Is it true that people get more conservative with age?

[julialnyc]

My hard core Republican father-in-law always wants to have political debates and always says "we were all democrats once when we were young and idealist, then we became Republicans when we developed common sense". Now I know that I have common sense and am a liberal, but I was thinking about it and getting scared. The younger demographic is more liberal than the older....... is it because they started making more money, or is it just the difference in times (us being in a more progressive time than people older)?


I'm 28 and most of my friends are liberal....... does that change?


I'm from a true blue state so I don't think I have a great perspective, any thoughts?

[evlbstrd]

1. That hasn't been my experience.

I'm 49 and left of left.

[bribri16]

105. Only those suffering with dementia, n/t

[AntiCoup2K4]

138. That explains Zell Miller

[Yupster]

131. Well, if you think it out,

for every election in my entire lifetime, the Democratic candidate has hoped as an axiom that he could get more young people voting in his election.

Why?

Because in every election in my entire life, there have been more young people who are liberal than conservative.

So you would think that as this group of liberal 20 somethings become liberal thirtysomethings then liberal forty somethings and fiftysomethings and keeps roughly its same beliefs, then the country would become overwhelmingly liberal as the older conservatives would die off.

But it hasn't happened. The country is basically split about the same as it's been for 40 years.

So how can this be?

The only explanation is that somewhere along the line some of the liberals become conservatives.

Just to give an example. If you have a see-through tube like a garden hose that fits 100 ping pong balls in it, 50 red and 50 blue.

Each day you stuff ten more balls in and ten are pushed out the other end so there are always 100 balls in there.

The ten balls you push in each day are seven blue and three red. Each day you go down the tube and count the red and blue balls.

After the first day you've aded 7 blue and 3 red and when you count the balls in the tube it's 50 red and 50 blue.

Next day you add seven blue and three red and then you count the balls in the tube and they are 50 red and 50 blue.

You do this over and over again and no matter how many times you add seven blue and three red, you still have 50 red and 50 blue in the tube.

The only explanation is that somewhere in the ube, some of the blue balls are turning red.

Hope that makes sense.

[fishwax]

140. I don't think your analogy quite works

the thing about the old axiom of younger people voting being good for democrats relies, i think, on the belief that those yound people most likely to be involved in voting (or activism) are liberal. But young people have much lower rates of voting then do older demographics. So somewhere along the line, a 20-year-old who didn't vote becomes a 35-year-old that does vote, which helps explain why the balance doesn't shift as the young liberals age. We aren't just adding 18-year-old ping pong balls to the tube. We're also adding older ages which trend more conservative.

Part of the explanation for this might be that most political organization of young people (both liberal and conservative) takes place in college, even though there are plenty of "young people" who don't go to college. The ones that do are more likely to be liberal (based on longstanding trends that the more education one has the more progressive one's views), so liberal youth have more access and encouragement to political channels than do more moderate or conservative youth, generally.

I've known liberals who have aged into moderate (or extreme) conservatives, sure, but I've also known conservatives who have grown (significantly) more liberal with age.

[Yupster]

152. I guess I don't follow you

Are you saying that young people are not more liberal?

Just young people who vote are more liberal, but the large group of young people who don't vote are more conservative?

Then as that group of young conservative non-voters ages, they vote more?

I guess I would disagree with that pretty strongly.

In my experience young voters are more liberal than average, and young people who don't tend to vote are even more liberal than young people who do vote.

I think Democratic candidates all know that young people who don't vote would vote overwhelmingly for them if they voted. That's why there's the big push on MTV etc.

To me there's only one way that young people can vote Democratic for 40 years and yet the electorate stays balanced and that's that a portion of those young people will eventually start voting Republican. That doesn't mean all, or most or even lots. It just means that more will go that way than the other way.

[fishwax]

153. Turnout rates increase with age

You're argument and analogy assume that the only new voters (or ping pong balls) are young people. In fact, voter turnout gets significantly higher with each progressive age group. In the last election, 47% of those 18-24 voted, compared with 73% of those 55-74. If those numbers were roughly consistent over the course of time, that would mean roughly one-quarter or more of that older demographic didn't vote when they were young people. The electorate stays balanced because youngsters (liberal or otherwise) aren't the only people added to the stew each cycle.

You might be right that more wind up going right than going left, but I don't think that's the only explanation for balance in the electorate. Of course, if you were to say that Baby Boomers generally grew more conservative over the years, I'd probably agree.

[Yupster]

154. Okay a good point that not all new voters are young, but

in general if a person never voted until he's 30 or so, wouldn't he likely be more liberal than average too? Isn't that why Democratic organizations work so hard on signing up new voters?

Isn't it axiomatic that if everyone votes, Democratic candidates win?

So if that's the case, these older new voters would break Democratic too, and the advantage should be overwhelming --- unless some of the Democratic voters change to the dark side over time.

I think it's the only explanation for how the electorate can be closely divided when new voters vote Democratic every time.

[Caution]

2. Not for my family

My parents started out pretty liberal and have gotten more liberal the older they get. I'm 32 now and I'm definitely more liberal than I was when in college (though i was pretty lefty then too!)

