Having said that, I agree with you in large part (as usual), particularly on the bit that ideologies are in a bit of a funk these days. The dirty little secret of course, is that, except at the fringes (and a totally ineffectual effort by some on the religious right to impose a stern parenthood that is going nowhere, and is losing steam steadily), there is a broad consensus on most matters of real consequence in the US now, and so of course flame wars, and personalities, and demogoguery take up the vaccuum.
Of course, as this nation moves more to socialized medicine, which is inevitable, given that the price tag is so high, things may revert a bit back to a politics that we haven't seen for a long time. But the right will lose that one. And innovations in medicine will be degraded, and my hopes of living to 120 will go out the window. Ain't that a shame?
Pat's problem is that the discontents of a decade ago were buried by a decade of real or apparent prosperity. Even if the economy turns worse, it will probably kill off a new magazine before things turn Pat's way again.
You could well be right about socialized medicine. I suspect some kind of stopgap measure will prevent or delay our going whole hog in that direction. But there are other destablizing issues around the corner as well.
When people will be able to buy the kinds of genes for their kids that they want, it will shake up the country in a way that we haven't seen for some time. If one can buy for one's children every potential genetic advantage, it turns libertarian ideology inside out. That, at least, seems to be Francis Fukuyama's view.