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This past election is not evidence that liberalism is on the rise or that conservatism is waning. Conservatism is and has been since the early 80s in the DNA of most Americans.
Evidence for this abounds, including:
(1) Even so called liberal Democrats present themselves as opposed to taxes.
(2) As someone in another Salon forum said, Democrats had candidates in the primary to the left of Obama and did not choose them.
(3) Gay marriage initiatives failed and much of that failure was due to opposition by blacks and hispanics, two key Democrat constituent groups. Those groups are unlikely to support San Francisco, white, liberal social policies.
(4) The blue collar Democrats who voted for Obama do not support gun control--one of the left's goals.
(5) Many of the Democrats elected in the House and Senate ran on platforms ranging from moderately conservative to conservative. How many of them ran as liberals and won? Any?
(6) John McCain, with all he had going against him as the GOP candidate, still received 46% of the vote. That, more than anything else, suggests just how conservative the majority of Americans are.
