Liberals winning, simplistic charts agree

liberals

The New York Times charts the inexorable liberalization of America on social issues. But there's a caveat!

The article's thrust is that gun control and abortion are exceptions: "The second category of major issues is different. In it, both sides in the debate are often able to make a rights-based argument. … That’s why the second set of issues defies the confident predictions that come with the first."

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The number of Americans calling for more gun control has trended down to under fifty percent, but to cast that abortion chart as a similar exception seems a stretch: Americans who are OK with it has gone up from 75% to 80% in the last few decades.

I'm not sure I believe it (most polls put it Americans about net 55/40 OK with abortion). But either way, the imposition of brutal burdens on pregnant women has become a legislative candle in the dark for conservatism. It's hard not to think last week is only the beginning of their misery.

Cheer up, guys: you'll still have your guns!

Missing from the Times' roundup is a climate change chart.

CONCLUSION: Your annoying uncle who proudly declares "social liberal, fiscal conservative" in his smug, nasal voice is winning.