Yep - the social issues are a diversion and a symptom, not a problem that can be effectively targeted. The Left knows this and the Right seems to have no idea. We will flail about and insist that a candidate has spittle flying from his lips, while ranting about how we need to take care of social issues, or he isn't pure enough in that regard. IOW, we demand qualities that are not going to be helpful if we want to move back toward a constitutional representative republic - the Left will continue to win as we attack the wrong targets.
Social issues, as the liberals call them, fuel the spending of the overall government in ways that the average uninformed Republican primary voters cannot discern.