grown up counterculture types? I had always had this image that a lot of the kids in SDS and similar organizations indulged in the "festivities" of the late 60s and early 70s but my theory is that many of them had a "fall back option" to successful careers in business, law, or whatever and are now living in areas like Westchester County, NY or San Mateo County, CA.
They tend to generally be more supportive of business than some of the DeBlasio types but their continued support for legalized abortion and a disdain for the increasingly prole nature of the GOP keep them with the dems.
The social revolution had an academic component. As the social revolutionaries age, many of them still put academics before ideology, imo. Third Way is an non-ideological political pursuit birthed by the party that needed it.
After WWII, the US adopted demand-side Keynesian economic policy, a platform FDR dabbled in somewhat clumsily during the Great Depression. It all went pear-shaped during stagflation. Republicans gleefully jumped to supply-side neoclassical/neoliberal economics. Democrats faced a more difficult transition. Democrats would have to transform the foundation of their political power, The Great Society. Democrats would also have to overcome the counter-intuitive nature of public economic subsidies (demand subsidies are good for suppliers and vice versa).
Clinton became somewhat disenfranchised with his own party during healthcare reform. The Third Way was supposed to be a mechanism for Republicans and Democrats to make necessary socio-economic reforms, without political retribution from voters. It failed because Republicans were too scared to cast off budget-slashing conservatism. Also, neo-Keynesian Democrats (Krugman types) have their own battle against neoliberal Democrats, and they don't feel they can maintain their voice in a coalition.
In layman's terms, the government is obese and unfit. Republicans champion diet. Liberals champion exercise. Obviously, diet and exercise are both beneficial so Clinton tried to create a coalition where pragmatists could exchange ideas. Caveat: Diet is only a small part of the equation compared to exercise, and the forward-thinking exercise specialists (neoliberals) sit mostly on the diet-side of the aisle. New Democrats were hoping to get pragmatic Republicans to help Democrats push through reform, and create a new base for the party.