[shoelace414]

3. when they get tired of thinking...

it's actually something Winston Churchill said I believe... he was very very Conservative.. but Great Britain needed that at that time.

[emanymton]

4. 54 And Liberal! Humble Too!

[babylonsister]

5. My dad is 78 and still a hard core liberal, so

that wouldn't apply to him.

[Skittles]

30. is your dad available, babylonsister?

I adore him. YES INDEED! :D

[babylonsister]

Sure, Skittles! I'd be happy to share him!

Actually, I'm one of 5 kids; the three girls are dems and the two boys are repugs. My mom was a lib, so don't know what happened to my wayward brothers; needless to say, we don't have much to talk about. So any and all dems are welcome at Dad's! :)

[Skittles]

LOL

hey, try not to let republicans get the power to disrupt your family - just agree not to talk politics with your brothers. I know it is difficult because there are those comments....but..... :)

[lostinacause]

6. So far as I know on average people do. I is because poeple become

more complacent with the institutions as they get older.

[LaurenG]

7. No if you grow older "correctly"

You grow more liberal or less conservative. Just my opinion, speaking from experience growing older. :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[moc]

22. I agree with you here. I think my parents have gotten

more liberal as they've aged, not less.

[napi21]

8. I don't think it's age. We form stronger opinions as we age.

I think our personal life experiences form our alleigence to one side or the other.

[julialnyc]

16. I was wondering if it was that or our times

when I was younger after my parents went to vote I would ask them who they voted for. They would always say it was personal................ now we all talk about it (no longer deemed a personal issue).

[Daphne08]

136. I agree.

I was very liberal in my youth, then became somewhat conservative while rasing my children.

Now that my kids are grown and gone, I am growing more liberal each day.

Life experience is more important than age in determining one's philosophy... which is exactly what you said. :)

[arcane1]

9. not for me

I'm 38 and I slide further to the left every year

[tomg]

10. I find myself going further and

further to the left as I get older. I am 55 and, frankly, most of my friends have also gone further left over the last few years. I've always been left, but George Bush knocked me out of my complacency (the kind settled for a moderate Democrat rather than fought for a real progressive).

[Midlodemocrat]

141. Me, too. I am 47 and find myself going further and further left.

[Diane R]

11. Only if you become greedy

As I have gotten older I have seen some friend become greedy republicans, but I have thankfully known many who kept their kind and generous hearts and remain the liberals they were in their 20's.

[Skittles]

33. YUP

at age 48 I still care about people other than me and mine - therefore I am a LIBERAL

[deutsey]

12. I'm growing more progressive the older I get

Granted, I've been that way for much of my life, but I've become even moreso the older I get.

[winga222]

13. As my signature line says...

My father always held that anyone worth a damn is liberal when they're young. I don't think he meant that they couldn't still be liberal older, just that conservative youth was an oxymoron and wrong. He died in 1981 before he say the rise of the Young Republicans and our current Hitler Youth. He would have been appalled.:hippie:

[DrDan]

14. absolutely not! - just another reich wing lie!

My wife and I are both in our 50's and if anything becoming less conservative as we age - perhaps with the exception of our approach to our finances

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. Yes, I think so.

The young grow up seeing the best in everybody. But, no kindness goes unpunished, and a lifetime of bad experiences tends to make anybody's heart grow cold.

Simple things happen to people. Like, working in inner city schools for peanuts convinces some to go back for that MBA and bigger salaries. It really takes a special kind of person to stay positive.

[Binka]

50. I Was Always A Liberal In A Family That Got Very Rich

And they stayed the way they had been before money very selfish and greedy. Money meant they had arrived, where I am not sure :wtf: as I never understood their memo.

I was always poor because I could not play by their rules of compliance and be like them. Oh well. What the fuck. And then one day I got rich. I write and invent and I wrote some good things and invented even better things. I never thought there would be a day when money didn't get it my way but one day it just didn't. I had so fucking much. It just made me want to give more of it away.

My heart never changed but my pocketbook did. And even though the pocketbook got larger I was never invited back into the inner sanctum of my blood family because I did not hoard the shit.

I am 46 BTW the mother of four children ranging in age from 24 to 4. My 24 year old son is going to serve in Iraq in 2 weeks he is a Marine. None of my family has ANYONE going to Iraq. They think it is a freaking war movie.

I'll continue to go left and give because it is what I need to do to stay human and loving. Greed diminishes a person yet giving and caring reinforces one.

My rant. EOM.

[The Backlash Cometh]

53. good rant.

[Binka]

73. Thanks Fellow DUer

I noticed in your post that you talk about greed but you touch on hearts growing cold as they face pain. The growth of cynicism. Well that pain can make a heart grow larger. I had an ex who became a fundie millionaire who stole my children from me (because he could BECAUSE he had the MONEY) and I only got to see my children once a year ON MY DIME and I was freaking poor and he was oh so NOT.

But I did not give up nor did I get so jaded that I gave up on my kids. They love me for my sacrifice. They know how hard I tried and how much darkness I stared down in the face of their father. A loving person with a mission will pierce the heart of darkness.

