We all do @GrouchoTex I'm not quite sure what the constant arguing is about fiscal responsibility. There is nothing unique or sacred about @roamer_1 's fiscal "principles" --- or any of them. We all share them.
I think where the split starts is some of the most conservative "principled" confuse substance with style and policies with labels. Another split I see is the "principled" are content to do nothing but wait for the embodiment of all principles to appear center stage while others will try to move the needle by feet instead of waiting for a quantum leap. If the socialists have taught us anything, it should be to keep moving, even if by inches.
So, IMO, this endless debate on principle is really one of strategy. I've said before (and caught hell for it) that politics is a blood sport. It takes guts, willpower, elbows, shoulders and at times, fists. "Bullies" in politics are the movers and shakers; they are the heroes who affect change and get things done -- on both sides of the proverbial aisle.
Politics also needs a desire to win. Taking one's marbles home when a candidate isn't a purist is the surest way to lose this country, forever, to the Marxists; and this is where and when all "principles" will die.
You are entirely wrong in your assessment
@Right_in_Virginia The reason I will hold out is precisely right though. Because that is the whole of the Conservative Coalition in its formation - That we would stick together and vote for each other - Because none alone has the ability to move things in a Conservative direction. ALL of the factions together are unstoppable.
But that means servicing the agreement between them - None of them go under the bus. That is the 'purity' you speak of. That none go under the bus - That you serve all of the factions, and do none of them harm.
THAT is what causes the Conservative juggernaut to rise up out of the sea. THAT is what causes unstoppable movement to the right. That causes REAL law to be written. That causes REAL harm to the left.
And that has happened exactly three times in my lifetime. Reagan, the 94 Congress, and the TEA Party - All quenched by the way, by Moderate wing manipulations of populist movements. You cannot take on liberalism cozied up to Moderates (like Tumpy did).
The only threat to them (liberals on the left and moderate power on the right) IS Conservatism, raw and unleashed.
You NEED MORE of that 'purity', not less. And the last four years should be a lesson in that regard.
You don't win with popularity. You don't win because you throw poo at liberals. You WIN with Conservative LAW.
That is ALL.
