I ran across a very interesting piece by Walter Mead in The American Interest about liberalism and the changes it has undergone in the last two-three hundred years as well as speculation about where it may be going.  It is also a pretty damning indictment of the current state of American politics.  Dr. Mead makes a pretty good point that neither Republicans or Democrats seem to be trying to give the people what they want right now.  It is well worth reading.  They also have a pretty good analysis piece about what war with Iran might look like.