new.