40 More Years: How Demorcrats Will Rule The Next Generation

g under p

A book review here in DC from The Washington Times:

40 More Years How Demorcrats Will Rule The Next Generation

"Obama created a new party," Mr. Carville says.

True. But he did so by refining the tactics developed by Mr. Dean and successfully applied in Iowa, where those young people now lionized by Mr. Carville, but then demonized by the Clintonistas, carried the state, and ultimately the nation, for Mr. Obama. It may well be that the 2008 election demonstrated that the Democratic establishment, personified by Mr. Carville's candidate, had lost touch with those young voters they tried desperately to prevent from caucusing, and Mr. Obama represented a non-party option.

But that's not how Mr. Carville sees it. His thesis is that because young people turned out in record numbers to vote Democratic in 2008, young people can be counted on to vote Democratic for the next 40 years. Perhaps. But 40 years from now, there'll be several new crops of young people, with a whole new set of ideas and attitudes. The chances of fielding another unique, once-in-a-lifetime candidate like Mr. Obama will be highly improbable. And given demographic trends, 40 years from now, candidates may speak less to the passions of youth and more to the anxieties of the old.

Even if this was to occur I wouldn't want it and the same goes if it was reverse. It all depends on the candidate and his policies vying for President over the years. After the last 8 years of GWB one might just see why Carville may think the Democrats might rule the next generation for 40 years.

Would anyone want Republicans ruling for 40 years, is there a possibility that this could happen?

Peace

ledvedderman

I think James misses it a little bit. I really enjoy Carville and think he is a political genius, but I just don't think this is going to happen. The Dems will reach to far to the left, then the Republicans will run a moderate candidate and have their own national sweep (like in 1994). That will bring the Democrats back to the middle. The the Republicans will go further to the right and then reach too far allowing the Democrats back in (like in 2006).

It's all one big cyclical tug of war. I think the future is more promising for the Democratic Party than it is for the Republicans. There's a major identity crisis going on with the GOP. You got the Christian right thinking that they should run the party. You got the small government/no taxes aspect of the party which is spreading like a wildfire. Then you have the moderate base of the party which falls in line with the other two parties...but just not to the hardcore degree.

tybird

Yup...everybody goes through a down cycle as well as an up cycle. It's really hard to predict what voters are going to do in three years. If the Democratic majority can't accomplish anything of merit in the next couple of years, they will discover the fickleness of the voting public.

g under p

tybird wrote:

Yup...everybody goes through a down cycle as well as an up cycle. It's really hard to predict what voters are going to do in three years. If the Democratic majority can't accomplish anything of merit in the next couple of years, they will discover the fickleness of the voting public.

Also in 40 years the demographics of our population will certainly change. Due to the growth of the Hispanic population, whites will not be the majority by 2050. So can Dems rule for 40 years rule possibly but I seriously doubt it and I would necessarily not want it either.

Peace

soulsinging

He may have a point to an extent. I think current democratic values will essentially rule the next generation. I'm waiting anxiously for baby boomers to die and take all that old-fashioned 50s hokum bullshit with them. The dems won because republicans are out of touch with what America is becoming... they're clinging to a past that no longer exists... one where Jesus is the center of the country, homos stay in the closet, sex is shameful, the Bible in unquestioned and evolution is outlawed, and minorities have to prove they deserve equality. The republicans are losing the culture war, they just don't realize it. And if they continue to make cultural division the center of their platform, they will collapse and someone else will step into the void. The moral platform will soon do to republicans what it did to southern democrats in the 60s-70s.

Gay marriage is not going to be an issue once the booomers are dead and gone. Every teen knows gay kids and most don't give a flying fuck about it anymore. Mixed families are more and more common and religion is less and less important in daily life. I look forward to a country that in 20 years can spend its political time discussing economics and foreign affairs rather than bullshit like that.

ajedigecko

soulsinging wrote:

He may have a point to an extent. I think current democratic values will essentially rule the next generation. I'm waiting anxiously for baby boomers to die and take all that old-fashioned 50s hokum bullshit with them. The dems won because republicans are out of touch with what America is becoming... they're clinging to a past that no longer exists... one where Jesus is the center of the country, homos stay in the closet, sex is shameful, the Bible in unquestioned and evolution is outlawed, and minorities have to prove they deserve equality. The republicans are losing the culture war, they just don't realize it. And if they continue to make cultural division the center of their platform, they will collapse and someone else will step into the void. The moral platform will soon do to republicans what it did to southern democrats in the 60s-70s.

