[Telepathic Intruder]

The ideal situation is of course for the GOP to realize that its voter base is conservative. Instead they try to appeal to liberals, as if a liberal will ever vote for a Republican. They keep thinking they have to “reach out” and “compromise”, when experience should tell them it’s principles, not compromise that wins votes. The problem, though, is not just the liberal Republicans, but that often there is no choice in who is nominated for election.

[meadsjn]

... often there is no choice in who is nominated for election.

"We" are the Republican Party. The liberal wing of the party, the GOP-e, are a small segment, less than 20% of Republicans, and only about 10% or 15% of Republican voters. That small segment of the party does not identify with the principles of the party platform. When they win primaries, it is due to a few factors:

• The GOP-e usually gets larger donations, from fewer contributors, and those contributors give equally to Democrats. These donations are used more to defeat conservative candidates in the primaries, than in the general election against Democrats.
• The GOP-e usually needs the cross-over votes from Democrats and non-affiliated voters to defeat conservative candidates.
• The GOP-e funds multiple conservative candidates to saturate the conservative vote, as they did continually in the 2012 presidential primary to keep Sarah Palin from joining the race, while their chosen liberal candidate, Romney, breezed to the nomination with that 20% of the primary vote.
• Less than half of eligible Republican voters participate in the primary campaigns and elections, and then complain about being left the option of a liberal Republican or a full-blown communist Democrat.

None of this would be an issue if a majority of Republicans would participate in the primary campaigns and elections, AND consolidate around ONE conservative candidate for a primary race, and let the GOP-e rot on the vine.