“OK. What do you think.”
I think I’m feeling homicidal and should resist replying to your post out of respect for the older and younger FReepers present.
Politically, our country has never been majority conservative or liberal and probably never will be. It has always been mostly pragmatic or practical, as have been most of our successful leaders, including Regan. While we have ideologs on both the left and the right and often choose leadership with an ideological tint, most citizens just want government that is honest and efficient. Voters have remarkable patience but when they feel betrayed, they really don’t care about political parties or ideological purity. During tough times, more government will be accepted than during periods of tranquility but radical policies whether from the left or right will not be embraced for long.
We can complain about a poor presidential candidate, biased media, voter fraud, economic manipulation or many other reasons most of which are probably true. However, the bottom line is that Republican leadership was entrusted with both the executive and legislative branches of government and they failed on the critical test of honesty and efficiency. They became a mirror image of those they replaced. The argument that “if you just vote for us again we will promise to stop our bad practices and be better stewards and besides, the other group will be far worse” just doesn’t cut it.
Republican came to power because Democrats lost the trust of the people, not because of a more clever argument or more acceptable philosophy and they lost power for the same reason. Democrats will suffer the same fate; the only question is how long it will take them. With their leadership, I suspect it will not be that long. Hopefully, by the time the people are ready for another change, the Republican Party will be prepared to respond.