It isn't about Conservative rule, or progressives or liberals , 

It's all about capitalism rules .

The ruling that came out of the Citizens United sealed the fate of the working class.

Those with money can sway the elections, capitalist can control who has the money.   

The capitalist class is represented by the republican, democratic, populist and prohibition parties, all of which stand for private ownership of the mans of production and the triumph of any one of which will mean continued wage-slavery to the working class.

As the populist and prohibition sections of the capitalist party represent minority elements which propose to reform the Capitalist system without disturbing wage-slavery, a vain and impossible task, they will be omitted from this discussion with all the credit due the the rank and file for their good intentions

The republican and democratic parties, or, to be more exact, the republican-democratic party, represents the capitalist class in the class struggle. They are the political wings of the capitalist system and such differences as arise between them relate to spoils and not to principles.

With either of these parties in power one thing is always certain and that is that the capitalist class are in the saddle and the working class under the saddle.

Under the administration of both these parties the means of production are private property, production is carried forward for capitalist profit purely, markets are glutted and industry paralyzed, workingmen become [?] criminals while injunctions, [and?] riot guns are brought into action to preserve "law and order" in the chaotic carnival of capitalists anarchy.

Deny it as may the cunning capitalists who are clear sighted enough to perceive it, or ignore it as may the torpid workers who are too blind and unthinking to see it, the struggle in which we are engaged today is a class struggle, and as the toiling millions come to see and understand it and rally to the political standard of their class, they will drive all capitalist parties of whatever name into the same party, and the class struggle will then be so clearly revealed that the hosts of labor will find their true place in the conflict and strike the united and decisive blow that will destroy slavery and achieve their full and and final emancipation.

In this struggle the workingmen and women and children are represented by the Socialist party, and it is my privilege to address you in the name of that revolutionary and uncompromising party of the working class.

Hellraisers Journal: Debs, "Differences as arise between ...

The Democratic Party.

In referring to the democratic party in this discussion we may save time by simply saying that since it was born again at the St. Louis convention it is near enough like its republican ally to pass for a twin brother.

The former party of the "common people" is no longer under the boycott of the plutocracy since it has adopted the Wall street label and renounce its middle class heresies.

The radical and progressive element of the former democracy have been evicted and must seek other quarters. They were an unmitigated nuisance in the conservative counsels of the old party. They were for the "common people" and the trusts have no use for such a party.

Where but to the Socialist party can these progressive people turn? They are ow without a party and the only genuine democratic party in the field is the Socialist party, and every true democrat should thank Wall street for driving him out of a party that is democratic in name only and into one that is democratic in fact

Hellraisers Journal: Debs, "Differences as arise between ...

The Democratic Party has no coherent agenda. Since 2010, most Dems have been running on fear of Republicans. If the GOP is the party of No, then Dems are the party of No-No. No one votes for No-No.

There is never going to be a progressive revolution in America. Forget it. Due to our Constitutional separation of powers, which makes a President easy to weaken or block, due to big media and elections controlled by money, money that seeks only more money and power, little is going to change for the better.

Americans are too glued to TV, too easily manipulated by vacuous ideology, too distracted, over entertained, uninterested, uninformed, misinformed, lied to, too little interested, too feeble in objective reasoning to make independent judgments and choices, too convinced there is no role for government to address major issues facing the country, it they even believe there are major issues, to expect anything but more of the same from the federal government.

My suggestion, move to Minnesota........or Germany.

At the end of the day, the public decided that they wanted to reelect McConnell. They reelected Republican Governors in Maine, Wisconsin and Florida. The public elected Joni Ernst. This is no big surprise. The majority of Whites did not vote for Obama in 2008 or 2012. Many Whites believe that they face more discrimination than Blacks. 

Blacks experience outright suppression by government and police in communities like Frrguson, Missouri. They are not surprised by the election results. An angry portion of White voters see nothing wrong with police abuse, voter suppression, gerrymandering, etc.

Attempts at converting these voters are futile, they have concreted their opinions. The only solution is the coalition formation that brought together a multi-ethnic coalition of Whites, Blacks. Asians, Latinos, and LGBT groups that ushered Obama into office

Facts are not going to change the voting patterns of many White voters. The only saving grace is a coalition of "outsiders"

All I know is that I would definitely vote for a progressive like you who would write about such a situation so realistically and humbly. It's so refreshing and rare on the internet. It's the same thing I am always looking for in government, people who care about solving problems and looking at those problems analytically.

Not agitprop nor someone trying to spin a "drubbing" into gold,. nor someone spewing disgust towards their fellow citizens who actually bothered to come out and vote, as antithetical as any motivations might have been.

But then I'm weird, I guess. Too many other people seem to want to continue to hire politicians who want to "fight" and scream about the other side. As if there were only two sides to every story...

speaking of, I'd like to add a little nuance to my screed upthread. I am willing to bet a significant number of the demographics that are normally considered Democratic voters in the past are no longer that but Independents ,whether registered that way or not. And that plenty of HIspanics/Latinos and young people, etc., voted for the Republican for this or that this time. Because they don't care about partisan labels any more. This is what sold many of those people on Obama, remember? That one of his main sales pitches was "post partisanship"? What I see is not that Obama has not fought back enough, but that maybe he is seen as having fought too much, that he is not seen as fulfilling his promise about not "fighting". Hence, they think, why bother to vote or if voting, why not vote for the other guy? Whether that's fair or not, a lot of his initial supporters were hoping someone could stop the kind of "passion" that a lot of political junkies on the internet seem to think is necessary. There's a conflict here -> people who don't like politics need to be convinced to come out and vote in mid-terms and -> those people are not going to vote for a "fighter." They aren't going to vote for a Ted Cruz, and they aren't going to vote for a Bernie Sanders, either.

This is from just before the election, Dems have been losing some of the Latino vote they previously had:

Latino Support for Democrats Falls, but Democratic Advantage Remains
Pew Research Hispanic Friends Project, Oct. 29, 2014

[...] The survey also finds that for about half of Hispanic registered voters (54%), a candidate’s position on immigration is not a deal-breaker in determining their vote if that candidate shares their views on most other issues [....]

This was a big loss, no doubt about it. But let's not make it bigger than it is. Politics can change on a dime. Remember just six years ago democrats controlled the house by an overwhelming majority, sixty votes in the senate, and the presidency. That's not ancient history. There could be just as dramatic a change in congress in two years as there was in this year or in 2008

I also don't think people voted for republicans, any more than the voted for democrats in 2008. Mostly they voted against the other guy, or for change, or to send a message to politicians that things are not going well for them as they see it.

In spite of the improving economic numbers the status quo is not working for most people. Obama and the democrats are seen as propping up that status quo with massive subsidies to wall street. I'm not saying that the people would support a for left liberal agenda. Not any more than this election shows that the people support lower taxes on the rich. What people want is for things to improve in their lives. They want to at least see that government is trying something that might make things better.

Imo the message sent by this election, and since democrats seem to be in power it mostly affected them, is, "Cause if you really want to hear our views, You haven't done nothing."

The Democrats need a new theme.

Take Eisenhower and his motto ... do your duty ... and the progressive accomplishments of Robert La Follette ... to create a platform that focuses on the trials and tribulations of the working class that got trashed in the 2008 Great Recession.

Why ???

Because what they do have isn't working and what does work is on life support.