1/3 of them are dead, and Reagan did not empower Evangelical Christians to the point that he turned off white Catholics.
The Bush-Rove elevation of Evangelicals, while tactically good for Bush, was not in the long-term interest of the party.
I was ONE person in Reagan's time. Now, through my marriage, the conversion of my wife to a Conservative view, and our children, We were THREE this last election, four if you count my eldest son's house, which is just beginning to form. Next election we will be FOUR anyway, the one after that we will be FIVE. Soon enough, all SIX of us will be voting.
In that time, my father has died, but the rest of us are still right here, doing as we always have.
I use my own house as an example of what you don't see. Conservatism is a way of life, not a set of political theories. Conservatism is part and parcel, the very definition of the American Way. It lends definition to a set of principles that are handed down, father to son, mother to daughter, since the beginning of this nation. That is what we CONSERVE.
It is in no way dead. It CANNOT be. Conservatives out breed Liberals, and never convert. Liberals abort their young, and generally lose their base through attrition to Conservatism, as with age comes wisdom, and the truth of Conservatism cannot be denied.
You have no idea what Reaganism would do for the Republicans, and you have no idea how man Conservatives there are, because the Republicans have fought Conservatism all the way along. and there have not been consistent Conservatives in charge since the 1994 Congress. The reason Conservatives are not there is because they have been hemorrhaging out of the party, almost from the very moment Reagan's foot left the White House threshold.
Reagan did not empower Evangelical Christians to the point that he turned off white Catholics
Without Reagan, you would not have a Christian Right at all. As I said up thread, Conservative Catholics are a big part of all of the Social Right's agenda, as are Conservative Hebrews. You cannot have both, so take your pick: Either you get the liberal church, or you get the Conservative Church. What you should be looking at is how turned off the Christian Right was.
And Bush did not elevate Evangelicals, btw. Not by Conservative standards. He just gave them their due. What is wrong with what happened is that he did not give the other conservative factions their due as well.
Those who wish to bring down the Christian Right will bring down the whole house. what must be done is a reestablishment of the other pillars in their rightful place, in their own rightful power alongside of the Christian Right.
That is Reaganism.