Go Cindy Go. She has got it so RIGHT!!!! I am by no means Cindy she is my hero and I love her too bits. But she is fighting darkness and a smear campaign by the elite and I understand that on a personal level. I only pray to GAWD nothing happens to my Benjamin in Iraq because I will join her on that national stage. I would be happy and proud to wash her feet. Then stand by her side and kick George The Coward Fuckwittage's ass.

[julialnyc]

79. Great post!!!

[sepia_steel]

98. The world needs more Binka's

:grouphug:

[Alamom]

17. No, not always

Married couple....52 & 60 years of age.
Liberal Democrats until we DIE !

(and in Alabama)

We get all the perpective we can handle.....

[newyawker99]

78. Hi Alamom!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[moc]

18. Not in my family. 43yo and always a liberal.

My parents are in their 70s, and the have always been liberal.

Honestly, I hate statements like your dad's because it's patronizing (i.e., "there, there, you'll know better when you're older).

[julialnyc]

26. yeah, I find his comments condescending too

It's like he's saying, how cute Julia, you're just naive.

But really always says it when he knows he's on the losing side of an argument.

[no_hypocrisy]

19. I'm more radical, maybe progressive today than when I was 18.

I'm better informed and I have a better idea on HOW to change things instead of protesting and hoping for something to happen.

And I became a lawyer to work within "the System". I have two other jobs to pay the necessities. Does that indicate something?

[whistle]

20. About sex perhaps, but that's it for me, liberal in all other

[AnnInLa]

21. Probably, life's experiences would influence your

liberalism or conservatism as you grow older. My life experiences have made me "wake up and look around"...and when I did, I became more and more liberal. I, too, am slightly left of Communism...but, there are 2 "major" issues about which I am still sorta conservative. But, all of my views are based on my particular life-experiences, and to a lesser extent, what I read and what people say.

[smirkymonkey]

23. Only the people who become bitter, jaded and selfish.

The rest of us remain democrats.

[ultraist]

24. If wisdom comes with age, people get more liberal!

[Double T]

25. GOP=Greedy Old People

[RaleighNCDUer]

27. Depends on where you start, I suspect.

Real leftists and progressives that I've known stay that way. So-called Independents, who I see as people who just choose to stay uninformed and uncommitted, tend to drift right because it takes less effort.

[ThomWV]

28. Far From It

I was merely liberal when I was in my 20's and 30's. I became a 'staunch' liberal somewhere in my 40's. Now as I approach 60 I am a full raving Liberal mad man who will get in the face of any pathological lieing right-winger I can find who will open his or her mouth around me.

[alarcojon]

29. I don't think that's true

Certainly not for me. I'm pushing 40 and, while I may be less radical and more pragmatic, I don't see that as having compromised my progressive political views in any way. Look at Noam Chomsy (76) and Howard Zinn (82) for prominent examples of important people who always stayed on the left.

[Lisa0825]

31. I turn 37 next week, and I've gotten more liberal over the years....

and I don't see the trend changing anytime soon! :evilgrin: :hippie: :patriot:

[julialnyc]

32. I think this scares me because I see this happening as my friends begin to

make money. We were all liberal, but now that people are starting to make it and have more wealth, they sound like different people.

[Stirk]

34. It means: "I enjoyed sleeping around ,

drinking alot, and sitting on my ass when I was young- but I don't get to do that anymore and it pisses me off".

[julialnyc]

36. I agree!!!!!

I hear all these crazy stories of him and other republicans...... they weren't living the "moral life" (like their President).

[Lydia Leftcoast]

102. A high five for Stirk!

I think you've nailed it!

My college classmates who became conservative were the ones who went to the anti-war demonstrations just because it was an excuse to skip class.

[B Calm]

35. That is just right wing propagandi to get young voters to vote

against their best interests.

[Gormy Cuss]

37. More conservative can be relative

I think with age and life experiences the sense of being able to change everything for the better is diminished. I think some people do become more conservative with age because life has slapped them around or in a few cases, because post college they've stopped rebelling and have become their parents. Common sense is why I remain a liberal. Conservativism has too many illogic conceits.

Most people don't change that much except to lower expectations for immediate or simple fixes to issues. Some of the strongest liberals I know are over age 70.

[julialnyc]

38. I'll always be liberal, but I'm worried about my friends dropping one by o

I'll always be liberal, but I'm worried about my friends dropping one by one......... it really pisses me off when I see good people change!

[bperci108]

39. I was the opposite.

When I was younger, I was a Dittohead Republican, smugly sure that Rush was Right and Ronald Reagan was a Great American Hero. :puke:

But I had an epiphany in my mid-30's and am now proudly unrepentant Pinko Scum. ;-)

Drives my still-conservative friends crazy. But more than a few are starting to see the light.

There is indeed hope....

