They are now reaping the political rewards of that. They have bought off the people with cash benefits, absolution for immoral behavior, and blaming others (like the rich) for personal failings. Conservatism is a better philosophy for a civil society but we are no longer a civil, moral people.

We tell people they must work hard and take responsibility for themselves, and great reward will follow. That is true but the liberals are offering them a shorter (false) path. Just vote for more goodies and avoid accountability for one's own life. It will all fail in the end but it works for quite some time.

Trying to find the perfect set of candidates won't matter going forward. The media will portray anyone we put forth as a greedy, uncaring bastard who is out of touch with the needs of the people. They already have the template ready, they just plug in the new names.

Huge areas of the country are lost to us, like California. No matter how ridiculous it gets, people keep electing Democrats. There is no accountability for failure because failure is always conveniently blamed on someone else. Capitalism, rich people, what have you. Obama has escaped responsibility for his failures as well.

Facts, figures, history, empirical evidence don't matter to these people. They don't even want to know any of that. They are culturally predisposed to prefer bigger and more intrusive government because they believe it will make their lives easier. More time for them to sit around. The cost in dollars and loss in freedom is of no concern.