1. Do they think that the U.S. will be better off as a one party state? They seem to have a severe double standard in that they do not want to associate with nut cases like Tom Delay but are accepting of nut cases like Maxine Waters. The beauty of the current Democratic party is that groups with opposite views such as greens and industrial labor unions can co-exist. Can a second political party function with the current Democratic party in existence?

2. Do any of them plan for a career in politics in the coming one party state. Do any of the rich, white liberals really believe that blacks would ever vote for them if there is a black candidate to vote for? Do they think that many people will be employed in politics if the presidential election is decided sometime between the Iowa caucuses and Super Tuesday Democratic primaries?

But, frankly, even if Obama is a miserable failure, the country’s social mores will have evolved in four or eight years. Further, American politics will naturally evolve along with the American public, just as it always has. Presumably, the Republican Party will eventually do so as well — just as it always has.

What is the makeup of this social evolution you speak of, as if it is a certainty? Would it be:
acceptance by the great majority of-- gay marriage; abortion; the single parent family as norm; "hookups" by students; promiscuity; porn; use of dope; early teen sex; erotic sex practices; moral relativity; shoddy parenting; decline of religion; in short, open hedonism?

Are we fated to be immersed in such a decadent social nightmare, no matter what? Or, are there countervailing forces in our society that will rise up in total disgust and revulsion to fight to recover and strengthen our traditional Christian morality?

That is what I see happening in my community, more and more, especially when the emotional costs of such early-in-life decadence are visibly being paid for by sons and daughters that lose their way after some years of living in personal chaos and lack of discipline. It is a hard road back. This is the factor that is suppressed--the consequences of hedonism on people downstream from the pleasures of the moment.

Why should anyone blithely accept such a social catastrophe as if it is beneficial?

"Sorry, couldn't resist." James, it's those moments that keep me going back to OTB.

We aims ta please.

Further, American politics will naturally evolve along with the American public, just as it always has. Presumably, the Republican Party will eventually do so as well — just as it always has.

I have no doubt that the GOP will eventually reform--no party will stick with the same principles through decades of electoral failure. I just wonder how fast it's going to happen. So far it looks like the reformers, like Frum, Noonan, Salaam, Brooks, and my own Governor, Charlie Crist, are completely despised by the know-nothings in the GOP base. So it's going to be at least a few more losing election cycles, I think, before the base is broken and the will to change arrives.

The youth? I wouldn't really know. In the California tech circles they seem to be progressive and post-racial in the way Obama presents himself.

Your second paragraph describes a gullible generation with a huge appetite for equivocation,who gladly strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.

Do think this is true of a majority or just the ones you ran into?

That has changed quite a bit in the last 20 years with Newt, Rush, Karl Rove, Tom Delay, James Dobson, William Bennet, Pat Robertson, etc. Now the general perception among people in their teens and 20s that I've run into is that you're a conservative if you hate their gay friends, can't STFU about Jesus, aren't very intelligent or well-read, are obsessed with giving rich people tax cuts, make absurd claims about Obama, and don't believe in science. Because of this perception the people who are maturing over the last few years are voting 2-1 Democrat.

According to political scientists, your political affiliation in your 20's is a very strong predictor of your political affiliation in the decades afterward, so there's a very big Dem cohort that's been created in the last decade-plus.

Academics and political consultants who have studied the youth vote have many explanations for their movement toward the Republicans, but the most powerful is the simplest: Young Americans have known only Mr. Reagan and Mr. Carter as President, and Mr. Reagan is the overwhelming favorite.

I think that's pretty much correct. Moreover, I think the Reagan generation's commitment to conservative ideology followed their voting for RR rather than being the predicate for their vote. I remember in my last job (in hi-tech), many of my younger co-workers were self-identified conservatives. But when I probed, I found that their conservatism was pretty much exhausted after we got done talking about economics. If anything, they were far more libertarian than conservative on the social issues. In those attitudes, they often reminded me, in fact, of my counter-culture friends from the 60s and 70s (though of course without the mindless marxist cant). And I often wondered if Carter's presidency had been much less the perceived failure it was, what their party and political affiliations would have then been.