The thing most Democrats and left-leaners on this forum seem to forget is that demographic trends don't last forever. About 100 years ago, Republicans had the lock on the black vote while the Democrats had southern social conservatives.
That's because parties change. A century ago, the Republicans were the liberals/progressives and the Democrats were the social conservatives. Things flipped in the '60s with Johnson's great society program and civil rights legislation along with Nixon's Southern strategy.
However, I agree with the main point that demographics do change over time. Patrick may have a point on ebb and flow, though I still believe that at least as far as semi-recent history goes (the past few centuries) the overall trend has been toward liberalization. (and a mea culpa on using the term liberal when I meant conservative - good catch)
