How does one counter the conservatism that seems to overtake people as they age?

[applegrove]

Last edited Tue Dec 11, 2012, 03:33 PM - Edit history (2)

People become more risk averse. Less open. Less liberal. Anyone have any ideas how we can take this time of life change out of favouring the GOP hands?

Edit: (I should have said 'overtake some people' and 'some people become less open, less liberal'). I did not get the responces I wanted and it is my fault for being too vague.

[Aristus]

1. I don't have a clue. The older I get, the more liberal I become.

Is there something wrong with me? Or is it just everybody else?...

[applegrove]

2. You are the model we are after. I just heard the other day that

many baby boomers are tea partiers. And these were the hippies back in the day. It got me thinking.

[ohheckyeah]

5. And many of them are old hippies who are liberal. n/t

[jzola]

9. I dn't believe they were ever real hippies.

I'm not getting more conservative and neither are the others I know---that thought of themselves as hippies.

[kelliekat44]

69. It's not really "conservatism." It's "selfishness." That's really what so-called 'hippies' were.

They were selfish then and they are selfish now. The real liberals were the "peace-niks." They didn't drop out then and they aren't dropping out now. They were activists then; they are activists now. There are a few exceptions to this but largely the 'hippies' were young folks from pretty well-off families who didn't want to do anything but have a good time and no responsibility. A form of selfishness that pervades a lot of the wealthy off-spring today. You can call it "liberal" but I don't like them having my label. And true conservatives, don't like them having their label either.

[hobbit709]

87. Huh?

[jeff47]

12. Were they hippies, though?

First, hippies got the press but there were many more "Nixon youth" than hippies.

Second, a lot of people who aligned with the "hippies" were only really concerned with the draft. They were conservative on everything except being shipped to Vietnam.

[applegrove]

15. Did not know Nixon youth was a big number of kids.

[rurallib]

81. the so-called radical left of the day

was definitely a minority in comparison to - I don't know if you would call them Nixon youth - but those who just wanted to be left alone.
I am at least as liberal as I was in the back then. But I am much more certain of my stands.

[SouthernLiberal]

89. I was one of the Nixon Youth

Yes, I was. I even ram (successfully) for a local office as a Republican. And then I grew up. Perhaps it was because I have long had an avocation for all things science. Perhaps it was because I have been a voracious reader since childhood. Maybe it is the result of never having had children. But at 59, I am more Liberal than I have ever been before.

One thing that I have noticed, though, is that our political climate has moved rightward. If I still held the views that made me a Republican at 20, I still be viewed now as a liberal. With the apparent rightward movement of the country (and don't get me started on 'the news'!) and my own leftward movement, I'm now very, very liberal.

[Le Taz Hot]

18. They were never hippies.

They were either Young Republicans back in the day or were completely disengaged from an type of social change. The hippies of the 60's and 70's are STILL hippies today. We've not changed except perhaps getting even more liberal than we were back then.

[eridani]

20. There were Young Americans for Freedom back then as well as hippies

They tended to stay rightwing, just as hippies tended to stay leftwing. Exceptions in both directions, though.

[Lilyeye]

63. My bf's aunt was a hippie and was a democrat almost her entire life.

She started becoming brainwashed by her new bf and she voted for Bush in 2000. After she got remarried she was never the same. She was such a sweet lady, who preached liberal values. Her husband is a racist right wing nut and now she is a stone cold teabagger, who absolutely despises Obama. It is depressing to see what happened to her. It makes me think that she never really was a liberal and only held those views because she was rebelling against her right wing parents.

[llmart]

133. I doubt it.

I'm the quintessential boomer - born in 1949 and I have an excellent memory. It is highly unlikely that those who are tea partiers now were ever hippies. Keep in mind that not all boomers of my age were fun loving and liberal and enjoying their youth. Some were "old" or old-minded even back then. They put down their fellow hippie boomers or hippie sympathizers because they were secretly envious of the fact that they were too uptight to enjoy their youth. These are the ones who became tea partiers.

In my experience, those of us who were liberal back then are still liberal now.

