Old-time Dem Tom Edsall writes in the NYT in “The Coming Democratic Schism:”

There is a striking generational split in the Democratic electorate. This deepening division is apparent in a June Pew Research Center survey of more than 10,000 people, “Beyond Red vs. Blue.” The Pew survey points up the emergence of a cohort of younger voters who are loyal to the Democratic Party, but much less focused on economic redistribution than on issues of personal and sexual autonomy. … A 56 percent majority of the younger group of Democrats believes that “Wall Street helps the American economy more than it hurts,” with just 36 percent believing that Wall Street hurts the economy. Older Democrats have almost exactly the opposite view. 56 percent believe that Wall Street hurts the economy; 36 percent believe it helps.

People respect money, power, and professional marketing campaigns. We’ve had a class war and the billionaires won.

One area of major divergence between young and old Democrats is race. Asked by Pew to choose between two statements — “Racial discrimination is the main reason why many blacks can’t get ahead” and “Blacks who can’t get ahead are mostly responsible for their own condition” – the older Democratic cohort blamed discrimination, by an 80 to 10 margin. In contrast, only 19 percent of the younger group of Democrats blamed discrimination, with 68 percent saying that blacks “are mostly responsible for their own condition.” Some 91 percent of the older group said the “U.S. needs to continue making changes to give blacks equal rights,” and just 6 percent said the “U.S. has made the changes needed to give blacks equal rights.” 67 percent of the younger group said the United States has done enough for blacks, and 28 percent said that the country needs to do more to give blacks equal rights.

You can see the motivations for World War G and now World War T: the younger generation of white liberals is getting bored and depressed by blacks and would rather focus their moral one-upmanship on concern for gays and even the self-proclaimed trans folks like Lana Wachowski than on blacks.

Edsall raises a question about the future of the Democratic Party:

Leege raises a fundamental question. The Democratic Party could well gain strength politically as it edges away from economic liberalism to a coalition determined to protect personal liberties from conservative moral constraint. This shift, however, will erode what remains of the opposition to the business community’s efforts to lower tax rates, especially on the affluent; to reduce social spending; and to pare back regulation of the commercial and financial sectors. Corporate America faces a divided Democratic Party, vulnerable to the kind of lobbying pressures that the business elite specializes in. Under this scenario, Wall Street and the Chamber of Commerce will enjoy increased leverage in the policy-making arenas of Congress and the executive branch despite – or even because – of Democratic political success.

My question about this vision of the future of the Democrats is: How is this different from the present of the Democrats?