[anitar1]

40. Not with me! I am 71 and am more radical than I was

in the early days. Maybe because I am tired of all the BS repeating itself.Actually, I hate that I have never seen peaceful changes and rational reasoning by our so called leaders. They just lead us deeper into the pit.Am sick of greedy, dishonest politicians.We need a fresh start with a different sort of system. This one is rotten to the core, IMO.This goes for both sides, altho the Repugs are truly evil. edit for spelling

[WilliamPitt]

41. People become more conservative, generally, when they make more money

and have property, etc. Not a universal by any means, but it happens. It's easy to be an idealist when you're broke. Once you're into that 60% tax braket, though, some people no longer like the taste of it.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

104. No such thing as a 60% tax bracket anymore, though

Not since Reagan. :shrug:

[WilliamPitt]

106. Yeah, but you get the point

I've watched this happen with friends of mine I've grown up with. One in particular is a funny story. He was a punk rock kid in high school, and somehow staggered into a six-figure job with a large media company. I watched him get married, buy a house, have a kid, make more money, and slide slowly to the right based on little more than the bite they were taking out of his income via taxes. One big thing he liked was privatizing Social Security, those private investment funds.

The funny bit is that he moved to Atlanta for work last year and got to know some of those serious Sun-belt Republicans, the ones who make our Boston Republicans look like cute and fuzzy bunnies by comparison. He came boomeranging back to the Left after a few months down there. Loves Atlanta, too. :)

[msmcghee]

42. When I was in my early 20's I was attracted to Ayn Rand

This was the sixties. I argued with liberals for sport.

Then the Viet Nam War and the utter depravity of the Nixon administration caused me to take another hard look at the world around me and what I believed to be true about it.

I am now in my sixties and more liberal / progressive than ever.

[kliljedahl]

43. I'm 56 & probably more radical than in my youth.

[scarletlib]

44. No, I was always very liberal and open minded.

I had a brief period of deep cynicism in the mid-eighties but I got over it. I am even more liberal than I used to be and I am in my late 50's.

[Initech]

45. I'm 25 and I'm WAY more liberal than I was in high school!

[mmonk]

46. No

Just another fabrication from the right.

[MN ChimpH8R]

47. Nope

I am decidedly further left than I was 20 years ago.

[Eloriel]

48. No, the older I get the more LIBERAL I get

(for the most part).

That line is (a) directly from Rush Limbaugh (so you can chide your father-in-law about "thinking for himself," another one of Limbaugh's lines) and (b) meant to try to give some validity to what is basically esconced selfishness and greed -- that's really all contemporary conservatism is. ONCE UPON A TIME it had a viable philosophy, etc., but not more: just glorifying selfishness and greed. And, oh yea, global conquest (whether those other countries need it or not).

[PollyH]

49. Age Becomes Liberalism

Not in my world. I was liberal in the 1960s and still am in 2005. My liberal beliefs are part of who I am and will not change. After witnessing decades of Republican duplicity I can not imagine why anyone with half a heart and half a brain would be Conservative. I would be embarrassed to be associated with any of the Republicans --- that they are truly evil is a given. Please be aware that my father was a Republican and to his dying day he believed that Richard Nixon was a great man so maybe I should amend the not being associated and truly evil part to include only some Conservatives --- sigh.

[AlCzervik]

51. I think you have to already have it inside you for it to come out

with age. My Dad is almost 63, gun owner, NRA hater, business owner, home owner and he's never been a conservative.

[Left_Winger]

52. I have always been a Democrat

and I am in my mid-forties. Nixon and Watergate left me with a lasting disgust for the republicans; Regan and the Bushies only added to my dislike for them. Although I am rather neutral toward Ford, he did pardon Nixon and I cannot forgive him for that.

I make more money now than I ever have and I'm still a liberal Democrat. I do not mind paying more taxes if it is for useful purposes like road maintenance, health care and housing for the less fortunate, fire departments, school improvement, etc.

I live in a very red state and experiencing republican encouragement/exploitation of the ignorance of certain types only makes me more liberal (examples: the Democrats want to take your guns away... they want to tax you and give your money to lazy welfare bums... they want to remove prayer from the schools and encourage atheism (there is a bumper sticker here which states: "public schools don't have a prayer") and it is rather popular with certain elements of our population... etc.)

In conclusion, I have become even more liberal and outspoken in my beliefs with age.

[HockeyMom]

54. No way

I'm 56 and a life long Independent. This administration is the most far right and "religious" in my lifetime. They pray and quote the Bible more than I ever heard in my 12 years of Catholic school.

I had enough of it in school which really turned me against it. So now I have to have my GOVERNMENT taking over?

[julialnyc]

55. I've been liberal before I was political and am ashamed I didn't vote

I have always had liberal ideals, but didn't used to be interested in politics in my late teen early 20's (I was more concerned about what party I was going to on Saturday night).I think many young people are............ what will peak their interests? What will turn them from liberal at heart, to liberal voter?

[grumpy old fart]

56. I've become an athiest and radical over the last several years.....

aging just gave me enough perspective to be more sure of my beliefs.

