The country has been under attack from the beginning. The Constitution was specifically written to RESTRAIN the federal government, essentially allowing it to maintain an Army/Navy, courts, post roads, and very little else. It was implied (and later outright stated as per the 10th Amendment) that the federal government would only have the powers EXPRESSLY granted to it and that all others were reserved to the states or the people.
Pretty much everyone in the federalist camp (who were a very broad group) made these arguments for ratification and even stated that a Bill of Rights was unnecessary because the federal government was not specifically granted the power to take any of the rights mentioned in the Bill of Rights! This was the key to many that were on the fence. The federal government was LIMITED and had only expressed powers.
Yet you had many of the same people arguing after the Constitution was ratified that the government had implied powers such as the ability to create a central bank. The more power the federal government gave itself, the less important states and localities became and the greater the government ignored or brushed aside the original intention of the Constitution.
The majority has consistently wanted something for nothing and I see little chance of that changing given the methods used to achieve political power.
It is almost impossible for the Right to control government when its rhetoric is universally anti-government. It has been utterly discredited by the Treason media and cannot elect statewide officials outside of a few states.
In addition, conceding the cities to the democrats makes it extremely difficult to win states especially as the nation becomes more urbanized as a whole.