The New York Times’s David Kirkpatrick covers the trials and tribulations of young conservatives. It seems to cover the bases all right, though his selection of sources is a bit, um, curious. Still, I think he’s basically right that younger conservatives are basically split along the libertarian-conservative axis (as I’ve written five trillion times). But it’s far from clear to me that being “libertarian” for lots of young righties isn’t simply their way of being rebellious while still being able to get girls, get drunk and not be considered an all-around buzz kill. For many young people, college is inherently libertarian. I also question the idea that there were many young conservatives who questioned the war. If I had to guess based upon my own experiences with younger conservatives, I’d bet heavily that 18-35 year old rightwingers were the most pro-war of any constituency on the Right and by a pretty wide margin. Maybe one out of fifty conservative kids I’ve met at YAF or C-PAC conferences or on campuses was even moderately against the war.