Because objective moral principles have now been abandoned in politics, voters must choose candidates based on other criteria. In this moral vacuum, party platforms lack any underlying unifying principles and must therefore attempt to address every possible specific issue. Hence they become so complex and confusing that voters can have no clear grasp of the positions supported by candidates. Furthermore, since it is impossible to anticipate all issues that will arise during a politician's term of office, and since politicians no longer follow principles, the voter has no clear basis for anticipating a politician's responses to those issues. In short, elections become a "crap shoot," and popular control over the reins of government is further eroded. As elections become increasingly meaningless, voters become powerless to resist the increasing assaults on the constitution and the rule of law.