After last week’s election, there has been a lot of talk about where the Republicans go from here … what do they need to learn from in this election?  But let’s pause for a moment to reflect on what Democrats can take away from this election.

Democrats can be pretty pumped to have their years of hard work validated; years of working to put people on the government dole has managed to translate into votes for Democrats.  In a way, this is the greatest PR campaign success story for generations.  Americans have it ingrained in their minds that if they want their “free” stuff, they need to vote for Democrats.  Couple that with the Democrats’ success on getting people on the government dole, and – ta da! – four more years of the SCOAMF.

Democrats can also be pretty excited to realize that free stuff is enough motivation to get people to the polls.  The threat of their free stuff coming to the end if their guy loses is enough to get people excited about voting for their keepers.  This is achieved by using wealth envy as a campaign strategy.  Pitting the growing number of moochers against the dwindling number of producers seems like it will be a winning strategy for some time to come.

Two figures from this column by Robert Samuelson, It's the Welfare State, Stupid.

• In 1935, income transfers were less than 3 percent of the economy; now they're almost 20 percent.

• In 2011, "payments for individuals," including health care, constituted 65 percent of federal spending, up from 21 percent in 1955. 

Do you think those trends are ever going to reverse?  And who do you think these “transfer” recipients are going to vote for?

Democrats have a lot to be thankful for, at least when it comes to keeping their political power.