Great post Justin

Really interesting to go through this book in light of post-Palin. Her persona certainly adds more real-world context into the authors' main thesis.

There was an internal battle going on when I was reading this and even when I heard about the Palin selection. As much as I hate the snootiness of the liberal left, I cringe whenever I hear the Republican party's future is the "white trash" vote. This culture/class war is bound to unfold even more in the near future. Intersting because, we are, after all, pretty educated guys who mostly only share the same values as the Sam's Club voters, but career/style of life/even location of where we live, we could be mistaken for liberals...I think that's why Mitt was so appealing. Razor sharp, Harvard degrees, founded a private equity firm, could hold his own with anyone intellectually, including Barack, and yet, kept to his core as a family man and consevative American. too bad he was a mormon.

Ironically, I've always believed that America's greatest strength has been because of people who "feed this country, work our factories, fight our wars." Another interesting thing to think about is, how will this group of people (descendants of the Greatest Generation) adapt to a rapidly exploding Hispanic society that happens to share most of their values? In terms of politics, GOP needs to capitalize on this huge potential base.

My worry and focus always shifts to America's continual decline in science/technology. The Indians and Chinese who are filling our science/mathematics doctoral programs won't be coming forever. Europe's model is interesting indeed. I am still bewildered why we cap our H-1 visas to keep out talented future Americans!