The two wings of the cultural wars, the Christian Right and feminists, have both suffered massive damage. The ability of the Christian Right to strike fear into the hearts of politicians has been severely diminished, certainly on a national basis. The moral and intellectual credibility of their main opponents, the Feminist Left has also been shattered. Both sides have lost and have lost decisively. If this is true, then the battles that energized the Christian Right and the Feminist Left, but which left the center generally uneasy and unengaged, should slowly decline in importance.
Abortion is, of course, the core issue.
Issues like pornography, on which both flanks agreed and which failed to excite the rest of the spectrum should also decline in importance. In short, a new political agenda should be emerging in time for 2000. It is increasingly clear that Bob Livingston of Louisiana will be the next Speaker of the House of Representatives. That means that the Republican leader of the House will be from the Deep South, along with the Republican leader of the Senate, Trent Lott. This is an extremely dangerous situation for the Republicans, who have just been devastated by cultural conservatism.