All the principles and all the integrity in the world are useless if you do not have a vehicle to carry them forward into the world. I mean there is something very Christian about being a hermit and retreating to the desert, and if you are aesthetic enough, there was a time 1500 years ago at least where people would come to you on account of that holiness.
But for the rest of us who fall far short of the mark of that kind of holiness in a world where holiness is no longer even a value, in America, the only two vehicles that can bring you to any sort of influence are either Democratic or Republican.
Ex-Republicans like Jay Nordlinger and Mona Charen have in effect made themselves irrelevant by abandoning ship. It is laughable to watch them wince over the idea of joining up with a third party whose conventions include half naked obese guys doing a little dance up on the stage of their convention.