It seems like this is the case, for the most part. I've really never seen a society move back towards right-wing values in a strong way after moving towards left wing values, even if popular opinion occasionally swings right for brief periods.
It seems like people with left-wing values are always perceived to be future-oriented and have a moral high ground, while right-wing values are nearly always viewed as provincial and practical, yet selfish. And as a result, no one really wants to subscribe to such values because they're associated with backwardness.
Is there anything that can be done to make right-wing social values seem less selfish/provincial, or are democratic societies stuck with a system that only ever seems to move in one direction on the social axis?
I'm starting to think that there's something about human nature that will just push crowds of people towards compassion, adoption of foreign values, and/or generosity even when it becomes self-destructive.
I don't know if I'd assert that such values are always correct, but it seems that they are always perceived as correct by the majority of people, which means that progress in that direction is only ever delayed to wait out a tide of unpopularity, and never halted or reversed under any circumstances. The way things were in the past is always viewed as a state of injustice or brutality, while movement towards the present is always viewed as progress towards some kind of fundamental goodness.
Could this be a weakness of democracy, and perhaps a reason why democratic societies don't last in the end?