Every ideology has a use-by date and you’re long past yours. Henry Kissinger did great service to this country by opening relations to China, a necessary if not sufficient condition for winning the Cold War. But Kissinger couldn’t see past the dull calculus of detente, while Reagan foresaw unconditional American victory over Communism–and without you neocons, he never could have done it. You made a Gargantuan error, though, when you assumed that the Reagan Revolution could be exported to the Middle East, Russia and China, and you misplayed the strongest hand that any world power ever held. America went from only-hyperpower status when George W. Bush took office to a playing second fiddle to Vladimir Putin today. No-one wants to hear your claim that we really won in Iraq in 2008 and lost it all because Obama wouldn’t leave a few divisions there. And when the “Arab Spring” came along, you mistook the oncoming express for the light at the end of the tunnel. You and the Obama crowd played “Dumb and Dumber.” You both bought into the idea that Muslim democracy would arise from Islamist opposition to the old dictatorships…

No, Cruz is doing the right thing: Just as Reagan sacrificed Henry Kissinger, Cruz will sacrifice you. It’s all for the greater good. For the past eight years the Republican Party has worn the sins of the George W. Bush administration like the chains on Marley’s Ghost. The American public doesn’t easily forget that it was stirred to sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan and has nothing to show for it. A break with the Bush past vastly increases the odds for a Republican victory. Rubio can’t do this, but Cruz can. Like Kissinger, you should glory in your past contributions and let other people take charge. Go with God. But go.