trends

So I had to go to the public library today, for work (it's a hard life). And I dropped by the Friends of the Library bookstore, just browsing around, when I stumbled across this:

The Emerging Democratic Majority

From the book jacket:

....[T]he authors show how the most dynamic areas of the country are trending Democratic.... These new Democratic voters embrace what the authors call "Progressive centrism." They take umbrage at Republican calls to privatize social security, ban abortion, and cut back environmental regulations. They are leery of subjecting science and the family to fundamentalist religious precepts. They welcome the free market as a spur to growth and initiative, but they don't want companies to be free to pollute the environment, mistreat their workers, or defraud their stockholders.

From the Introduction:

A longer trend...is leading American politics from the conservative Republican majority of the 1980s to a new Democratic majority. Democrats aren't there yet, but barring the unforeseen, they should arrive by the decade's end.

It was written in 2002.

Of course it's possible that this last election was a blip, that the Democrats will be a disaster, that this was an overcorrection and the conservatives will bounce back. But if they don't, this is looking mighty priescient. I can only hope.