Taking into mind the 2012 election results, in which Americans generally rejected the GOP's socially conservative agenda (e.g. by voting to legalize pot and same-sex marriage), suggesting that Americans are becoming more socially liberal; various polls indicating increasing secularization; and with Obama being president for the majority of the decade, could the 2010s become a left-leaning decade? What do you think the political landscape of this decade will be?

The 2010's will be the decade of the libertarian and the white minority. The Tea Partiers and the Ron Paul people will join forces and will be the leading voices in small government politics. Blacks and hispanics will never vote Republican ever again, and the Democrats will use the growing Hispanic population to secure the presidency. 2012 proved that Obama voters were willing to brush NDAA and Libya under the rug if campaigners can paint the Republicans as racist and mention Bush a few times. The GOP will keep trying to pander to Hispanics and Christian fundamentalists, despite the widespread knowledge that it won't work, and will probably only be able to have  through the Congress.

Voters are much more liberal about gay marriage, interracial dating and marijuana, but otherwise not probably significantly more liberal than before. Most socially liberal issues that people support also tend to be libertarian― most Americans, for example, oppose affirmative action and have skeptical views on radical feminism. The only real social issue that really swung voters this year were the War on Women stuff (abortion, rape). Obama won due to demographics.

Taking into mind the 2012 election results, in which Americans generally rejected the GOP's socially conservative agenda (e.g. by voting to legalize pot and same-sex marriage), suggesting that Americans are becoming more socially liberal; various polls indicating increasing secularization; and with Obama being president for the majority of the decade, could the 2010s become a left-leaning decade? What do you think the political landscape of this decade will be?


    I don't think America is becoming more liberal. Religion isn't necessarily conservative, and irreligion isn't necessarily liberal. Ayn Rand was extremely right wing and was an atheist. East Asia is very atheistic compared to most parts of the world yet is highly conservative.

    The only true way I see America being more liberal is the issue of gay rights. Even as recently as the early 2000s, homophobia was a lot more rampant. Just listen to a typical Eminem song from that era, nowadays Eminem defends gay rights so I do think over the past 10-20 years there's been a change of heart over gay rights, though it's still slow in coming. I think Gen X and Y are pretty much okay with gay rights in the US but among Silents and Boomers, perhaps not quite as much though older people as well are becoming more accepting.

    Abortion isn't really a liberal issue on my opinion. I think the pro-lifers have essentially lost in this country, because of some very insensitive comments about rape and also because pro-choicers have successfully equated the pro-abortion cause with women's rights in the eyes of the American public. But abortion to me is an issue that's not on the spectrum, you can argue against abortion on a human rights as well as a religious standpoint and keep in mind abortion has been promoted as a form of eugenics so it has its right wing fans too.

    My state actually rejected legalizing pot, which really surprised me, because this state is famous for its stoner culture. White people voted GOP at the same rate they did in 1980, for Reagan.

    What's happening isn't a liberalization of America but rather America is simply becoming less white. Black, Latino and Asian people are not socially speaking any more liberal than white people, but of course they're not going to vote for a party that preaches hate towards them and accuses them of being leeches and bad citizens.

    I think in some ways, America is becoming more conservative. Globalization and capitalism are pretty much unquestioned now, despite the economic crisis which in my opinion proves they fail as an ideology, just as much as 1989 proved state communism failed. The military and troops are unquestionably glorified as heroes now, that wasn't the case 40 years ago. Abolition of the death penalty is a lost cause. Religion is declining but religious extremism is increasing. The religious left is suffering more than the religious right, there really is no religious left anymore. The environmental movement has also lost steam since all the focus is on the economy.

Me >>>>>>> Everyone else in the world

If you disagree with this, I will still sleep at night. Everyone else is the reason the world has problems, not me

I agree, homophobia was more rampant in the early 2000s. In the 2004 elections, the GOP basically used same-sex marriage as a wedge issue ("Don't let the queers destroy marriage! Vote for me!"  :P), and succeeded in bringing out voters because of that issue, and that also got a multitude of constitutional bans on same-sex marriage in various states.

Eight years later, in 2012, three states voted to legalize same-sex marriage and one state rejected a constitutional ban on it. That would never have happened in 2004. Yes, all the states that did this were blue states, but keep in mind that just because a state tends to vote Democratic does not mean it's very progressive. 

