A big part of this problem is the People as a whole do not pay any attention to things that can’t be shown to directly affect them. This allows the professional politicians (the Democrats) to organize the underclass, the Leftist ideologues and the crooks into organizations that are hard to beat.
Our only chance is to keep a PERMANENT spirit such as was manifested in the Tea Party in 2010 ready to counter all their underhanded means. There is never a time when the Left admits defeat so we can never give up. Sporadic spasms of interest and activity will not hold back the tide.
Republicans are often people from business, the military, or non-political pursuits who take a flyer on politics after having another career. While this is good they also start at a disadvantage because they are trying to defeat people whose whole lives are dedicated to winning elections and who have developed the expertise needed to do so.
Your rule making example is another example of this. Those who provide most of the comments on the proposed rules are the liberal interest groups. Conservatives are far too often asleep at the switch in these matters.