Then? How old are you? It's not like it was the Ancient Regime in France of 1810, for goodness sakes, it was only 25 years ago that the Reagan Revolution won, and only 17 years ago the Bushes started to drift leftward.
Compromise your principles and what have you won?
And a compromised candidate doesn't win easily. Bush41 in 1988 got a 426-111 electoral, 49-42% popular win when people thought he might follow in Reagan's footsteps (No More Taxes). He lost when we found out that wasn't true, and Bush 43 squeaks out a couple against doofus candidates.
A *week* can be a long time in politics, 25 years is an entire generation plus.
Republicans have been winning consistently for over 10 years; the country is drifting rightward. We must be doing *something* right.