Regarding Amanda's excellent post... throughout history, we've seen conservative/reactionary movements at moments of change, when the old guard sees its hold on the culture slipping away and fights to get it back (e.g. the Civil War in reaction to the decline of the plantation economy, Prohibition in reaction to the rise in immigration and the shift from a rural-centered population to a urban-based population, etc.). In the end, the forces of progressivism and change always win out because, well, time is on the side of the young. In the end, progressives will win the culture wars by simply waiting. But the young never like to wait, do they? So it goes with the carousel of life...

(Forgive the rambling; I'm in a philosophical mood.)