TDPS: Do People Get More Conservative As They Age? No, It's Yet Another Myth

[celtics23]

Run time: 03:07 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oce2Gfu29-8   Posted on YouTube: September 02, 2011 By YouTube Member: MidweekPolitics Views on YouTube: 126   Posted on DU: September 02, 2011 By DU Member: celtics23 Views on DU: 3677

 
From: www.davidpakman.com | Subscription: www.davidpakman.com/membership | YouTube: www.youtube.com/midweekpolitics

[trud]

1. Hurray for Ms Lillian Carter.

Eleanor Roosevelt was no slouch either.

Thanks for posting this. I get really annoyed by dissing the elderly on DU.

[HockeyMom]

2. Not me at 62

I was an Independent from when I was 21 until 55. I never, repeat, never in all time voted for a Republican, even way back when when there were as insane as now. My daughters came to me and said, "Mom, WHY in the world are you an Independent?" They were right. Out of the mouth of babes, or 20 somethings. I fight, and not keep quiet, all the time now with my Republican husband on how he can he vote AGAINST his own interests.

More conservative? Not a chance. You have too much to lose when you are old. No time to rectify it.

[lumpy]

4. Never been a right winger and never will be. The only people

I know of who might have gotten more conservative are those 85yr old farts who are afraid they won't make it to the Promised Land if they don't suddenly grow a 6 foot broom handle up their ass.

[Honeycombe8]

7. The saying is that someone becomes more conservative, not that a liberal becomes a rightwingnut. nt

[lumpy]

22. I didn't say anything about liberals becoming rightwingnuts..

? What's your point? Mine is that any oldster might become more conservative by embracing religion/political conservative posturing with the idea that they have a better chance of getting into heaven.

[PonyJon]

9. Those eighty somethings were raised in an entirely different world.

There was hardly radio when they were kids, rural America still wanted electricity. During WWII the whole nation was involved, if you didn't go to war you stayed home and worked in a defense plant and experienced rationing for the war effort. Not like today at all. I came along in the very early 1950s, in my teens I was a Young Repub because my neighbor was a patronage whore and I got some summer jobs. Before I finished high school the Vietnam War was in full swing and lots of my friends graduating HS were drafted into the Army. By this time the WWII generation were "in charge" of everything political, they had no problem waging war, they apparently viewed it as a "good thing" . As more and more minorities were drafted and more and more young whites avoided the war with 2S deferments (college) the civil rights movement intensified. As war avoidance and civil rights demonstrations intensified the WWII generation "dug in" and got more and more overtly patriotic/conservative and concomitantly violent using police and national guard to "quell disturbances" by smashing heads, sicing vicious dogs, and firing live ammo into crowds. After living through this and seeing first hand what "patriotic/conservatives" are capable of I never voted for a conservative candidate, ever. I'm proud to say that over the years I've voted for all the losers, except President Obama. I voted for McGovern, Ferraro, Jackson, what's his name that was smeared with the Willie Horton crap. I am not fooled at all by CONservatives. My recommendation for young people is to study history so as not to make the same mistakes twice and don't encourage republiCONs by being "independent". Join the party of FDR, Kennedy, Johnson - VOTE A STRAIGHT DEMOCRATIC TICKET.

[lumpy]

23. All we had when we 80somethings were young was radio and

even in rural Alaska we depended on radio (location allowed us to receive, via short wave, European and Oriental stations) also depended on newspapers and magazines. In my observation during those days, people were much more interested in our political lives and leadership because we didn't have the distraction of TV and all the the frivolous extras that it has brought.
It is unlikely there are few people of my generation who thought US involvement in WW2 was an unwise thing. We were fully aware of the atrocities spreading across Europe and other continents; the lust for domination by the Nazi Germans; the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese certainly legitamized our participation. It was the last necessary war we have ever been a part of.
It is my belief that the Vietnam War woke many people up to the fact that these political wars such as Vietnam and covert actions supporting political factions in other countries i.e. Africa/So.America etc.are detrimental to world peace and has become a mantra with many to denounce such action. Of course it continues to go on to this day.
I will continue to support the Democratic party as I always have, straight ticket with one exception, I did vote for Richard Nixon. Why? because Hubert Humphrey appeared to be very hawkish about the war and in perhaps, frustration, I bought Nixon's spiel about ending the war. Poor excuse, regrets and all that.

[PatSeg]

11. I voted for one republican years ago

but that was because so many of us wanted to get rid of the first Mayor Daley in Chicago, especially after his tyrannical behavior during the Democratic convention.

Over the years, I've become more and more liberal. As you said, as we get older, we have too much to lose. Also I have seen so much in life that I have greater understanding and compassion than when I was young.

[lumpy]

24. Compassion and understanding can be a part of growing older,

and it does happen when people live life fully and with great expectations. Understanding is perhaps one of the greatest attributes one can possess. It works so well in every area, from personal relationships to the view of our world.

[dhill926]

3. hell.....

my Dad ended up to the left of me......

[Frisbee]

5. My Ma and Pa have been moving to the left...

for years. And I think how far out the right wing has become has been a large part of that for a lot of older Americans.

[lumpy]

6. Another thing, my husband who is now deceased (rest his dear

soul) grew up in a Republican household, I in a Democratic household. He knew very little regarding differences between the parties. We had many very spirited political discussion throughout the years. Gradually his views changed and as he grew older and wiser he ended up a enthusiastic Democrat,(much to my happiness). The spirited political discussions grew much more positive I must say.

