General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Getting more conservative as you get older? [View all]TexasBushwhacker
(20,174 posts)I am 59 and I'm far more political than when I was younger. I bought into the third way BS in the 90s and considered myself "socially liberal/fiscally conservative." Though I didn't initially support Bill Clinton, I thought his welfare reform made sense. I didn't really understand NAFTA but I trusted that he was doing what was best for the US. I didn't realize it was good for businesses and bad for workers.
I was raised in a white collar, middle class family. I thought poor people just needed to go to school and get better jobs. Of course, I went to college in the late 70s when it was still affordable.
But the theft of the 2000 election, the illegal invasion of Iraq and the catastrophic consequences of NAFTA and the sub-prime mortgage fiasco changed everything for me. I still consider myself fiscally conservative in a way. I think our DOD budget is twice what it needs to be and corporate welfare has to end. While I naively thought that a low capital gains tax rate would encourage savings and investment, I learned you can't save if your can't pay the rent and "investing" in the stock market is just a way for the wealthy to hoard money.
So now I'm your basic bleeding heart liberal. I remember a time when Republicans and Democrats worked together. Now I find it impossible to work with the current Republican Party. You can't reason with unreasonable people.