Given that brains and brawn on both sides are about even, what explains liberals' inability to compete? Conservatives would say it is the cogency of their ideas, and perhaps this is so, but perhaps it is something else. Many liberals regard their ideas as being received wisdom from on high, as being so obviously true they do not require explication. This type of complacency cedes the field to the conservatives. It is, simply speaking, stultifying smugness. "Conservative institutions have been more dogged and focused in their approach than liberal ones." This is certainly so; greed and selfishness are great motivators. The mistake of small and large "d" democrats was to think that society had gotten past them, and to stop fighting vigorously for such equally durable counter-ideas as fairness, justice, equality and reason. Liberals don't suffer from a lack of ideas of how to change our nation for the better. But we have been losing ground because so many of us have chosen an approach that leaves us thinking "I need to convince my representative how important (name of political issue) is" instead of choosing to run for office ourselves. You might call it The Petition Mentality. Liberals Are Down but Not Out | 
