We talked about this in that other thread - for the most part Democrats are on a bungie cord, yes they tend to move more conservative every election, but that's because the Republicans have gone further to the right. So there is still a difference. The modern Democratic politician espouses ideas that wouldn't have been out of place from a moderate Eisenhower-era Republican. But Eisenhower himself would be called a socialist by today's Republican party.

I'm still not sure if this is because the whole country has moved rightward or because Democrats simply get their balls removed before entering politics, but sadly I suspect the conservatives crowing on Fox News are actually right and it's the former. They've played the media game better than the Democrats and done so for longer. Gay rights is (very) slowly becoming a reality, but otherwise Democrats are having to defend the New Deal and Great society reforms and little-by-little they give one thing up to save something else. The great Republican fear is that Barack Obama would be another FDR and set up another 40 years of dominant liberal economic policies. So far that hasn't come to pass, health care being somewhat an exception though barely. But they hate him more for his potential than anything he's actually done (despite the virulent protestations to the contrary) just as liberals are disappointed that he isn't the savior of the left they hoped they were getting. Obama is more JFK than Johnson.

I understand your cynicism. Most days I share it. I actually do think most people going into government, yes even conservatives, do do so because they believe they have the answers. That said, the system is tilted to where all politicians of all political stripes have to spend the vast majority (especially congressmen) of their time kowtowing to the monied-interests to pay for re-elections. I still think the system is repairable, but it will be a hard fight to do it.