Gay marriage is not going to be an issue once the booomers are dead and gone. Every teen knows gay kids and most don't give a flying fuck about it anymore. Mixed families are more and more common and religion is less and less important in daily life. I look forward to a country that in 20 years can spend its political time discussing economics and foreign affairs rather than bullshit like that.

well said.........also if i read correctly, jerry falwell was asked at one time if he would have a problem with an atheist being president.

surprisngly.........he said, "no, as long as they knew how to run the country"

RW81233

soulsinging wrote:

He may have a point to an extent. I think current democratic values will essentially rule the next generation. I'm waiting anxiously for baby boomers to die and take all that old-fashioned 50s hokum bullshit with them. The dems won because republicans are out of touch with what America is becoming... they're clinging to a past that no longer exists... one where Jesus is the center of the country, homos stay in the closet, sex is shameful, the Bible in unquestioned and evolution is outlawed, and minorities have to prove they deserve equality. The republicans are losing the culture war, they just don't realize it. And if they continue to make cultural division the center of their platform, they will collapse and someone else will step into the void. The moral platform will soon do to republicans what it did to southern democrats in the 60s-70s.

Gay marriage is not going to be an issue once the booomers are dead and gone. Every teen knows gay kids and most don't give a flying fuck about it anymore. Mixed families are more and more common and religion is less and less important in daily life. I look forward to a country that in 20 years can spend its political time discussing economics and foreign affairs rather than bullshit like that.

have you been to East Tennessee lately? or other parts of the dirty south, and fake liberal north? plus, minorities, on the whole, hate gay people more than white people do (weird I know). in other words, I do agree that progress is going to happen, but it's not going to be an easy move, more like a contested slide.

decides2dream

tybird wrote:

Yup...everybody goes through a down cycle as well as an up cycle. It's really hard to predict what voters are going to do in three years. If the Democratic majority can't accomplish anything of merit in the next couple of years, they will discover the fickleness of the voting public.

exactly.
unless we come into some 'golden age' in america.....which is ridiculously doubtful, NO one is guaranteed a thing. we are a nation of it ain't workin', throw em out and go with the other guy. it would be great to see less/no votes based on parties but based solely on candidates....THAT would be a real change for the better. i DO think that did happen to a good degree this last presidential election, tho most definitely strongly connected to 'get em outta here' mentality due to, finally, recognizing what an absolute trainwreck this last administration has been. i don't foresee anyone holding strong for 40 straight years, period.

soulsinging

RW81233 wrote:

soulsinging wrote:

He may have a point to an extent. I think current democratic values will essentially rule the next generation. I'm waiting anxiously for baby boomers to die and take all that old-fashioned 50s hokum bullshit with them. The dems won because republicans are out of touch with what America is becoming... they're clinging to a past that no longer exists... one where Jesus is the center of the country, homos stay in the closet, sex is shameful, the Bible in unquestioned and evolution is outlawed, and minorities have to prove they deserve equality. The republicans are losing the culture war, they just don't realize it. And if they continue to make cultural division the center of their platform, they will collapse and someone else will step into the void. The moral platform will soon do to republicans what it did to southern democrats in the 60s-70s.

Gay marriage is not going to be an issue once the booomers are dead and gone. Every teen knows gay kids and most don't give a flying fuck about it anymore. Mixed families are more and more common and religion is less and less important in daily life. I look forward to a country that in 20 years can spend its political time discussing economics and foreign affairs rather than bullshit like that.

have you been to East Tennessee lately? or other parts of the dirty south, and fake liberal north? plus, minorities, on the whole, hate gay people more than white people do (weird I know). in other words, I do agree that progress is going to happen, but it's not going to be an easy move, more like a contested slide.