Yes, the GOP did a fine job of alienating people who are not white, heterosexual, male, and Christian. That's why they got their asses handed to them. On the issue of minorities and same-sex marriage, polls have indicated that African-Americans are about evenly split on that issue and a majority of Hispanics favor it. An overwhelming majority of Millennials support it, but support for it has increased across all age groups, even though the older ones remain opposed.

Oh, and belmont, you live in California, right? I don't live there, nor have I ever been there, but it seems that its reputation of being some liberal beacon of the United States is very undeserved.  ;)

Yes, the GOP did a fine job of alienating people who are not white, heterosexual, male, and Christian. That's why they got their asses handed to them. On the issue of minorities and same-sex marriage, polls have indicated that African-Americans are about evenly split on that issue and a majority of Hispanics favor it. An overwhelming majority of Millennials support it, but support for it has increased across all age groups, even though the older ones remain opposed.

Oh, and belmont, you live in California, right? I don't live there, nor have I ever been there, but it seems that its reputation of being some liberal beacon of the United States is very undeserved.  ;)


What is the stats on white people and same-sex marriage?

No I don't live in California, but I live in the West. I was born in California though.

What is the stats on white people and same-sex marriage?

No I don't live in California, but I live in the West. I was born in California though.


I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but polls have more often than not shown greater support for SSM among white people than among minorities.

I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but polls have more often than not shown greater support for SSM among white people than among minorities.


I would have thought so. Still, it's good news to know so many blacks and Hispanics as well support SSM now. I think within 20 years, being anti-gay will be as taboo as being racist.

    I don't think America is becoming more liberal. Religion isn't necessarily conservative, and irreligion isn't necessarily liberal. Ayn Rand was extremely right wing and was an atheist. East Asia is very atheistic compared to most parts of the world yet is highly conservative.

    The only true way I see America being more liberal is the issue of gay rights. Even as recently as the early 2000s, homophobia was a lot more rampant. Just listen to a typical Eminem song from that era, nowadays Eminem defends gay rights so I do think over the past 10-20 years there's been a change of heart over gay rights, though it's still slow in coming. I think Gen X and Y are pretty much okay with gay rights in the US but among Silents and Boomers, perhaps not quite as much though older people as well are becoming more accepting.

    Abortion isn't really a liberal issue on my opinion. I think the pro-lifers have essentially lost in this country, because of some very insensitive comments about rape and also because pro-choicers have successfully equated the pro-abortion cause with women's rights in the eyes of the American public. But abortion to me is an issue that's not on the spectrum, you can argue against abortion on a human rights as well as a religious standpoint and keep in mind abortion has been promoted as a form of eugenics so it has its right wing fans too.

    My state actually rejected legalizing pot, which really surprised me, because this state is famous for its stoner culture. White people voted GOP at the same rate they did in 1980, for Reagan.

    What's happening isn't a liberalization of America but rather America is simply becoming less white. Black, Latino and Asian people are not socially speaking any more liberal than white people, but of course they're not going to vote for a party that preaches hate towards them and accuses them of being leeches and bad citizens.

    I think in some ways, America is becoming more conservative. Globalization and capitalism are pretty much unquestioned now, despite the economic crisis which in my opinion proves they fail as an ideology, just as much as 1989 proved state communism failed. The military and troops are unquestionably glorified as heroes now, that wasn't the case 40 years ago. Abolition of the death penalty is a lost cause. Religion is declining but religious extremism is increasing. The religious left is suffering more than the religious right, there really is no religious left anymore. The environmental movement has also lost steam since all the focus is on the economy.
So people are gonna change their opinion because of 2 kooks who didn't think about what they are saying about rape? I don't think that's an accurate account on the issue of how people view abortion rights.

Your second point covered that people think abortion rights should be equated with women's rights. Thats up for debate in my opinion.

Thirdly, Republicans don't hate minority groups but they shouldn't do stuff like the Arizona Immigration Law. You scare Latino's like that like you are going to break up their family.

On the issue of environmental movement: I mostly agree with you on that the environment as a hot button issue had lost steam but has come back into focus because of Hurricane Sandy.

I would have thought so. Still, it's good news to know so many blacks and Hispanics as well support SSM now. I think within 20 years, being anti-gay will be as taboo as being racist.
Blacks really strated to be more pro-gay marriage when Obama came out for gay marriage. The move for blacks being pro-gay marriage was fairly recent.

