Republicans are winning

This has been going on for decades. With lots and lots of money - your money, some of it, if you own any stocks or mutual funds - and a relentless, uniform message, the right-wing has been shaping the conversation in America.

Remember the "you didn't build that" lie from the 2012 election? It was a lie, a baldfaced lie repeated shamelessly by people who knew that it was a lie. But the entire Republican Party joined the effort to repeat that lie over and over and over again until it became accepted fact. (Al Gore's claim to have invented the Internet - which also didn't happen - is the same thing.)

Can you imagine that happening in the Democratic Party? Sure, some Democrats will lie. Some will repeat lies. But not all. Heck, just getting all Democrats facing in the same direction is nearly impossible. And many Democrats value the truth (or don't value goosestepping to order, at least).

Polls show that the American public tends to be more liberal than even the Democratic Party, let alone the GOP. But right-wing Republicans shape the discussion, and timid or ineffectual Democratic politicians tend to follow along like sheep.

Even when the Republican Party loses elections - even when it has a 24% approval rating - it gets the media following its lead, and its opponents, too. As the Republican Party rushes to the right, the Democratic Party fills in the vacuum behind it - thus, also moving to the right.

Even when Republican politicians are completely batshit crazy, they'll fight like hell for what they want. Sure, they'll lie. They won't stop at anything, really. (Heck, they're still using that racist dog-whistle, so how naive can you be if you think they'll stop at anything else?)

Democrats,... well, sometimes it's hard to tell if Democrats believe in anything at all. Why is that? Is it just incompetence? Is it that lies are simple, while the truth is complicated? Or is it the simple fact that Democrats also need funding from the 1% in order to get elected?