The kids are alright...

Dean Esmay has a good sum-up of young conservatives prompted by the New York Times article on the future of conservatism.

The NYTimes article is kind of funny in that he treats conservatism like it's some alien being that they have never heard of. My perception of some of the rifts it finds (like the anti-war crowd) seems kind of overblown. Sure, the hard-core libertarians of Reason and Mises fit the bill, but I think most conservatives place a high value on the security of the U.S. and feel that the Iraq war was a justified and neceassary step in protecting our country.

I don't think that the social conservative split is going to be as big a deal as the Times likes to think either. I think most young people, including conservatives, are more tolerant of people, even if they don't agree with it. That means that issues like gay marriage and abortion are not going to be big issues in the future, as people will continue to be against these things but will see less of a role in government in discouraging them.

I think that the Blogosphere is a pretty good picture of the thoughts of, well, people who think alot, and most of the conservative blogs I read - which are some of the most popular - tend to be that way - conservative on economics and security issues, more liberal on social issues.