[uppityperson]

57. I am less tolerant of bullshit. For anyone of any age, as I age.

I am more willing to let people have their differences provided they don't hurt people and don't hurt things. I am much less tolerant of bs and must watch myself to not go off on a rant when confronted with it. My bs intolerance I try to moderate with experience in dealing with all sorts of people which I have acquired with age. Of course, I am only 50, but still. My father is the same way and he's a bit older than me (duh, obvious point there).

My repub aunt/uncle are about the same as they always were. I think people get more themselves as they age.

[Mairead]

58. Men: more conservative; Women: more radical

Or at least that was the burden of some research done in the late '70s.

The researchers hypothesised that men above a certain level of social class tend to get more wealthy with age, and therefore more conservative.

Whereas women tend to grow more poor, but also shed the personal responsibility for children that makes us cautious when younger. So we have less to lose, and become more free to take risks. And the risks we take tend to be in aid of social justice.

[Road Scholar]

59. No Way! 62 here

The older I get, the more I understand. I am 62 years old. I have seen almost everything. In my youth I wouldn't have believed that a president would actually lie for his own personal agenda. This is the most deceitful administration this country has ever seen. I hope it becomes a lesson for us all.

[SW FL Dem]

60. 47 here and as liberal as ever

even though most of my friends aren't, but that is because I live in a very red area.

[peacebaby3]

61. 13 years ago, I was a repuke. I was also a teenager and had no idea what

kind of people and policies I was supporting. I then saw the 1992 republican convention. The speech that sticks out in my mind was Marilyn Quayle's. The whole event was scary. I was shocked and starting paying attention and actually checking into the truth, not the propaganda. It was a definite epiphany.

It's the exact opposite for me. I have become much more Liberal with each passing year. Most Dems are not Liberal enough for me.

[DanCa]

62. my old man 52 became a democrat this election and a liberal this week

He's still talks like archie bunkie but he now he votes like Micheal Stivic

[yorkiemommie1]

83. cute phrase

:)

[lonestarnot]

86. Wooodamnhoo!

[VOX]

63. Depends on FEAR...All has to do with how fearful the individual is...

I think that even greed, and all its concomitant "me-first" noise is fear-based -- "What about *me*? Will I get to keep what I make? Why should I pay those taxes when I don't know that I'll have enough? And who are all these welfare-cheats on the street and illegals all over the place? I gotta feed myself and my own kids!" And the **anger** in right wingers is clearly fear-based, too. We've got a crooked government and media that capitalizes on those fears around the clock.

How far to the right one drifts in our society seems to depend on how susceptible to fear each individual is: "Will the terrorists get me? Will I go to hell? Will I have enough money to retire? Will the bad guys cut my throat in my sleep before I can blow them away with my .357?"

It's my philosophy that fear makes one a prisoner, so I choose to not go there, in spite of all the media prods to do so. The only fear that I have is in regards to the extent of the damage inflicted on our country by the right wing, and how it can be repaired.

I was liberal as a teenager, and am farther left now at 5 decades. My wife's the same. We're more tuned in and active now in politics than we were 30 years ago.

We've done well, inherited a little bit from our parents, have some property now...and that hasn't changed us **one** iota.

[hwmnbn]

64. No.........

At 57 I am still idealistic/liberal, albeit more conscious of external realities. Back in the day, my "hippie" credo was peace, love, and justice for all. I still stand by that, even more so.

"we were all democrats once when we were young and idealist, then we became Republicans when we developed common sense"

NO! They became Republicans when they compromised their ideals , usually for material gain.

Regardless of age, we "CHOOSE" our personal ethical standards. If you've noticed, Republicans have problems in that regard.

Ask your father-in-law where is his common sense now? Good luck at your next family dinner. LOL

[TrogL]

65. I used to be borderline freeper

Look at me now.

[ieoeja]

66. Ask your father-in-law ...

"Then why do senior citizens overwhelmingly support Democrats?"

On the other hand, don't. It will just give him a chance to make some joke about senility setting in.

So beat him to the punch and tell him "that's because becoming more conservative is the first sign of senility. You haven't begun forgetting things more frequently, have you?"

[SmokingJacket]

67. Some people do.

People who are frightened of aging sometimes withdraw into themselves, decide that hating others is okay, feel that they desperately need and deserve every penny they have. I've seen it happen!

But other people see more and more of the world and become more empathetic over time.

I've become more and more radical as I've aged.

[blondeatlast]

68. I was born a yellow dog and in my mid-40s I'm more liberal than ever. nt

[goodboy]

69. Someone once said to me: "if you're under 26 and not a liberal

you don't have a heart...if you're over 26 and not conservative, you don't have a brain"

I said: Fuck you!

[julialnyc]

70. I've heard that one from dad in law too!!!!!

N/T

[cmd]

71. Dad's almost 84 and still a liberal

I'm 62 following in his footsteps.

[rniel]

72. I am the opposite for sure

I am becoming more liberal as I get older. I'm 33 now. My dad is just over 60 and is becoming more liberal than he was.

