[Purrybonker]

America is a strange place - particularily from the outside looking in. Most of the "free world" has marched pretty much lock-step in social liberalization since WW2. America - the nation that is leading-edge in so many fronts is trailing edge in this important aspect of cultural evolution. Why is that?

I don't think that even the most extreme conservative would argue that civilization is becoming progressively liberal over time. Each successive generation is generally more liberal (culturally/socially) than their predecessors. Politically though, because government power base is always held by the "outgoing" generation (60 year old white men in the case of America) - governments tend to trail the actual political leanings of the population.

But in America this condition is exagerated. The US two-party system further stiffles cultural evolution - exacerbating the detachment of the emerging generation from the political process. This isn't just rhetoric - it's a big part of the reason why the US lags behind the cultural evolution of the world and has amongst the lowest voter turn-outs on the planet.

Like it or not - the conservative of today will soon be extinct (and will to some extent be villified by subsequent generations) just like every generation of conservatives before him. It's just that the US system forestalls their extinction longer than it does elsewhere on the planet.

Wouldn't it be easier if all those hawks just conceded the game now - and save us all years of angst and political handwringing?