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A lot of conservative voters and pundits are feeling depressed about the endless and destructive GOP presidential primary.

Many feel that the ugly fight has given Barack Obama an advantage, and they may be right. Many feel that none of the candidates is the strong and unblemished leader that conservatives need to roar into the general election, win it and repair the damage already done to America.

It’s useful to take stock. Just four years ago, there was little debate about unchecked federal spending, and it looked like cap and trade was going to be implemented as part of Barack Obama’s “hope and change” plan to diminish this nation. And until a spontaneous citizens’ movement called the tea party started gaining ground, Democrats controlled the House and had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. The tea party forced old-line Republican legislators to change, helped win the House of Representatives and put the Senate within reach of conservatives.

To say that this primary-season roller coaster ride has been frustrating barely begins to describe the fear that we may, once again, be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Depressed? Yes, maybe we are. Defeated? Not by a long shot.

Was George Washington depressed after he faced a string of retreats and defeats at the hands of the best standing army in the world? Probably. Did he rally ill-equipped, hungry and cold troops with no shoes and bleeding feet to cross the frozen Delaware River and attack? Yes, he did, and by defeating Hessian mercenaries, he turned the tide of the Revolutionary War in our favor. We’ve seen our patriots do such things again and again. This is our history and this is our character as a people. That’s something worth remembering.

Now is not the time for “sunshine patriots” who are only willing to take the field when the weather is mild and the sun is shining. Now is the moment for the progress we’ve made to be remembered and for that progress to give us the strength and determination we need to keep going. We have a president to defeat and a nation to repair. We have to take the Senate and keep the House or our country will change into something diminished — a change that will take a long, long time to correct.

Over the last year my organization, Restore America’s Voice, has delivered more than 2 million petitions demanding the repeal of Obamacare. Republicans in the House faithfully did just that, though Senate Democrats continue to ignore the will of the American people. We’ve even had to strengthen the will of Republican senators to carry on the fight for repeal.

When legislators ignore “the consent of the governed,” as they did by passing Obamacare, they destroy the very keystone upon which our experiment in self-determination rests. That’s a depressing thought, but it’s also an inspirational one that should make us more determined than ever. The stakes are too high to throw our hands in the air and bemoan how hard it is to protect our constitutional republic.