Plus you've just got to laugh at anyone that thinks conservative politicians today have any "common sense"

[Cattledog]

74. Total Bullsh*t

Look at the demographics of this nation. If that were true bush would have won 70% of the vote! Everyone over 40 would be a Republican. This is another Right wing talking point. Total bullshit!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

75. Liberal as a teen. Marxist by 20. Now an Anarchist at 61.

Guess not.

[Jane Austin]

76. Not me and not my husband.

The bush administration has pretty mush radicalized us.

[leftofthedial]

77. nah

stupid people

ignorant people

intellectually lazy people

and people with weak, superficial philosophies

may find it easier to adopt "conservative" as they age. "Conservative" philosophy has been distilled into a few easy-to-digest nuggets that don't taste half bad when you regurgitate them. It's only when a bunch of conmen put them into practice that one realizes we're swimming in puke.

[Blue_In_AK]

80. No, I'm old

and I'm getting more radically left by the day.

On edit - I noticed that probably three-fourths of the people at our Cindy vigil were in their 50s or older.

[yorkiemommie1]

81. not in my experience

i'm in my upper 50's and most of my friends are even older AND not only are they liberal they are LIVID liberals.

just before the start of this damn war i went to a peace meeting at a local unitarian church and 90% of the people there must have been over 80.

when i was in college i would go to these antiwar teachins at the U. in Hawaii. i always noticed one particular elderly lady there ( i can still see her in my mind's eye- long flowing dresses, dark glasses and gray hair in a bun ) she was quiet but always there . she was inspiring to me and i think of her steadfastness often.

my daughter is just your age and i know she will never change!

i have made all my younger lib friends PROMISE that if GWB outlives me, that when he finally goes, they must go out and have a drink and remember me. they promised!

[SoCalDem]

82. Greedy people do..

Decent people with empathy, rarely lose it, and remain dems.. The ones who love money, often buy into the MYTH that republicans are "fiscal" wizards:puke:

[lonestarnot]

84. Hehehehe lol! NOT

[JitterbugPerfume]

85. i am 65

and more liberal now than i ever was when I was young

smarter too

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

87. It hasn't worked for me.

I was a liberal in college 35 years ago. I'm still liberal -- and recent events continue to reinforce my conviction and belief that I've been correct all along.

[Zenlitened]

88. Some people become more timid, frail, disoriented and fearful...

... as they get older, so yes, I suppose people like that might become conservative, too.

[pitohui]

89. men become more conservative, women more liberal

not too surprising since the older they get, the more women realize they will live their one & only life under a system that's stacked against them

the education system lies abt the reality of discrimination to get yr education dollar but once you start working, you find out pretty quick what the real deal is

as a general rule, people can be bought off, the more $$$ you get out of a system, the less likely you'll want that system to change

[LSK]

90. ive become more liberal as i get older - 33 years old here

Im sure joining DU 2 years ago had something to do with it thou. ;)

[Pepperbelly]

91. 52 here and not so far...

:D

[Maru Kitteh]

123. Pepperbelly, I always hear a scottish brogue when I see your moniker

It's just such an old salties name.

Tell us Wes is going to run again?

[Maru Kitteh]

124. Pepperbelly, I always hear a scottish brogue when I see your moniker

It's just such an old salties name.

Tell us Wes is going to run again?

[Pepperbelly]

144. I kinda hope he stays home but ...

I doubt that he will.

I fear he sees his duty and intends to do it.

:headbang:

[Individualist]

92. I'm 62 and more liberal than ever

[sepia_steel]

93. I'm honestly tired of hearing that statement.

It's ridiculous. I quite literally grew out of the 'conservative' (hateful, fear-induced) shit that was fed to me as a child.

[Nikia]

94. A slightly different possibility

I think some people become stuck at a political stage because of influential people or events. Other beliefs might change but they might vote a certain way because of what happened. I think that there are some older people who worship more Centralist Republicans like Eisenhower or equate Rebupulicans with the post war prosperity. By the same token, my older grandmother, equates the Depression with Herbert Hoover and Republicans and would never vote for a Republican ever solely for that reason. Some people will forever be Democrats because of the diaster of Bush even if they might be more conservative than most of us.

[Warren DeMontague]

95. No, Getting Conservative Makes People Get Older

It royally fucks with your libido, too.

[DawgHouse]

96. Not for me

as I've gotten older I've gotten wiser.

[Solly Mack]

97. that's just a bullshit talking point conservatives like to use in an

attempt to insult Liberals...

The implication is that Liberals are children and immature...no cares, no responsibilities, no grasp of reality, still dreaming in Disney...

[CatholicEdHead]

99. Depends on what "conservative" is

many of the posts about greed and fear are pretty good.

Using the dictionary defintion, "conservative" is wanting things to stay the same and "liberal" is to change the status quo. Well, those terms can be flip-flopped the conventional wisdom nowadays.

Most of us know the "progressive" ideas mostly florished in the 1960's and 1970's (even the labor movements in the early 1900's). That was "liberal" status quo changing to the left. Now, most of DU is "conservative" in the sense that we want that status quo from last century to continue, and not be "liberal" to change it to something else (which ironically is an even further flashback in the economic sense). Examples are we are "conservative" in wanting to keep unions strong, jobs well paying and secure, most to all people taken care of, etc...