[Honeycombe8]

8. Well, I think the stats are that young people are majority liberal, and older people

are majority conservative. So I think that means that people do become more conservative as they get older. That doesn't mean that a person swings from far left to far right. Could be that it means that a person swings from far left to left of center, or from left of center to right of center.

But it's true that most older people are conservative, and most young people are liberal.

[lumpy]

26. Most young people I run into pay a lot less attention to politics

than what is going on with Limsey Loham and the latest funky fashion.

[JackDragna]

10. I just keep getting more liberal as I get older.

I learn about even more injustice, unfairness and cruelty and all it does is further drive me to do something about it.

[Gormy Cuss]

12. +1

[Populist_Prole]

13. Could be other factors, with aging just a co-incidence

Used to be a Republican. I've gotten more liberal the longer I live, that is, the more I was able to learn and discern...to follow up and keep score of rhetoric, vs. what actually happens when said rhetoric is allowed to become policy.

My father was always conservative. In his early 70's he's now an absolutely rabid far-right on every single issue teabagger type as anybody I've ever seen or heard...and getting worse exponentially as time goes on.

Of older friends ( basically working class moderates ) that retired, 2 of them have become more conservative due to ( I'm quite sure ) of the "I've got mine" syndrome. Securely retired with full pension and grandfathered in with with medical coverage and full pension just before the company yanked it. They have also become more religious.

[PDJane]

14. It's been my experience that women, in particular,

grow more radical with age. My mother is just barely to my right, which would make her a radical communist stateside!!!

[drm604]

15. What's that old chestnut?

"If you're not liberal when you're young, you have no heart. If you're not conservative when you're old, you have no brain."

People believe it because it's a well known saying, and people think that gives it credibility.

I've always believed it was nonsense, and never understood why people kept repeating it.

Lately I've been wondering if it originated in, or at least is promulgated by, some right-wing think tank.

Myself - I've become more radical over time, if anything.

[Populist_Prole]

16. That, and pretty much who's ox is being gored

Cons always like to say "What's a conservative? A liberal that was just mugged."

I like the retort: "What's a liberal? A conservative that's just been arrested."

[leeroysphitz]

17. I'll just leave this here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1870364

[life long demo]

18. NO!, HELL NO!

I've been Democratic my entire life even before I could vote, and at that time you had to be 21 to vote. I'm going on 69. I've been a liberal since even before I knew what that word meant. Civil rights, human rights, animal rights, enviomental protection, protecting children, elderly, animals and earth. I don't get around as much as I use to, but with the PC, I get my e-mails sent to congress and the Prez. What I don't understand is why not more young people aren't out in the street protesting. Come on youngn's. The reichwing is trying to crush you.

[Atypical Liberal]

19. Of course they don't.

I have always felt like I was "against the trend". I was raised in a conservative family and when I was younger I was conservative. But the older I get, the more liberal I get.

Why? Because they older I get the more I have to lose, and the more obvious it is how precarious our positions in life are.

The only way I can fathom people can be staunchly conservative is that they somehow delude themselves into thinking that disaster can't happen to them.

[bluestateguy]

20. Every generation is different

I remember reading after the 1994 tsunami how young people voted heavily Republican that year and older folks voted Democratic and how because of that the Democrats were doomed.

[Dumak]

21. I think it's mostly a perception...

Older conservatives tend to beat their chest and tell young people how to think. Older liberals do it more quietly - by example. So the perception from youngsters is that old people are angry conservatives.

I've experienced people getting more liberal as they age much more than the opposite.

[Honeycombe8]

25. The stats say that people do get more conservative. If most 60+ yr old srs are

conservative (which polls I've seen for years say is true), then those are the flower children and dopeheads of the 60's, who were no doubt VERY liberal then.

I think what MAY happen is...a person's full political ideology or philosophy isn't formed, when you're in your 20's. That happens over time, gradually, as a person has many life experiences, and experiences a variety of political leaders and eras. Also, years of hard work day after day, year after year, tends to have an effect on a person...making a person value a work ethic more maybe, than when you were young? (I experienced this myself..going from a person who might not show up for work, when I was young, from a heavy night of partying, and having trouble dragging myself out of bed...to a person who wakes up by 6:30 a.m. every morning, not needing an alarm clock, who is valued at her company for having a strong work ethic, and who rarely misses work. I never would've thought, when I was young, that I would or could ever be that way!)

[lumpy]

27. Don't know about the 'stats', but I think many people , with time,

try to be more conservative regarding their personal lives i.e. cleaning up their acts, behaving more responsibly, more reflective of their actions, winding down, all that jazz. Don't know how that pertains to statistics or if it involves only political viewpoints. I do know many oldsters long for the old days while forgetting the drawbacks that existed.

[Honeycombe8]

30. I'll agree with you on that, for sure. Sometimes I think that living in the "good ol days"

would be nice...not so many chemicals around, more raw natural foods, not so fast paced, etc. But then I think about what it was actually like for people like me...women. Couldn't work at most places, if I would work I wouldn't get paid much, have to wear dresses a lot of the time, girdles, crude ways to handle "the monthly curse," weird hairstyles, very constricted and regimented role-playing for both men and women. The good ol' days wasn't all good for everyone. Then imagine if I'd been born black, on top of being female. Yikes! I'm sure it wasn't the good ol' days for them, for sure.

[dpakman91]

28. thrilled to see this great discussion around a topic on our show

and as always i'm thrilled to be a part of the DU community

[Tom Ripley]

29. "...living proof of Churchill's lies"...

everyone takes that Tory bastard's little self-serving quip as gospel