Watered-down values and ethics no doubt define the generations. Case in point: Following Jimmy Carter's first term, the nation couldn't get him out of Washington quickly enough. Fuel costs were insane. Inflation was insane. Industry was under assault. And our nation was still at odds over why we had been at war halfway around the world. What the hell has changed?

I am 45 years old. I was raised in a conservative New England (New Hampshire) community that was anchored in colonial values. Adults were ALWAYS addressed as Mr., Mrs., or Ms; You learned to stretch a penny to he geographic limits of the planet; And you sure as hell didn't ask anyone for anything or likewise embrace anything you didn't ask for. And yet, I could sense something was changing.

Upon reflection, I have no doubt that what started as a movement socially and economically when I was a child to reprogram the American mindset and system of values has come to fruition. Jimmy Carter was handed his walking papers in short order, because America, at its core and in the hearts of most Americans, was still fiercely independent, freedom-loving, and fiscally cognizant. But we have become the antithesis of that era, and to that, we owe the embrace young voters pay to bigger government and the success of a progressive society.