What guns are those? The R’s had four years to govern. They wielded mostly moderately left-wing guns.
For the R’s to offer an alternative, they would actually have to be conservative. Otherwise, they are just a slightly more moderate version of the dems. “Vote for us. We don’t suck as much as democrats” is not a very good campaign slogan.
More fundamentally, all this “the Republican Party is dead” stuff from the media is only designed to consolidate the death grip the political class has on the “things that may be discussed.” So it is appropriate to discuss HOW the government should do things for people and what things it should do. It is NOT appropriate to discuss whether the government should be doing something at all.
By forcing the R’s left, which is the whole goal here, the political class eliminates any actual alternative to our current system of government, which is: (1) Grab a lot of money from small businessmen and some upper-income taxpayers and then give that money to people and businesses in exchange for money and votes; and (2) Grab a lot of power for the government. Then dispense portions of that power in exchange for money and votes.
The only difference between mainstream R’s and all D’s is a small difference in emphasis on which pigs should get the most slop at the trough. They do not disagree on the urgent need for a trough filled to the brim by thee and me. Nor do they disagree that the only people who should decide which pigs get the slop are other members of the political class. They emphatically agree that the folks who actually fill the trough up are pretty much a nuisance to be ignored except when you have to lie to them around elections.
The (so far successful) to drive the R’s to the left is to institutionalize that approach for the lifetime of current office holders.
I won't vote for another lawyer, but I'll vote for business people with some exceptions. Politics is by nature the business of lying and favors. We won't cure that in one election.
The one thing statists have on us is they understand and desire power. Like the One Ring, that power is corrupting. Someone has to wield it though, if we are to return to the center and American Liberty.