The past 70 years: Who won and who lost

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Kevin:

With the exception of the conservative victory (so far) on taxes, conservatives have succeeded in rolling back only a tiny portion of the liberal victories of the post-World War II era.

Social Security is bigger than ever, Medicare has just been expanded, anti-discrimination laws still rule the land, environmental laws have cleaned up the country, and to prevent themselves from being voted out of office en masse Republicans have to pretend that they enthusiastically support all this stuff even while they're trying to quietly tear it down in the background.

In other words, conservatives (execpt maybe Grover Norquist) are satisfied to nibble around the margins.

And another thing...

...40 years ago Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan could speak plainly about their dislike of Social Security, while today George Bush has to pretend to be the second coming of FDR before he proposes his plans to subtly undo FDR's legacy.

If conservatives have really won the national debate, why is it that they so carefully avoid saying things that they talked about openly a mere four decades ago?

I might quibble with that last point -- one might argue that the conservatives have just gotten smarter, have realized the value of being really good liars. In other words, the ends are the same, but the means are different (and more successful).

But even that tells you where the real power lies: with the American people. They, we, agree with liberal and progressive ideals like fairness, opportunity and family.