The biggest change going on in politics is the transition of Hispanics to the Republican party from the Democratic party. A 20-point shift in less than 10 years.

The second trend is a return of suburban women to the Republican party over the issue of parental involvement in education.

The result is that for the first time since 1992, there are more Republicans than Democrats in the country. And the spread is widening.

Bottom line, I don't disagree with what the survey says young people care about. What I know (having been young once), that what was important to me at 18, changed radically by the time I was 30, with three kids. In effect, you are dealing with a leaky bucket... pouring in the top are millions of young starry-eyed youths ready to spend society's money to fix the planet and leaking out the bottom are millions of middle-aged pragmatists who don't want to give up their money for society but rather spend it on their families.

The bigger problem for Democrats is the shrinking size of each subsequent generation. That means that as people age and become more conservative, the younger people replacing them are fewer in number. Meanwhile, an increasing percentage of any population growth will come from immigration, and immigrants on average are far more conservative than American born citizens. As the massive Hispanic migration to the Republican party is proving.

I don't mean to dash your hope. I have great hope for the future, since I think people do become wiser in time. The youth help to raise awareness, but the solutions lie not in big government but innovation.