As we have noted repeatedly, the Democrats never stopped campaigning after the last election. They know they can’t move the country significantly to the left as long as Republicans control the House, so everything they are now doing is intended to fire up their party’s base so that they will have the kind of enthusiasm in 2014 that conservatives had in 2010. Can it work? Given what happened in November, I wouldn’t bet against it.

The Democrats are sending out a blizzard of fundraising emails. They may be out of ideas, but they don’t think that matters as long as they can raise unprecedented amounts of money and use it to demonize their opponents. This morning I, along with millions of others, got this email from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee:

There are only three days until the FIRST fundraising deadline since President Obama’s State of the Union address — let’s make sure the Koch Brothers know that there’s a whole movement standing in their way. Renew your membership for only $3: http://dccc.org/Renew Thanks, Kelly Kelly Ward

DCCC Executive Director

Note the gratuitous reference to the Koch brothers, who now apparently stand for something–God knows what. How many of the millions of Democratic voters who got this email have any idea that the Koch brothers advocate free enterprise, the system that made America great? Probably very few.

Not long after that email, I got this follow-up:

John — First, the bad news. A few hours ago, we alerted you that the Koch Brothers are shifting their millions to blocking President Obama’s progressive agenda. BUT here’s the good news: Since this morning, over 5,100 supporters have stepped up, chipped in, and put a real dent in the fundraising gap. That’s just in the last few hours! But, according to our records, you still haven’t re-upped.

Well, no, I haven’t “re-upped.” Nor do I intend to. And there isn’t any “fundraising gap”; the Democrats are, as always, awash in cash. What is dispiriting about this is how mean-spirited the Democratic Party is. They don’t talk about issues; they never argue public policy in any serious way. They appeal only to the ignorant, with their moronic references to the “Koch Brothers,” presumed to be monsters under the bed. It is impossible to imagine any administration prior to Obama’s making such an effort to demonize private citizens for daring to disagree with entrenched powers.

For the moment, at least, idiocy reigns supreme in our political life. If conservatives don’t do their utmost, idiocy will prevail in 2014 as it did in 2012.