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American voters who labeled themselves conservatives shot up to an
astonishing 39%.97 Conservative support was particularly high among, of all
people, the young.98 And in 1993, when some thought that the election of Bill
Clinton had dampened the conservative trend, The New Republic's Fred
Barnes declared that reaction against the Arkansas Democrat had actually
"revived the conservative movement beyond its wildest dreams."99
There was a reason. The mid-'80s generation of college kids had
experienced the decline of America since they were toddlers. They were in
their early days of grammar school when the U.S. suffered pecking order
defeats in Viet Nam and the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973. These students had
spent their growing years in families battered by downward mobility. A
huge percentage were "latch-key children" who saw both of their parents go
to work100 or, even worse, were raised by a single mother or father.
From 1949 to 1973, American wages had moved upward in a
seemingly unstoppable surge.101 But when the mid-'80s crop of college kids
were still in day-care, all that started to change. In 1971, America
experienced its first two months in a row of balance of payments deficits.102
In 1973, real wages began to fall.103 When the mid-'80s college kids entered
junior high, the older students ahead of them were already showing the first
response to the new American realities: an increase in suicide, alcoholism
and drug addiction.104 To make matters worse, by 1986 when the new
collegians were still getting used to dormitory life, real US wages had
tumbled back to 1962 levels.105 And when the ex-students were beginning
careers in 1991, salaries had shrunk even further, moving a full 20% below
where they'd been two decades earlier.106
No wonder the youth of the '80s recreated the attitudes of the '50s,
when college students were more interested in getting an MBA than
exploring life and philosophy. No wonder even young bohemians returned
to the traditions of the American ancients, dressing like Woodstock dropouts
and reveling in the music of a quintessential '60s band--the Grateful Dead.
Like birds on an empty stomach, they were edging away from the unfamiliar
amentalism increased 43% from 1978 to 1985.96 In 1986, the number of
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