Republicans have never hesitated to take whatever they want, nor to use whatever tactics needed to succeed. In-your-face gleefully merciless “fuck-yous” to everyone not properly aligned. Democrats, while not using such blatantly gross tactics, work in far more deleteriously effective ways ensuring that the gains Republicans make against the rest of us are cemented firmly in place. Republicans are the teeth of the ratchet that keeps moving us to the right, while Democrats are the pawl that engages with the teeth to prevent the wheel from moving in any but one direction.