than it is to teach these Paul punk, self-absorbed libertines to understand the value of practicing the moral values that have separated America from the rest of the world.
Paulbots are annoying, yes. The drug addled hippie types who just want legalized drugs and some peacenik foreign policy are essentially just liberals that I am not even considering as part of a better tomorrow. But there is a LOT of libertine minded conservative young people who are not paulbots. Most of them aren't in fact. I consider these people part of a positive future and well on their way to being the next generation of conservative voters - and many, perhaps most, will become more socially conservative as they grow older as well.
I have a lot of younger people working at my company and I am actually excited about many of this new generation. I may not agree with them on some of the social issues, but what they do understand is that big government creates dependence and dependence will destroy the nation. In my mind, the younger people that I see graduating from university and holding this position gives me some hope for future generations. Many, I think, see the dependence problem much more clearly than a lot of social conservative voters who are much more focused on re-fighting things like contraception and smut.
I think maybe you see the deluge of porn and violence on TV, the internet, games, etc and think the future is lost. But didn't your parents generation have the same worry, and the one before that, and probably before that? Americans voted for FDR in the 30's and 40's. I mean, come on, FDR was a very radical economic leftist and began many of the disasterous social programs that we have today. I am not sold on the idea that things were somehow better in the "old days", and I certainly wouldn't want to go back to living in that time period. I think people will deal with the information age just fine. I think the availability of things like porn will cause damage to some folks, but new generations of people that have grown up in the information age will be able to process it, adapt and adjust.
In my opinion, dependence on government causes vastly more damage to society than porn. It simply isn't even a close call. Government dependence has absolutely destroyed urban areas, not smut. The key to turning things around is reducing the size and scope of government, not finding reasons to expand its influence by regulating how much skin one can see online. I think the libertine conservatives get that, and perhaps I am just not so pessimistic about the future (in the long term) as you are.
I believe you underestimate the destructiveness and the gripping addiction of porn, but I don't believe that I underestimate the destructiveness of dependence on government, the total annihilation of the black family by the welfare state, or any of the other damage that big government causes.
I'm glad you are optimistic about the young people with whom you come in contact. I am optimistic about the handful of young people I know who understand that morality is an integral part of conservatism. If there are enough of them in the country, we may survive. If there are only libertines, I seriously doubt it.
From what I've seen on this forum, these punks offer no hope for America's future. They need to understand the danger their unbridled desires and addictions pose to not only themselves, but to the future of America. I truly don't believe that their 'conservatism' has anything to do with logical politics. For most of them, it has only to do with their pre-adolescent desire to do whatever they want to do.
And that has not one whit to do with conservatism.
Sorry to be such a pessimist, but the more I see of these libertines, the less hope I have for America's future.