Perhaps this is why it generally takes a new generation of thinkers to push political thinking forward. I would postulate that we are more likely to reject the views of our parents than we are to reject our own.

If that is true, it explains, for example, why gay marriage is a hot button issue for baby-boomers and older, but largely less of an issue for people under 30 (http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~cook/movabletype/archives/2009...).

I'll bet racism data looked pretty similar a few decades ago, but now expressing racist views publicly will get you in trouble even if you are extremely conservative (that Republican politician from the south a couple years ago who got extreme negative publicity for calling blacks "monkeys").

If it is necessary for one generation to die for political views to move forward, that doesn't bode well for progress if Aubrey de Grey and Ray Kurzweil prove prophetic. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgLRhxvRlKg) and (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictions_made_by_Ray_Kurzwei...)