[DevonRex]

134. No they were not. They were the Jesus Freaks.

Or the wannabes. Both groups dressed the part. Blended in a bit. The Jesus Freaks handed out tracts and sang religious songs and popular songs. Played guitar. They'd hang out in the same parks and stuff. But at night they'd go home.

The wannabes were just rebelling for a little while. They'd come and go. Never really left home or school. Never protested. Had no real conviction.

I was too young for all that. But I had relatives in all 3 groups so I know the difference. Oh, and those relatives are teapartiers except for the old hippie.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

151. Nah...

Not all Baby Boomers were war protesting hippies...that's an impossibility. I'm a Boomer who becomes more liberal the longer I live, but while in college I dated the president of the Young Republicans. I rather imagine he's a card carrying conservative today. Teabagger, not so sure.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. I have done they same. My opinions have moved

further to the left as I get older.

[Lugnut]

51. Same here.

I think it's everybody else.

[Aristus]

118. Ha!

But shhh!; don't tell anybody!...

[defacto7]

57. Same here...

I'm a boomer and have always been somewhat liberal, but my liberal has gone way out there the older I get.

As far as hippies, I remember there was a big revival thing in the mid 70's where a lot of the hippies became the "Jesus People". It didn't take to many years before these Jesus People were well on the road to conservative extremism. Strange days.

[ellenfl]

162. great album! eom

[Sherman A1]

65. Same here

As I have aged, I have found that experience has showed me just how screwed the working class has become over the years and I have become much, much more liberal.

[RBInMaine]

66. In certain ways I have become even MORE liberal. But I know what you're saying. Hmmm,,,

[Magoo48]

68. Always been way left and keep getting wayer left the older I get.....

[Zorra]

73. Totally. Same here. The more I learn and experience, the more liberal I become.

Now I'm gone beyond left.

[Aristus]

119. Beyond left.

Good place to be...

[luvmybluestate]

76. same here

the older i get the more liberal i get too, but many of old hippie friends seem to be going to the dark side. many who get ss/medicare vote for rethugs can't figure it out. though the common thread seems to be that they believe they worked for everything they have and everyone else is on the dole

[Aristus]

104. Welcome to DU!

Which blue state do you live in?

[hrmjustin]

117. Welcome to DU and I hope you enjoy the site.

[annabanana]

77. Ditto.. And I was liberal to START with. By the time I'm 80

I expect to be a raging Marxist!

[raccoon]

91. Same here. In my 30's I was--I blush to disclose--I was pretty Republican.

But I was saved!

I am in my 60's quite progressive/liberal.

[Liberal_Dog]

93. You Are Not Alone

I am much more liberal now than I was when I was in High School and College.

I attribute it to finally growing up.

[njcamden_25884]

97. you're definitely not the only one who feels that way

I too become more left wing as I age

[RainDog]

102. The OP is a myth

http://www.livescience.com/2360-busting-myth-people-turn-liberal-age.html

The stereotype of a cranky old man, set in his ways, getting more conservative by the day, is an enduring one. But new research has debunked the myth that people become more conservative as they age.

By comparing surveys of various age groups taken over a span of more than 30 years, sociologists found that in general, Americans' opinions veer toward the liberal as they grow older.

"All the evidence we have found refutes the idea that as people age their attitudes become more conservative or more rigid," said Nicholas Danigelis, a sociologist at the University of Vermont. "It's just not true. More people are changing in a liberal direction than in a conservative direction."

[intheflow]

110. However, this article from ABC news last week suggests

as people age they become more gullible. Which is why, I think, Fox News can get away with so much bullshit by appealing to older audiences.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/12/04/3646348.htm

[RainDog]

112. Gullible isn't the same as conservative

There is also a core constituency in the U.S. of raging right wing a-holes. They don't fit just one age group, but they have been pretty consistently right wing nutcase through the last two decades, at the least.

As far as gullible - well, the number of religious Americans is declining...

[intheflow]

113. But gullible does play a role in how people perceive the information they receive.

So when the MSM presents teabaggers as rational people making solid policy points, but neglects to present other, progressive policy points, it's much easier for older folks to lean right. It's not only the aging brain, it's a complex societal problem based on information feedback loops and other stuff like nostalgia and depression (when all your peers are dying, for instance, you may not be as engaged in worldly goings-on).