Perhaps, but I think a lot of these are old, irrational prejudices held by an older generation that will soon be gone. Just as once upon a time it was generally accepted as a given that blacks were inferior and should not be mingling with whites. It was a struggle to get past that, but once slavery and Jim Crow were gone, it's basically universally accepted that it is an absurd concept that should never have been entertained. I think the current culture wars are headed the same way. Things that are being accepted as perfectly logical by an old guard are going to be seen as the absurd prejudices of old. Nobody now argues that Jim Crow is ok, even the party that backed it has abandoned that as an absurd stance to take. I think the whole moral values movement will be seen the same way. The republicans tout these values issues in the same way southern dems touted jim crow, and I think it will not be long before they are exposed as equally ridiculous and utterly forgotten as an issue of national politics.

Their best bet is to give up. What they whine about now with respect to race is quotas and affirmative action, things that would not have been necessary had they not been so stubborn that we had no choice but to force integration upon them. So they're up against it again... do they want to voluntarily embrace equality and modern thinking, or do they want it forced upon them so that they end up with a bunch of federal regs to supervise them and combat their ignorance?

blackredyellow

soulsinging wrote:

The republicans are losing the culture war, they just don't realize it. And if they continue to make cultural division the center of their platform, they will collapse and someone else will step into the void. The moral platform will soon do to republicans what it did to southern democrats in the 60s-70s.

I think that the republican politicians (at least most of them), realize that they are losing the culture war. But their focus is on the short term... the next election cycle... they need the dependable votes/money of the older crowd to keep their political careers going.

The size of this support is diminishing over the recent years and will keep diminishing... The left can thank Bush, Rove and crew for speeding up the process.

At some point in the near future, the republican party has to abandon the old social conservative base, and focus on being fiscally conservative... that platform at least has potential with younger people.

ajedigecko

i think the far left and their views will allow the far right and their views to reacquire washington.........the cycle continues.

tybird

blackredyellow wrote:

soulsinging wrote:

The republicans are losing the culture war, they just don't realize it. And if they continue to make cultural division the center of their platform, they will collapse and someone else will step into the void. The moral platform will soon do to republicans what it did to southern democrats in the 60s-70s.

I think that the republican politicians (at least most of them), realize that they are losing the culture war. But their focus is on the short term... the next election cycle... they need the dependable votes/money of the older crowd to keep their political careers going.

The size of this support is diminishing over the recent years and will keep diminishing... The left can thank Bush, Rove and crew for speeding up the process.

At some point in the near future, the republican party has to abandon the old social conservative base, and focus on being fiscally conservative... that platform at least has potential with younger people.

The focus of all political parties is the next election cycle. What great changes have sprung forth from any recent majority rule? What has the most recent congress done besides not be Bush cronies? Aren't we still talking about the same issues that we were talking about last year or even two years ago?

weenie

soulsinging wrote:

He may have a point to an extent. I think current democratic values will essentially rule the next generation. I'm waiting anxiously for baby boomers to die and take all that old-fashioned 50s hokum bullshit with them. The dems won because republicans are out of touch with what America is becoming... they're clinging to a past that no longer exists... one where Jesus is the center of the country, homos stay in the closet, sex is shameful, the Bible in unquestioned and evolution is outlawed, and minorities have to prove they deserve equality. The republicans are losing the culture war, they just don't realize it. And if they continue to make cultural division the center of their platform, they will collapse and someone else will step into the void. The moral platform will soon do to republicans what it did to southern democrats in the 60s-70s.

Gay marriage is not going to be an issue once the booomers are dead and gone. Every teen knows gay kids and most don't give a flying fuck about it anymore. Mixed families are more and more common and religion is less and less important in daily life. I look forward to a country that in 20 years can spend its political time discussing economics and foreign affairs rather than bullshit like that.

