I would say that Chris Bowers here at MyDD is one of the best observers out there on the relationship between demographics, self-identity, and voting behaviors.  The Democratic Party does need to be mindful not only of where this country is going, but what actions should we be taking to ensure that our vision of America becomes true and not the right's vision.  The problem is that tracking the future is full of complexities.

I am in full agreement with Chris about his observations on what seems to be a clash of civilizations, of sorts, between the Republican Party's base of white Christians and a growing Democratic Party coalition of non-whites and white non-Christians.  It is easy to look at the past few decades and see how America has become a more secular nation.  There may even be some support to the idea that as we become increasingly secular, Christians who have been comfortable with being the cultural majority may become more radicalized and swing to the right.  But what else does this mean for our nation in the future?

We know that the white Christian base of the Republican Party is shrinking.  We know that white non-Christians are on the rise and voting Democratic in margins similar to those among non-white voters.  I have yet to see data looking at non-white voters and projections for the future on the percentage of non-white Christians and non-white non-Christians.  It seems clear that in the future, America will no longer have a white Christian majority.  The question is the relative sizes of the four major divisions and if any will come close to a majority.  More thoughts below . . .

At the State of the Union, President Bush proposed to cut spending by $14 billion for this year's budget by cutting or eliminating 140 programs.  The recent budget fights in the House and Senate give us an indication of just how Republicans go about cutting spending.  Student loans, food stamps, Medicaid and Medicare are all going to be put on the chopping block.  Those at the bottom are going to be expected to pay for the tax cuts handed out to those at the top.

And for what?  The CBO has projected that this year's deficit will reach $337 billion.  Bush wants to cut $14 billion?  Out of a total budget of $2.7 trillion that is a tiny drop in the bucket.  This isn't a real attempt to control spending and reduce the deficit.  It's all smoke and mirrors.

Democrats are faced with two political opportunities.  The first is to stand up and defend the programs that the Republicans will be going after.  However doing so will play into the Republican narrative of Democrats being fiscally irresponsible and unwilling to cut spending.  And so the second challenge is to advocate our own plan to cut spending.  I introduce to you the $28 billion challenge.