In other words, there are no "real trads". We all give up one element of tradtional Catholicism or another. That is the nature of the crisis.
I see what you are getting at with this statement, but it is not quite accurate.
We are real traditionalists, because we cleave to real traditions. The facts that some may not be in union with the Magesterium, or that others remain in union with the Magisterium (at least formally) does not make any of us "less real." Why? Because in all of our cases -yours and Nics both - the rupture is not of our making. Therefore, comparisons with Luther are not apt - Luther created the crisis point, and the reacted to it. You and Nic, and I suppose the rest of us here, lack the first element of the Lutheran schism: we did not create this crisis.
Further, it is not our fault that there are no precedents within the past centuries for us to turn to. Some turn to the SSPX, at the expense of union, and others form a distinct traditionalist group within churches under the Magisterium, at the expense of the sacraments: it is a question of emphasis more than substance. Clearly, both are necessary: if there were no traditionalists in the Church proper, the Magesterium would not attempt reconciliation - we would have a new Bugnini. On the other hand, if there were no SSPX, there would be no polestar for traditional Catholics, the sacramental knowledge would be virtually lost.
Frustration is natural to people - each of us want our way, immediately. The sense of injustice makes the frustration felt more sharply. However, the forces arrayed against traditionalists well know this, and from the start they gambled that with time, the disparate traditionalists would cancel each other out, die off, give in. As Michael Vorhis recently said, "I remember, I was there." When I was young, I was frequently told I was hoping for the return of things forever gone, that "no one" wanted the return of the traditional sacraments. Restoration is hard when there are two legitmate claimants to a throne. But the contenders are foolish to fight amongst themselves, when there is a third, more powerful adversary who seeks the destruction of both of them.