And the declining number of religious Americans may also be due, in part, to the rising number of youth. The boomer's kids' kids out number the boomers due to sheer birth numbers and attrition by death.
http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdf

[RainDog]

114. Who You Trust Determines Your Gullibility

If you trust untrustworthy sources, you are more likely to believe false information.

People don't have the capacity - no one does - to determine the truth or falsity of a lot of information. If you are a religious person, you are likely to trust untrustworthy sources for information -

about things like the age of the earth, climate change, homosexuality, feminism, etc.

What's the religious affiliation of Fox viewers? Maybe religion has more to say about their views than their age.

It's also a big, big mistake to lump all "older white guys" in a pile. A lot of white guys voted for Obama, for instance, even tho they made up one of the largest support groups for Republicans. I don't think those people have changed as much as the world around them has changed and they don't have enough exposure to honest information.

Are Fox viewers more gullible b/c they're more traditionally religious?

[patricia92243]

108. Me too. This is the first time I have heard that older people became less liberal.

Usually the older a person gets, they learn to be more tolerant of things. When it is suddently THEIR grandchildren who are gay, divorced, take drugs, etc, etc, people look at things quite differantly.

The young me and the old me are two different people.

[4_TN_TITANS]

116. Me too... Over my life, I've gone from Bible thumping fundy

when I was young, to the older I get more Liberal than ever. For me, I can almost pin it down to the couple of years I dropped acid. My whole perspective fundamentally changed.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

122. Me too!

Longer I'm around, the more I see most of that crap (Conservatives) people worry about doesn't really matter.

[Paladin]

145. Same Here.

Once I retired and I didn't have to toe any sort of conservative corporate line, my long-time liberal beliefs kicked off. It's great.

[get the red out]

153. That was my Dad

He passed in 2010. He had always been a Democrat, but as times moved on he moved with them and embraced all sorts of liberal points of view he would have never dreamed up as a young man.

[ohheckyeah]

3. Some people.

My 86 year old parents are more liberal now than they've ever been in their lives. My previously Republican parents voted for President Obama twice. My 90 year old aunt voted for Obama and she had always been a conservative. She's now liberal. My older brother is more liberal now than he's ever been in his life.

Talk to people...don't fight them, don't talk down to them, explain why you are liberal. Use examples they can relate to like Social Security and Medicare.

[Lilyeye]

64. My parents have become more liberal too

I was shocked when my elderly dad voted for gay marriage here in MD. Not that he ever seemed homophobia, but I just assumed he was one of those civil union only people and thought marriage was pushing it.

[ohheckyeah]

137. My parents support gay marriage and

reproductive rights including abortion. They actually left 2 different churches because all they talked about was homosexuals and abortion. They used to be fundamentalists....not so much any more.

[Flabbergasted]

4. It's because society changes people get stuck. Nt

[Blue_In_AK]

6. One way to counter it is

stop believing the stereotype.

Signed
An old leftie.

[djean111]

10. Another old leftie checking in.

Perhaps this is the wrong place to ask the question
Or perhaps don't stereotype by age or location.
Doesn't really work.

[hollysmom]

8. yes, let me add taht my aunts, uncles and parents were all liberals -

the older cousins I have are all republicans,. it is not that older people become republicans, but that republicans are getting older. I only know one person who changed from liberal to republican and taht was purely for abortion and no other reason,.

[Bigmack]

11. It's the damn Interweb tubes....

Those little tubes have made me into a radical!

Seriously... I was always waaay left, but since I retired, I have more time to find shit out. The internet... DU and others... bring out a lot of stuff that isn't covered by the MSM.

Facts have a notorious liberal bias.

Another thing... The way things have been going since around 1980, the only people who became more conservative as they got older are the dumbshits.

[farmbo]

13. I don't agree with your premise

Once you have it, critical thinking is an attribute that you retain throughout your life. That is the primary distinction between progressives (who apply critical thinking to every aspect of their lives) and conservatives, who must rely on authoritarian figures like Rush, Hannity, or Pat Robinson, to formulate their opinions.

It's not a matter of age. It's a matter of upbringing and education.

