“And you earn votes because your ideas, your plans, and your principles align with a greater number of voters than your opponent’s”
That is why RINO candidates like Mitt Romney live and die by polls .... and hiring advisors who obssess over polls that purport to tell them what their candidates’ principles should be, week by week, as they chase voting blocs
Being unprincipled works for democrats whose voting blocs care only about the letter “D” by the name on the ballot
but hasn’t worked yet for a republican, never will
There’s a difference between deeply held principles and the marketing gimmicks adopted by RINOs. When Romney busts his butt to develop socialized health care in Massachusetts then claims he’s opposed to its ideological clone — obamacare — then either his Romneycare efforts were misplaced or his resistance to obamacare is a lie of convenience. In either case, his actions belie his (stated) principles.
The true princples of conservatism — respect for the individual over the collective, respect for established tradition, fiscal responsibility, a sense of transcendent right and wrong, pride in community and family — are values that resonate with voters ... and not just conservative voters either. The GOP and its tepid, milquetoast candidiates have done a piss-poor job of articulating those values, perhaps because they don’t truly believe in them.
THAT is the reason Republicans keep losing elections.