The bigots are on their way out

Take a look at these results from today's election.

Top image is the national result for President. Notice the difference in voters age 18-29 (young people) vs. 65 and older (old people). Young people like Obama, while old people prefer McCain. [Exit poll]

Second is results for proposition 8 in California. It is a constitutional amendment that eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry. Clearly young people are in favor of same-sex marriage, while old people are against. [Exit poll]

On the bottom is the results for proposition 4, which would "prohibit abortion for unemancipated minors until 48 hours after physician notifies minor’s parent, legal guardian or, if parental abuse has been reported, an alternative adult family member." I'm not going to say how I would have voted on this one, but it is clear that young people vote one way, while old people vote the other way. Prop. 8 would limit abortion, and we see old people being in favor. [Exit poll]

What's the point? The point is that old people vote more conservatively. They vote like people would back in the day when they were young - when the U.S. was way more bigoted. Young people are ready to change things - they are more tolerant of people being different. Thus, they prefer the liberal candidate, don't have as much of a problem with the private lives of other people, and abortion is not such a hellish notion to young people.

Things look good for the future. Tolerance in the U.S. is on the rise, and national values are changing. Young people today are better informed than old people were when they were young. They know more of the world, and having grown up seeing diversity they are more attuned to it. The dogmatic bigots are on their way out. Good for us.