The vacuum left has created the "in" for all sorts of mischief by the government.
Not least of which is that, when social problems arise from our lack of virtue, we cry out to government to fix them for us - which government is more than happy to do, in exchange for more power.
(Not to hijack this discussion, but Hillsdale College's "Constitution Town Hall" last Saturday was quite enlightening on this very subject - particularly when one fellow, during the Q&A, advocated legalization of narcotics. Here's the
archive, for anyone interested.)