So people are gonna change their opinion because of 2 kooks who didn't think about what they are saying about rape? I don't think that's an accurate account on the issue of how people view abortion rights.

Your second point covered that people think abortion rights should be equated with women's rights. Thats up for debate in my opinion.

Thirdly, Republicans don't hate minority groups but they shouldn't do stuff like the Arizona Immigration Law. You scare Latino's like that like you are going to break up their family.

On the issue of environmental movement: I mostly agree with you on that the environment as a hot button issue had lost steam but has come back into focus because of Hurricane Sandy.


I don't think those comments alone changed people's POV on it, but I think in general the 'rape exception' for abortion probably turned a lot of people pro-choice. I often read on political debates people who say "I'm pro-life except when it comes to rape". Which really doesn't make sense to me since if you consider the unborn human, it doesn't make sense to punish them for their fathers' mistake, but yeah. I think the pro-choice movement has very successfully equated their cause with women's rights in general.

Not all Republicans are racist no, and many white liberals in fact are very patronizing of minorities in my opinion. But still, you can't deny the rampant racism in the Republican Party and many of their supporters. I think a lot of anti-immigration sentiment is just veiled racism anyways, I'm sure a lot of them don't even like legal Hispanic immigrants.  ::)

I don't think the environment will become an issue until people can clearly see that their children will pay for their actions if our civilization doesn't become more responsible. Sadly we'll probably have to lose a lot before we change our ways and save what we can.

80% of people under 30 support gay rights.  Even those who think its a sin, which is only about 25% of the under 30 population, support gay marriage in a civil sense.  Statistics in the late 1990s said that half of all teen boys have experimented with the same sex.  I can imagine that has increased tremendously since.

I am not going to say whether or not I am for gay marriage or for gay rights or against them, but the part of the country I live in is extremely socially conservative and this is an extremely sensitive issue where I live.

Thirdly, Republicans don't hate minority groups


Certainly all Repubs don't hate minority groups, but there is a reason why Mississippi hasn't gone blue since the Civil Rights Act was passed. ;)

As far as the '10s are concerned, I think they will be remembered politically for two things:

1) The decade when the GOP's domination of the white male vote was no longer enough on it's own to guarantee success at the Presidential level.

2) The decade when the religious right ceased being a major force in American politics. Back in 2004, these guys basically handed George W. Bush a second term by turning out evangelicals in droves to vote on the gay marriage issue in Ohio, while this past year, their brand of kooks pretty much cost the Republicans a shot at winning back the Senate. Just a prediction, but I don't think that the Republican nominee in 2016 will cater as much to this crowd as we've seen in the past, particularly if it's Chris Christie.

I don't think those comments alone changed people's POV on it, but I think in general the 'rape exception' for abortion probably turned a lot of people pro-choice. I often read on political debates people who say "I'm pro-life except when it comes to rape". Which really doesn't make sense to me since if you consider the unborn human, it doesn't make sense to punish them for their fathers' mistake, but yeah. I think the pro-choice movement has very successfully equated their cause with women's rights in general.

Not all Republicans are racist no, and many white liberals in fact are very patronizing of minorities in my opinion. But still, you can't deny the rampant racism in the Republican Party and many of their supporters. I think a lot of anti-immigration sentiment is just veiled racism anyways, I'm sure a lot of them don't even like legal Hispanic immigrants.  ::)

I don't think the environment will become an issue until people can clearly see that their children will pay for their actions if our civilization doesn't become more responsible. Sadly we'll probably have to lose a lot before we change our ways and save what we can.
The Republican Supporters some of them don't like immigration because most Latino's vote dem. They feel like their country is being taken away from like that. Anti-immigration yes like I said before about most Latino's voting dem but also the anti-immigration is about illegal inmigration as well.

The Republican Supporters some of them don't like immigration because most Latino's vote dem. They feel like their country is being taken away from like that. Anti-immigration yes like I said before about most Latino's voting dem but also the anti-immigration is about illegal inmigration as well.


Some of them are truly just against the illegals, including a lot of legal immigrants but I think a lot of it is also a veil for racism in general. Just like the death penalty is sort of an excuse for people to let out their sadistic nature.

This thread should probably be moved into the Political sub-forum BTW.