The kids are all wrong - To be a liberal is to have one's political maturation arrested at about the point of adolescence; this fact alone explains why 90 percent of blacks vote for Democrats (should they be inclined to vote at all.) To be sure, liberalism's politics of race has infantilized blacks and Hispanics to a point where no acceptance of more than an infinitesimal amount of personal responsibility would be expected or seen as appropriate by either whites or minorities. And such a circumstance is not idiosyncratic to race. Liberals readily accept that governments are empowered to legislate economic "equality" by way of elaborate confiscation and redistribution schemes, yet they aver that those self-same institutions are without the franchise to legislate morality.

Similarly, the Left informs us that the mortal enemies of America are disenchanted with us because of something we did - never mind that even if that were true, nations and "organizations" (like, uhm, al-Qaeda or shall we say, Hamas) have agency as to their response, and that targeting innocents for slaughter is in no wise a plea for relief from their own extremity. It is manifestly apparent that wherever a culture of indignation and complaint has prevailed, it has been predicated on a childlike mindset that willingly substitutes tantrum and imaginary half-thought for a cold-eyed assessment of what is presently and what is possible.

Of course the only thing worse than being a liberal is to be a liberal activist. For it is the fate of the Leftist activist to willfully deny others their maturity in age or experience. So one would assume that there was a run pacifiers and security blankets at every Baby's-R-Us in the northern Illinois area, as Chicago was ground zero for this weekend's Yearly Kos 2007. (I will pause to accept your kind thoughts and condolences, as I was and am still within 30 miles of the epicenter of the "Kos-quake.") From Howard Dean's keynote address to the Democratic presidential debate (intro'd here and seen here, here and here) to Markos Moulitsas' closing remarks, the milieu was saturated with the stench of resentment and arrogance; as any parent of teenagers will attest, these are undoubtedly the smells of teen spirit.

As I watched Dean's remarks in particular, I got the distinct sense that he is already tired of having to deal with these boys and girls of summer, and he would be forgiven for feeling that way. The netroots are too possessed of their own significance, both for their own good and for the good of their "movement." Such is their inflated image of themselves that they imagine their capabilities to be far greater than their deeds would bespeak. Nearly every candidate that the progressive blogosphere has taken a singular interest in has had a campaign that wrecked on the craggy shoals of electoral reality, with Ned Lamont being the most spectacular example.

Nevertheless, they imagine themselves to be a force to be reckoned with; while they cite the 2006 Congressional mid-terms as evidence of their importance, they neglect to point out that Republicans - especially those of the "[Conrad] Burns-[Mike] Dewine-[Lincoln] Chafee wing of corrupt, compromised and ineffectual Republicans" (as discussed elsewhere) - lost their races as much or more than their Democrat opponents won them. For now however, supposed mainstream Democrats are like the adult hosts of a keg party for the politically underage, while centrist Democrats slowly twist in the wind.

As I have said in other places, it is my expectation that the GOP will eke out a victory in 2008, and - as happens too often in real life - the netroots, drunk on the wine of hubris and with the Democratic nominee in tow, will crash into the political guardrails to their demise. As it is, the netroots are treating the Democratic Party like a rental car on prom night; the question becomes whether their will be any (sober) adults around to clean up when their party is over.