I was in Argosy Books in NY and overheard the lady in charge of old prints (aged 50) express surprise bordering on shock when informed by a graduate student clerk (aged 25) that people still read and discussed Adam Smith. To this woman, someone who lived and wrote so long ago couldn’t be relevant today. (The young graduate student was incredulous at this woman’s reaction, which I took as a good sign.)
While that’s hopeful, I do believe it to be the exception and not the rule. Any young adult who spends more time in chat rooms than libraries is going to be “centrist” if not outright progressive. Our only hope is that another 2 years of tyranny under Obama will help much of the youth to understand what it’s like to live under a socialist regime and pine for the days of Reagan that they’ll never know.