That is how I interpet that phrase. Because I am looking back (though I am only 28) over the past 10-15 years and see how much better many things were and the status quo changes now are for the worse.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

100. Opposite experience here.

As you experience life, you grow more empathetic, regardless of wealth, ultimately becoming more liberal.

Unless, of course, you are a total prick.

BTW: Churchill who is often MISQUOTED on this very topic, was much more conservative as a young man and more liberal as he grew older. There is an official Churchill website that talks about this fact.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

101. Not I, certainly

I'm much farther left now than I was in college, partly because I've gotten out and around and read and discussed more.

I think that people become more conservative as they age IF they find some comfy little niche to settle down in where they can safely observe the world at a distance or if they somehow acquire a vested interest in maintaining the status quo--a management job with WalMart, a car dealership, an associateship in a law firm that defends corporate crooks, an engineering job in a company that designs weapons systems...

[tlsmith1963]

103. I Seem to Be Getting *More* Liberal...

...as I get older. I actually used to be Republican, but I came to my senses. I also seem to be getting more adventurous when it comes to popular culture as I get older. I think that younger people are into nostalgia too much (especially '70s nostalgia).

Oh, well--I guess I'm weird.:P

Tammy

[evilqueen]

107. No.

I'm 47. I look back and I was anti-Vietnam War, anti-Nixon, anti-Reagan, anti-Bush I, and anti-Bush II. If anything, I think the Republican party has moved so far to the Extreme Right that it makes even the most moderate centrist look like a radical leftist.

I guess I don't see the point in making yourself richer and richer and richer at the cost of other peoples' survival. I don't see how they can look at pictures of starving children around the world (and even in their own country) and not feel compassion, and not want to help them.

I could never be that heartless, and it isn't even a matter of religion.

[yvr girl]

108. I think people do get more conservative with age

That doesn't mean that they become what you would consider conservative. People become more risk adverse as they get older, they become aware of their mortality.

[tallahasseedem]

109. I have found that I get more liberal...

Life experience teaches you that everything is not black and white like the conservatives would have you believe.

[Cobalt Violet]

110. No it's not true.

[emdee]

111. I'm 45 and get more liberal as I age...

As I live and experience life and watch those around me, I get more compassionate and less judgmental with each year. I see so little compassion from the Right that I could never "cross over."

emdee

[Swede]

112. I'm listing to the left by the minute.

I don't understand people like P.J. O'Rourke.

[The Traveler]

113. I think as you age, you tend to become more

risk adverse. Conservatism as a political philosophy is at its core based on the premise that change is best done slowly. (The cautious approach.) This tendency towards risk aversion is motivated, somewhat, by the increased responsibilities of maturity ... and remembrance of past narrow escapes and dire mistakes of youth. :evilgrin:

(Wanna blow an Evangelistic mind? I find the following riff more than a little effective ... and, actually, I believe it.)

Ironically, many Conservatives consider themselves Christians ... but Christianity is not a path for the timid. Jesus advises: "He who fears to lose his life shall lose it; he who does not shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." This statement operates on many, many levels ... but it can be interpreted as follows.

We cling to old ways, partly because we are comfortable with the familiar and afraid of the unknown. We are reluctant to shed an old, outworn way of life due to fear of the unknown territory before us. Yet, to stay where we are is to become mired in outworn patterns of behavior, ever grinding a deeper rut over the same road to no where.

We as a nation have been foolish, and most un-Christlike in our conduct. Our attempts to coldly serve our interests have only succeeded in digging a deeper hole, verifying the truth of the Jesus Christ teaching ... we are losing our old way of life, anyway. We can release it gracefully and move to something new and better, or have it ripped from our hands.

Change is hurling itself upon us, like a great wave. We can choose to deny the wave, to build sand dikes to resist it, and be swept away. Or, following the advice of Jesus, we can choose the path of courage, grab the nearest board, and learn to surf its turbulent might, and be taken thereby to a newer and better life.

[Cleita]

114. I don't think so. For me anyway.

The older I get the more socialist I get.

[all.of.me]

115. i get more progressive as i age

your father-in-law sounds like my parents - staunch republicans that think that someday we will ALL vote like them. when i saw my mother after the last election, she said, "someday you'll learn...." (to vote republican). not a chance in hell, ma!

[Maru Kitteh]

116. As the red state child of red parents let me tell you

I get more blue as the years go by. I love my folks (dad is gone now) but I become more committed to my progressive ideals as time rolls past me.

[Fescue4u]

117. I think in GENERAL that is true

But that doesnt mean that anyone in particular will become more conservative with age.

[eridani]

118. Gloria Steinem sez--

--men get more conservative, but women get more radical. I know of plenty of exception, though.

I haven't changed my vision much from forty years ago, but have scaled down expectations of what I can personally do about them.

[julialnyc]

139. I buy that

from people I know, it is the case.


Of course I know lots of people who have stayed true blue liberals, but I have seen some change with age..... and more frequently men.

[Mari333]

119. No, Im 54 and am MORE liberal.

dont believe that shit people tell you.

