Regulating men's hearts has never worked. There are several meaningful quotes from the authors of the Constitution along those lines (as well as the Bible), it was written for a moral people, but will not work for any other kind. Sadly, we're running really low on moral people. That is expressly why so much power was left with the States, and withheld from a central Federal government, in the Constitution ... if you read the writings of the authors of the document. A state, being geographically smaller and comprised typically of affinity groups (families, communities, etc.), upon agreeing to a moral standard for themselves, is far more likely to keep it than an entire nation, spanning hundreds of millions of people. Its a whole lot simpler (not easier) to hash out a social contract with your neighbor than it is with a stranger who lives in a completely different context than you. Common sense law, influenced by Blackstone, the legal standard until the 1860s in the US.
The truth is the GOP needs Obama, like The Party needed Emmanuel Goldstein. Its a common enemy that distracts the people from paying attention to the weaknesses of the party. If you just read the posts from people here that hate Ron Paul, they seldom have anything good to say about the GOP. In fact, it sounds as if they're advocating "hold your nose and vote party line." Romney will get the GOP nomination; I never imagined RP would get it. The primary cogent complaint against him is that he doesn't get along with the status quo in the beltway ... as if that's something we want? I thought we didn't like the status quo in the beltway. We, the GOP, need to get our story straight, and until we do, we need Obama to keep us on our toes.
