One reason Republican defeats seldom lead to long-term Democratic gains is that the GOP is always prepared for defeat, considers it a necessary price to pay from time to time to push the envelope on policy. They feel they must overreach to change the policy arc.
If they only push for what is politically realistic, they will never accomplish any of their goals except very incrementally. Such gains are too easily reversed during times of Democratic ascendancy. Better to push too hard & fail than succeed with modest goals, the GOP believes.
Consequently, Republicans have a two-steps forward/one-step backward philosophy. Push for as much change as possible when they are in power, and limit Democratic gains when they are in power. Move the ball forward over time.
Republicans are also good at planting policy landmines that limit Democratic gains. The most important is tax cuts, which limit Democratic policy options and force them to adopt politically costly tax increases and deficit reduction.
The long-term view is also why Republicans are obsessed with judges, who have lifetime appointments. And every Republican administration takes office with full-developed policy agendas developed by right-wing think tanks like the Heritage Foundation.
Democrats, by contrast, always seem to reinvent the wheel every administration, never seem prepared to take advantage of the brief window of opportunity after inauguration, waste time finding the perfect person for every government job rather than getting positions filled ASAP.
Of course, they are always hamstrung by unified Republican opposition. But this is something that is perfectly predictable. But Democratic presidents always seem shocked by it, have no backup plans, alternative strategies. They also don't plow the ground ahead of time.
That is because they lack the institutional infrastructure that Republicans have. They have a vast network of people and organizations continuously planning to deal with every positive or negative set of circumstances that arise. Democrats tend to lose focus very easily, move on.
