I agree with that, and I fear Sowell has been suborned by a plea for the "big tent" that supposedly will give "big numbers."
Romney tried that, and it didn't work. He drove the social conservatives away, and the liberals he was trying to woo got to choose between his on-again/off-again liberal rhetoric and a real liberal named Obama.
It was a fail with both camps. He lost the social conservatives and he didn't attract the liberals.
The supposed "big tent" gave SMALLER numbers.
Wake up Professor Sowell!
To think they can't be replaced by better representatives of conservative thinking during what appears to be an anti-democrat wave election is beyond silly. It's downright foolish.