Thursday, March 04, 2004

The pendulum is approaching the end of its swing

Glenn Reynolds asks, "HAS THE LEFT LOST ITS TEEN SPIRIT?" If you've ever heard a Kerry speech, you wouldn't have to ask that. Kerry never had any, eve when he was a teen.

Of course, being 56 and a Mormon, I'm not one to argue that having teen is a good thing or not. Glenn, being a law prof, probably more in touch than I am. I'm not even fully in touch with James Lileks' generation if his tastes in music mean anything. I thought I knew 80s music--I've got a bunch of it on vinyl in the basement--but I didn't know who Godley & Creme are and I've never known what to make of terms like "icy prog-rock," "synth pop" and "straight-ahead post-punk." Maybe that's what wrong with the music biz; nobody understands the classification terminology it uses. But I'm off point.

What I wanted to say is that today's 20-somethings are the children of my generation, and are naturally critical and questioning of our attitudes unless we can explain them. I don't think liberals have ever been able to defend their welfare state ideology, particularly since they are so anti-religious. They're caught on a Marxist sticky trap. What I think is coming is a growth in libertarian and conservative thinking. Liberalism is so . . . Euorpean these days.

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