In the current debate on the issues of our times, I'm reminded of interracial marriage and segregation; it goes without saying that any politician alive at the time and opposing those issues now says "Well, we've changed our tune".
Which of today's issues will similarly go the way of the dodo in public discourse -- with "common wisdom" being overwhelmingly in favor of a given point of view? My predictions, below...
Gay Marriage -- Just like interracial marriage, shifting cultural attitudes will put this one into the "no-brainer" column. The younger generation is already growing up with it, and while the deep south may progress slower (as it always does), inevitability is on the side of love and mature relationships. As gays obtain mainstream acceptance, they'll probably tend to settle down at roughly the same rate that straight couples do -- the power of social condemnation is a large part of what keeps the gay community so hypersexualized, as a whole, as it is right now (Just as the "mandingo" mentality previously did for interracial couples).
Affirmative Action -- This is the one which, I think, the left will be much less kindly judged on. Not that we'll be looked back on as evil, but more "misguided". I can imagine, being a grandfather someday, my grandchild asking me, "So, back in the day there was descrimination against people of different colors, including in academia which was one of the most liberal fields around, which made it necessary to have institutions descriminate against white people and east-asians and south-asians (Who miraculously weren't hit by the first round of anti-dark-people descrimination and thus not in need of affirmative action) in the hopes that all this descrimination back and forth would balance out into a fairand equitable society?" It's the three-fifths constitution compromise, all over again. Society will probably recognize that in hindsight.
Abortion -- I think technology will change how abortion is viewed, more than anything else. As contraception spreads -- and despite Republican efforts, it's pretty much inevitable that it does -- and every 14 year old in America gets their Birth Control Shot along with their flu and chicken pox vaccinations, abortion will lose some of its usefulness as pregnancy becomes much more planned.
Technology will also play a role in how mothers considering abortion will be able to see the detailed movements of the developing babies inside of them -- even in the 4 to 6 month range, they look remarkably like something you wouldn't be able to kill without a searing emotional pain.
Abortion will probably always still be allowed (at least in some form -- first trimester, or in cases of rape and incest) in society, but I don't think that future generations will view abortion-on-demand with the same sort of "laissez-faire" attitude that we do. NARAL, I think it was, offering up uber-trendy "I had an abortion" t-shirts for sale on their website will not be something we look back with pride on.
These are the three issues which I think society will most likely form a broad-based consensus on over the next few decades.
For the poll question -- which of my predictions do you most disagree with?