“If you wish to lead a quiet life,” warned Leon Trotsky, the founder of the Soviet Union’s Red Army, “you picked the wrong century to be born in.” Whitaker Chambers would later observe that, “the point was finally proved, when a pickaxe mauled the brain of the man who framed those words.” As someone who came of age in the last century — and having served during the Cold War, Desert Storm, and the Global War on Terror — I sometimes feel I’ve gotten a bit more excitement than I bargained for, causing me to yearn for an elusive and quiet life.

So why not just yield to temptation? Why not fritter away my days worrying over who will win American Idol rather than fretting over politicians, the majority of whom, as P. J. O’Rourke reminded us, are interested in their constituents in the same way that fleas are interested in dogs? But life provides wonderful occasions for humility and the realization that one does not exist entirely for one’s own ends. I call these occasions “grandchildren,” the most recent of mine having arrived barely two weeks ago. The world that we — the descendants of the last century — pass along to the descendants of this century calls for seriousness and careful selflessness.

Getting down to business then, RealClear Politics has Donald Trump leading the pack with 384 delegates, followed by Senator Ted Cruz at 300, Senator Marco Rubio at 151, and Governor John Kasich at 37. In the most recent poll I could find, Rubio currently trails Trump by eight points in Florida, and Kasich trails Trump by three points in Ohio. It appears to be the general consensus that Ohio and Florida are essential wins for Kasich and Rubio respectively, both states offering winner take all prizes of 66 (Ohio) delegates and 99 (Florida) delegates.

With Rubio having won exactly one state thus far (and Puerto Rico, which doesn’t vote), and Kasich scoring a resounding zero states to date, the reasons for either of these gentlemen to continue in the race are fast dwindling. To be blunt, the odds are greater that Mitt Romney will out-debate Candy Crowley than that John Kasich will amass the number of delegates needed to capture the nomination. And Rubio — while combative enough to start a bar room brawl at the Peace Corps — hasn’t gained enough traction to make him viable over the long term.

At some point, personal pride and competitive zeal must yield to political reality and sober analysis. The drive of individual candidates must be measured against actual results, and lead to conclusions that are based less on determination than the imperative of advancing a conservative alternative to a front-runner whose views literally change by the hour and whose relationship with the Constitution appears to be platonic at best. In short, if you don’t want to choose between Trump and Hillary Clinton, it is time to consolidate the conservative effort behind one candidate.

Now, I can’t claim certainty that all of Rubio and Kasich’s votes would disburse exclusively to Cruz if they dropped out today. But with 300 delegates and six states in his column, Cruz seems to be picking up momentum that the others never had. Even Senator Lindsey Graham, Rubio’s colleague from the infamous Gang of Eight, observed that, “If Ted’s the alternative to Trump, at least he’s a Republican and conservative.” In short, Cruz is “closing the deal,” among primary voters on more favorable terms than either Rubio or Kasich.

In 1980, at the age of 18, I had the exhilarating honor of casting my very first vote for Ronald Reagan. In 1984, while serving in the military, I was delighted to cast another vote for the gentleman who became the best commander-in-chief I served under during my 20-year career. Professional capitulators in the Republican party never tire of telling us that the era of Reagan is over, though they never get around to specifying which principles of conservatism have been rendered obsolete by collectivist rationalizations.

Meanwhile — from budgetary matters, to taxes, trade, and civil liberties, from education to the environment, from foreign policy and defense to healthcare and immigration, and from moral issues to the Second Amendment — Ted Cruz has the highest Conservative Review ratings of any presidential candidate. He also enjoys a 97 percent liberty score, second only to Senator Mike Lee’s perfect score. For his part, Rubio has a score of 80 percent.

“Ted Cruz has gone to Washington and showed courage and grit to stand up to things he disagrees with,” said Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant in his statement endorsing the senator. Rather than a candidate who has only recently begun espousing conservative positions (and even then, haphazardly and without any foundational understanding), or a candidate who spoke of conservative principles with respect to immigration but was immediately beguiled by the instruments of accommodation near in DC, it’s time to embrace the principles of America’s founding and take advantage of that rarest of opportunities: The chance to elect as president the first genuine constitutional conservative to come along in over 30 years.

Former President Jimmy Carter, who was defeated by the last true conservative, recently voiced his preference for Trump over Cruz, confiding that, whereas, “Trump has proven already that he’s completely malleable … Ted Cruz is not malleable.”

For the good of the nation, we must once again reject Jimmy Carter’s advice.