[Lindacooks]

120. Yes, that's what my father said too.

But I'm getting more liberal. I was a Republican when young, but that's only because my family was and what the hell did I know? When I grew up and started thinking about it, I became a liberal REAL fast.

[walldude]

121. I'd say 70% of the people at the Vigil I attended

were "senior citizens. Frankly it suprised me and I will never make the mistake of judging a person by their age again. I learned the lesson twice that night. There's an older guy who lives 2 doors down from me, he's kind of a "get off my lawn you rotten kids" sort of person. Well, when we were getting out of the car that night he asked my mother-in-law where we were. She told him. I was thinking oh no here it comes. I almost dropped dead when he said "I wish you had told me I would have been there". Turns out he's a disabled Vietnam Vet who was screwed over by the government when he got home. He's now going to come with us to all events we attend. You just never know about people....

[stevietheman]

122. Well, I started out conservative and a Reagan-lover in the 80's

as a teenager, now I'm a left-leaning independent. And I've voted for Democrats in four out of five Presidential elections... the fifth one was an independent.

The more I've learned about who really has the power in this country, the more I have drifted left. And it doesn't hurt that the Republicans corrupted themselves by aligning themselves so closely with the religious right.

It's actually hard for me to believe how someone could become older and wiser, and actually agree more and more with the Republican Party... a party that today hates science, fiscal discipline and rational discourse. How can anyone who is wise go along with that?

[julialnyc]

151. because they are growing older and more selfish, not wiser

older and more interested in their tax break

[misanthrope]

125. Well, I'm 41...

...and most people I've known have become more conservative as they age. I attribute a lot of it to reasons already listed in this thread: selfishness, materialism, laziness and (beneath it all) fear.

[nadinbrzezinski]

126. Sepends on the person and their life experience

Me, I am in my forties and I am farther to teh left than I was when I was 18... but the last five years have radicalized me

[BikeWriter]

127. I get more liberal with age. I'm 59.

[Kool Kitty]

128. Me, too. I'm 52 and I just

get liberal-er with each passing day.

[BikeWriter]

129. Ha ha ha ha! Nothing wrong with that, Kool Kitty...

We'll be back in the clear majority before long!

[Kool Kitty]

132. BikeWriter-

from your mouth to the Goddess' ear. :hug:

[burrowowl]

130. NO!

Many young idiots become old idiots, some young idiots become wiser with age, the young wise generally become old wise.
Although from Anarhist at age 10 (humanistic kind, if each were responsible then no need for Archy), I have become a conservative, i.e., Socialist!

[Swamp Rat]

133. Nope.

:)

[Hardrada]

134. To be honest, I have remained with my SDS ideals

of anarcho-syndicalism (definitely very left) BUT would not now hang around with some of the people I did when in my 20's. And some, the more analytical ones, some of them draft exiles in Canada, I still cherish. I have utterly lost any religious feeling I once had except that I like Renaissance polyphony which is largely sacred music. I am 60 and was more generous with my hours when they were golden and when I had more of them to spare, and more of them to share.

[Roxy66]

135. My dad, who is 64, has become more Liberal

I always thought of him as very conservative....but I have found out he is a lot more liberal than I ever thought he could be. He HATES Bush and everything he stands for.

[Seabiscuit]

137. 60 and more radical than ever - at this rate I'll be throwing molotov cock

tails at the local RNC headquarters by the time I'm 65.

[fishwax]

142. I've grown increasingly liberal as I've aged

and I've noticed plenty of others in my general age group who have done the same thing ...

[otohara]

143. I Think $$$$ Changes Some

I know many a socially liberal folks who make lots o money. They vote GOP for the tax cuts. I don't speak to these people anymore. Fuck em!

This one woman I know used to date a very, very, the most famous "now dead" R&B singer in the world, when she was young. She told me Clinton's "lie" turned her against liberals, but methinks it's the big ass tax cuts she gets - I saw her driving in it the other day, a Porche SUV.

[Quixote1818]

145. Living a conservative life and believing in liberal policy are two

completely different things. Sure as I have gotten older I live more conservatively but I have become more liberal when it comes to politics.


This all comes from a quote from Winston Churchill but people take the quote out of context. He wasn't talking about politics but lifestyles. Sure, when we get older we are not out partying and having sex all the time but that does not mean we forget about the poor and those who need a hand to get back on their feet.

[leesa]

146. Nope. In fact many of the people who were old enough to remember

WWII and the anti-communist propaganda later are very saavy about what's going on.

[RebelOne]

147. I am probably older than most of you here, but,

the older I become, the more liberal I am.

[foreigncorrespondent]

148. Absolutely not!

People who turn to the evil side after voting Dems for years were never really progressives in the first place.

I know lots of people who are a lot older than me (I'm 37) including my partners mother (who is in her 80's) who have remained life long Dem voters.

[Liberal In Texas]

149. Not in my case. If anything, I'm more left than ever at 56. n/t

[chieftain]

150. I am rapidly approacing 60 and still a lefty. None of my

liberal friends have switched either.