Adolph Reed, Jr. wrote, "The atrophy of political imagination shows up in approaches to strategy as well. In the absence of goals that require long-term organizing — e.g., single-payer health care, universally free public higher education and public transportation, federal guarantees of housing and income security — the election cycle has come to exhaust the time horizon of political action."

Both parties hope to preserve the status quo and prevent movement-building, so "we have to focus on the upcoming election, the most important of our lifetime" becomes the go-to talking point.

As for Florida and Texas and other states, all the Republican Party has to do in order to maintain disproportionate power is keep the red states red and drive the blue out of states that threaten to turn purple. That's precisely what the Republican Party is doing.

The GOP controls a clear majority of state legislative chambers (59%-41%), still has a majority of governorships and has controlled the US house more than 75% of the time this century. They've had the White House and US Senate about half the time this century. And they dominate the judiciary. All while representing a shrinking minority of the population. The extremism isn't a mistake that threatens the GOP's survival. It's a strategy meant to maintain disproportionate power. All the people on Medium and elsewhere who suggest the GOP is facing extinction are living in fantasy land.

Of course, most of the elected officials don't give a shit one way or another about LGBTQ rights, abortion, guns, immigration, etc. They're just bad faith actors engaged in political theater, using and abusing the masses for personal and political gain. Culture wars and horse race elections, 24/7. Whatever it takes to keep people from organizing and building movements that would threaten the status quo.