I started voting conservative at 18, because my parents did and I didn’t know who to vote for (we have compulsory voting in my country). Swapped to the other side late 20s and now mid 30s I can’t see it changing anytime soon.
I think a lot of it shook out of the hippie movement, where some people were just self serving narcissists that wanted to do drugs, have sex, and didn’t want fight in a war. Then when they got families and jobs they didn’t want government “stealing” their money to help other people, and so they “became” conservatives.
So they just assume narcissistic motivation applies to everyone.
Yeah, when boomers were getting into their thirties, the free-loving sixties were being replaced by the threat of AIDs and nuclear war. I guess I can get why those things might make people “conservative”. Not that that word means what it meant then anymore.
I’ll never forget the reason one boomer told me. They used to be a “leftist” hippy, but is now your typical conservative sucker. When I asked what happened to cause that change, I got the answer, “Just stopped caring about others.” That’s exaxtly the attitude you’re describing.
The sad thing is, in the US at least, we really need the conservatives to do actual conservative things. There is a definite benefit to looking at government action with a critical viewpoint, and saying “Should we be paying for this? Should it cost this much? Should we even be allowed to do this?” Unfortunately, they’ve abandoned that important role in favor of deepthroating corporations, peddling FSB propaganda, and forcing their version of the bible on everyone.
As others have pointed out, the likely cause is that politics doesn’t change with age, it changes with one’s investment in the status quo. The most likely reason that this effect is breaking down is because most people born after Reagan’s presidency were never given any means to become invested in this system. If you’ve got no assets and lots of debt, fearmongering that immigrants are coming to take your job or wealth doesn’t work.
That’s even dumber. You’re paying taxes either way, the difference is what you’re paying for with them. I’d rather them go towards healthcare than corporate bailouts and military contractors.
I’m agreeing with you, I was just too lazy to type out the whole thing. Those who are two smug are the deranged ones. I’m on my computer now and can copy/paste without getting a headache
Hey now, as an older than 40 who has never been reasonably able to afford rent, don’t forget us olds.
Honestly, same shit was happening to Gen X, which is why everyone was so aloof and “over it,” just more of them managed to be brainwashed than millennials and Gen Z. It was a lot harder to fight against the indoctrination when literally every stupid fuck around you would parrot this shit until their deathbed, and their generation massively outnumbered yours.
Now Gen Z and millennials are more populous, and the script has indeed been flipped.
Bit over 40 here stressing about my next place to live. It’s getting so expensive. When I started thus latest job I was a bit desperate due ro a year without work, and I basically asked for pay that would allow me to afford a single room apartment at the time. I’ve had raises since, and it still feels like I can barely afford the same thing. One of my uncles thinks my opinion doesn’t matter because I don’t own a home, so I’m “unsuccessful”, and we should listen to successful home owners like them.
Edit: okay that was a little harsh. But maybe I will still say if that was what you focused on and took away from the pandemic it seems like you missed the bigger picture of politics and perspectives of who was actually using science to guide choices and who has people’s best interests in mind.
Democrat politicians constantly passed all these covid restrictions and then partied in Republican-led areas like Florida and Texas, or just violated their own rules.
That did not give me the impression that they cared.
You’re delusional if you think any politicians actually care about anyone but themselves.
But the point is, I’m not comfortable with politicians deciding what’s “essential” and what isn’t, then ignoring the rules they set by partying in Florida.
They at least understood that you can’t keep people locked down forever and let the government decide what’s “essential” and what’s not. Even Democrats understood this, so that’s why they vacationed in Florida and Texas.
It’s always fun watching the “I hate politicians” Republicans ONLY be able to explain how they think it’s their right to piss on those lower than them via politicians, then immediately cheer politicians who are directly and openly working against their best interests.
“Yes he’s stealing from me but he’ll let me steal from you if I vote for him”
You haven’t mentioned politics once, only politicians. Nobody buys your “centrist” bullshit anymore bro. A quick perusal of your history shows exactly who you are, and nobody cares.
Just further proving my point that the political binary is the problem with this country.
I am pro-union, pro-LGBT+ rights, pro-human rights, pro-choice, believe in knowing your rights when dealing with the police, pro-marijuana, and not religious.
But the fucking moment I mention that I don’t like Biden or the way they handled the pandemic, suddenly all you assholes shut down and argue as if I’m a fucking Trump supporter. Fuck off with that bullshit. Vote Blue No Matter Who is a fucking cult just like Trumpism is.
ETA: I’m fucking glad Trump is being indicted because I’m fed up with him and his cult. I’m hoping they throw the fucking book at him.
No, but what made me upset is that every single one of these hypocrites got re-elected. The Democrats need to do better. Just because they’re Team Blue doesn’t mean they’re good people or even have anyone’s best interests in minds.
Have you not noticed that’s exactly what politics became in the US? Everybody would rather be in an echo chamber with other fans of their team than listen to anything the other side has to say.
For that to work tough enough people have to be better off than their folks. Boomers hoarded the power and money, and now they try to cheat to keep it as the next two generations remain more liberal than expected with age.
As I get older I realize how much shittier of a world we are leaving for our kids. I’m 52 and much more cognizant of my more liberal views and how much more “correct” they are now than I was was in my early 20s. My age and wisdom have taught me this.
The entire premise of conservatism is that the way things are now (or how they recently were), and the projection of this into the future, is the best possible way for things to be. How absolutely stupid do you have to be to believe that?
“Let’s just stop here, things are as good as they’re going to get. No improvements can be made.”
You can look at it too for looking at what causes people to be conservative.
Conservatism at its core psychological roots is fear of change. In a vacuum, people who are well served by the status quo are the ones least likely to want change. The historical adage of people becoming more conservative as they age was basically a result of that: when you’re young you don’t have much to lose from change. As you age you gain the opportunity to buy a house, to get married, to have kids, to get promoted at work and see your income go up significantly, to develop some meaningful job security. And so on. Thus, as people age they gained things, status, accomplishments, all the various life goals being accomplished. Even if change would probably make things better for them, they didn’t want to risk it. Things were OK.
The reason we see that adage breakdown is because we’ve seen the core causes breakdown too. Buying a home five years ago was a struggle compared to how it was historically. Buying a home today costs so much that it makes buying a home five years ago look trivial. Many couples are now intentionally delaying or forgoing becoming parents because children cost so much: just giving birth can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and that’s just to get them to day 1 of existence. Education costs keep going up. Job security is down. Wage increases are seen as something that even the “professional class” has to fight for, requiring a job hop to get a raise instead of getting one as par for the course from staying at an employer.
In light of that breakdown… far fewer people are afraid of the risk of change. The 30-something of today has a lot less at risk from change. Even much of the lower half of the upper middle class of today is far more able to stomach the risk of change.
I thought there might be some truth to it as a kid. As a 40-something, I realize it was just selfish dicks trying to rationalize their own shitty “fuck you, I got mine” worldview as maturity somehow.
This is the truth. I didn’t have the education to articulate how I could tell that the world was fucked up when I was eighteen. Now I do, and I’m fucking furious at how dumb, hurtful, and hateful this world is. It doesn’t have to be this way and never did.
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