That political pendulum. Will it ever swing back to a true liberal/progressive state?
We've seen the studies (and there are many...here are just a few) that show the physical differences between liberal and conversative thinking/mindsets:
Study suggests American liberals and conservatives think as if from different cultures
http://phys.org/news/2015-01-american-liberals-cultures.html
Compendium of studies here:
http://2012election.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004818
even this:
Assortative Mating on Ideology Could Operate Through Olfactory Cues
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajps.12133/full
Even conservatives *knowing* that they eschew the facts and rely upon herd mentality and debunked claims in order to keep their base organized does no good. They are cowering in a corner, afraid of facts, afraid of the truth, afraid of losing power.
We've seen our national political ideology sway from left to right every few generations but I'm beginning to wonder if we'll ever see it swing back to the left again, at least in my lifetime.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Maybe white voters were, and especially white working-class men, who have abandoned the Democratic Party in many areas of the country (especially in the South-which should be a clue as to much of the reasons for that). Certainly, the collapse of labor unions and their decreased support among working-class white men (particularly in the private sector-note that the only growth in unionization rates has been in the public sector) is also a big part of that.
But the United States is getting more diverse in every sense of the word. In 1960, it was far from certain that a white Catholic could be elected President of the United States. Look who the President is 50 years later. We are very likely to have a woman as President soon, and there's been a real sea change among a broad segment of the public on a wide variety of issues from the minimum wage to gay marriage, to the environment, immigration, and issues of war and peace. People are becoming more tolerant of diversity and more likely to recognize the interconnectedness of our society-and the world in general.
The problem isn't America in general, but rather that the "base" (ie: regular voters) of the electorate (and especially the people who participate more in activism and organizing-at all levels of government and other institutions in society) is skewed towards more white, affluent, and overall older people who fondly remember the past and are very pessimistic about the present (let alone the future)-ie the traditionally privileged groups in American society, and therefore, the most conservative overall. They notice the changes-in racial and ethnic demographics, in the economy, in the family and family structure, in the culture, and other changes-and they are fearful of these changes. Hence the support for more conservative (and even reactionary) politicians among a large segment of this demographic.
This is just my perspective, as a young American. I do understand, though, that my perspective would be different if I were of an older generation, so YMMV. 
