Last week quietly marked the 30th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s “Silent Majority Speech.” Nixon presided over a nation far more divided than ours today, and looking out at the protests that engulfed Washington at the time, in more anxious moments he might have wondered what would happen to America when the baby boomers took over.

They had, after all, unleashed a cultural revolution of rock ‘n’ roll and civil rights that intentionally threatened the status quo. In politics, the New Left was ascendant, and Vietnam Vets Against the War spokesman John Kerry – who Nixon aide Chuck Colson described as a “young demagogue” – was already being mentioned as a future president.

Which is why after last week’s defeat, the Democrats and the entire baby boom generation are due for some soul searching. Because something funny happened on the way to the cultural revolution – a Republican political tide swept the nation. As the baby boomers went gray, the right and not the left was the beneficiary of their coming of age. Improbably for anyone reading Rolling Stone in the late 1960s, the sentiments behind Merle Haggard’s “Okie From Muskogee” have outlasted the impact of the Doors’ “Break On Through.”

The left always viewed Richard Nixon as illegitimate. They chose to ignore his 48-state re-election in 1972, believing that in time they would change the nation and its politics – just as soon as the old folks died off. Likewise, Reagan seemed to be an imposter in the White House, and the problem with Jimmy Carter was that he was not far left enough (you can hear a similar strain of debate going on inside the Democratic Party today). When Reagan won re-election with a 49-state landslide, the reaction was despair and Michael Dukakis. But now George W. Bush has been re elected and the scorecard shows just two Democratic presidents occupying the White House in the 36 years since Richard Nixon was first elected. To paraphrase Bob Dylan’s “Ballad of a Thin Man,” something’s going on and they don’t know what it is.

What we have here is a popular backlash – the left has been the victim of its own success and excesses. As the psychedelic dream of the summer of love turned into the nightmare of Watts and Altamont, cities were decimated and left to contend with the nightmare of drug addiction, crime, and homelessness. Voting Republican became a way for many Americans to check the excesses of cultural left that bombard their family through music, television and movies.

It has become a badge of resistance for traditional values even as the culture changes around them. Whether it’s Ed Asner defending Mumia Abu Jamal, Rosie O’Donnell getting married at San Francisco City Hall, or the intentional shock artists of rock and rap, popular culture seems to move always left and appears accountable to no one. Resentments build. To folks in red state America, electing conservatives in government seems the best way to slow the pace of change. Consequently, cultural issues and values end up eclipsing economic interests for many voters and conservative populism is born. This helps explain why Democrats are tarred as the party of the establishment even when they are not in control of the government.

But while some commentators are quick to characterize this election as a choice between Bruce Springsteen and Brooks and Dunn, the fact is that the content behind the labels has blurred. This rightward political drift of the country has been accompanied by an underlying acceptance of many principles liberals once fought for.

A Pew Center report summarizing surveys between 1987 and 2003 concluded that “over the past decade there has been a decided shift across the political spectrum in favor of tolerance on issues relating to homosexuality and race.”

Inter-racial dating, for example, was once condemned by conservatives of both parties in places like Bob Jones University but is now broadly accepted. And while gay marriage is a bridge too far for most Americans -as the 11 out of 11 states that overwhelmingly voted to ban gay marriage in this election would indicate – there is a growing acceptance of civil unions that would have been unthinkable in the past. Thirty-five years ago, segregation was the banner under which George Wallace’s political movement flew its flag – society would not begin to accept such a stand today.

The Democratic Party has been hurt by its association with a comparatively small number of far-left activists and their apparent preoccupation with victimization. As John Stewart has said, “liberals were relevant when there was a giant cause to fight for – civil rights. They accomplished it so well that the only thing now for them to do is get women into Augusta.”

Likewise, however, conservatives need to appreciate that the ground has shifted beneath their feet. The country has not renounced its commitment to equal rights or equal opportunity – in fact just the opposite. Their movement became a majority only when it became open to a majority of Americans.

Looking forward, we can take some comfort in the fact that our democracy checks both political and cultural excesses. The Silent Majority always speaks, favoring evolution over revolution, keeping America strong and stable.