Couple things...
the first is in regard to your comments on boomers going away. I think you're missing part of the picture. A large segment of boomers include "beatniks" from the 50's as well as "hippies" from the 60's that helped usher the Repubs out of the oval office recently. The vast majority of those two categories are college-educated and progressive thinking. So I think it's inaccurate to classify all "boomers" as intolerant and guilty of antiquated views. Second, I think that for the most part, the success of political parties is based on how quickly and thoroughly they have been able to rally around lightning rod issues that the overwhelming majority of the American public feels strongly about. ie 9/11 and Bush's blank checks. The Repubs have been out of the loop a lot recently because typically they are not the party of "the people" and are mostly disinterested in social issues. I think that politics is really not much more than public relations and feel that whichever party has the best group of spin doctors is going to be on top at any given time. Carville knows this better than anyone, he's one of them.

VINNY GOOMBA

If our country doesn't wake up in the next few years, I can easily predict another 40 years of Republicrat rule.

tybird

VINNY GOOMBA wrote:

If our country doesn't wake up in the next few years, I can easily predict another 40 years of Republicrat rule.

I'm already willing to place that bet....Republicrats for at least 40 more years. :twisted:

PearlJain

g under p wrote:

A book review here in DC from The Washington Times:

40 More Years How Demorcrats Will Rule The Next Generation

"Obama created a new party," Mr. Carville says.

True. But he did so by refining the tactics developed by Mr. Dean and successfully applied in Iowa, where those young people now lionized by Mr. Carville, but then demonized by the Clintonistas, carried the state, and ultimately the nation, for Mr. Obama. It may well be that the 2008 election demonstrated that the Democratic establishment, personified by Mr. Carville's candidate, had lost touch with those young voters they tried desperately to prevent from caucusing, and Mr. Obama represented a non-party option.

But that's not how Mr. Carville sees it. His thesis is that because young people turned out in record numbers to vote Democratic in 2008, young people can be counted on to vote Democratic for the next 40 years. Perhaps. But 40 years from now, there'll be several new crops of young people, with a whole new set of ideas and attitudes. The chances of fielding another unique, once-in-a-lifetime candidate like Mr. Obama will be highly improbable. And given demographic trends, 40 years from now, candidates may speak less to the passions of youth and more to the anxieties of the old.

Even if this was to occur I wouldn't want it and the same goes if it was reverse. It all depends on the candidate and his policies vying for President over the years. After the last 8 years of GWB one might just see why Carville may think the Democrats might rule the next generation for 40 years.

Would anyone want Republicans ruling for 40 years, is there a possibility that this could happen?

Peace

(the Dem's) You all WISH!

g under p

PearlJain wrote:

g under p wrote:

A book review here in DC from The Washington Times:

40 More Years How Demorcrats Will Rule The Next Generation

"Obama created a new party," Mr. Carville says.

True. But he did so by refining the tactics developed by Mr. Dean and successfully applied in Iowa, where those young people now lionized by Mr. Carville, but then demonized by the Clintonistas, carried the state, and ultimately the nation, for Mr. Obama. It may well be that the 2008 election demonstrated that the Democratic establishment, personified by Mr. Carville's candidate, had lost touch with those young voters they tried desperately to prevent from caucusing, and Mr. Obama represented a non-party option.

But that's not how Mr. Carville sees it. His thesis is that because young people turned out in record numbers to vote Democratic in 2008, young people can be counted on to vote Democratic for the next 40 years. Perhaps. But 40 years from now, there'll be several new crops of young people, with a whole new set of ideas and attitudes. The chances of fielding another unique, once-in-a-lifetime candidate like Mr. Obama will be highly improbable. And given demographic trends, 40 years from now, candidates may speak less to the passions of youth and more to the anxieties of the old.

Even if this was to occur I wouldn't want it and the same goes if it was reverse. It all depends on the candidate and his policies vying for President over the years. After the last 8 years of GWB one might just see why Carville may think the Democrats might rule the next generation for 40 years.

Would anyone want Republicans ruling for 40 years, is there a possibility that this could happen?

Peace

(the Dem's) You all WISH!

Just to enlighten you I didn't vote for the Democratic Party in the past Presidential election. I'm an Independent however my true choice was Dennis Kucinich.

Peace