[applegrove]

14. So who are all these 65 year old Fox News viewers if they were not hippies?

[DavidDvorkin]

24. They were conservatives when they were young

I'm 69, and I can assure you that most of my peers were not hippies. Most were neutral, some were very liberal, and quite a few were extremely conservative. They were in Young Americans for Freedom. They supported Goldwater. Etc.

Every generation is very diverse.

[eridani]

26. Former members of Young Americans for Freedom n/t

[pnwmom]

58. There were plenty of non-hippies in that generation.

They just didn't get the publicity.

[pnwmom]

59. (self-delete)

[Gemini Cat]

141. I think you need to define what 'hippie' means to you.

Are you talking about student activists?

[Mel Content]

148. not all 65 year olds were 'hippies'. most of them weren't.

[scratcho]

136. And there-----

you have it,farmbo. It's not an accident that the education system is becoming worse all the time. Critical thinking is inimical to the owner/legislative class, and is a a well thought out plan(IMO) to dumb folks down, so as to keep the $$$$$$ flowing upward. Even working class stiffs vote against their own interests. Go figure.

I do not and never have liked conservative thought processes. I don't even care for the word.
The world has become round!!

[yewberry]

16. I think this is less prevalent than it maybe used to be.

My experience is that people are becoming less conservative as they age given our economic and political climate.

Confession: my family is a bunch of New England Yankees and my husband's family is near Seattle, where we live now. The coasts tend to be more progressive in general.

However... my stepmother (used to be a staunch conservative and argued vociferously against my position re: South Africa boycotts during apartheid) now votes reliably Democratic. Why? She's got 2 kids who rely on public assistance to feed their kids. She pays their rent (in the sense that she owns the properties that both live on and pays the mortgages) and knows that her kids and grandkids would be living in her house without assistance.

My mom... used to be a Republican long ago before the party left her. She's 69 and has been with her (same-sex) partner for 29 years.

My husband's grandma... a conservative Christian-- I was deeply afraid of what would happen when she met my lesbian moms but I was so wrong. She met them and loved them, and became a more liberal Christian. She moved closer to the teachings of Jesus and further away from the 'sinners in the hands of angry God' teachings of her church.

In general, both sides of my family have become less conservative as they've aged. Maybe I'm specially blessed.

[rufus dog]

17. First step is to not buy into the meme that people get more conservative as they get older.

Have never seen a decent study supporting that claim.

In the 80's there really was a Reagan Revlolution. Thousands of College students and young fell for his B.S., that resulted in a Conservative Revolution. Since 2004 we have seen a reversal and now have greater numbers than Reagan ever enjoyed.

So, people don't change as they become older, they youth change and drive the direction for a generation.

[applegrove]

22. I hope it is true. Especially with this patch of GOPers. They are rabidly xenophobic,

racist, sexist and I think that the public has gotten wise to them and their lies. And how vested interests in things like oil/coal is no way to meet the future.

[treestar]

31. Look at the poll numbers for Obama vs. Rmoney

http://www.cnn.com/election/2012/results/main

Rmoney won a majority of age groups over 45.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

90. If polls were accurate, Romney (according to Gallup) would have won.

"Gallup poll shows Romney will win the election over Obama

"Sahit Muja: The U.S. election 2012, Mitt Romney vs President Obama, today is November 06, 2012. Final Gallup poll shows Mitt Romney will be elected the 45th President of United States of America.

"According to the final Gallup poll President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are within one percentage point of each other in Gallup's final pre-election survey of likely voters, with Romney holding 49 percent of the vote, and Obama 48 percent. After removing the 3% of undecided voters from the results and allocating their support proportionally to the two major candidates, Gallup's final allocated estimate of the race is 50 percent for Mitt Romney Romney and 49 percent for President Obama.

http://www.examiner.com/article/gallup-poll-shows-romney-will-win-the-election-over-obama

And of course there was this

[treestar]

121. But these were the results, after the vote

[AnotherMcIntosh]

123. What you say is the exact opposite of what Gallup reported and what was posted at #90.

"Gallup poll shows Romney will win the election over Obama

"Sahit Muja: The U.S. election 2012, Mitt Romney vs President Obama, today is November 06, 2012. Final Gallup poll shows Mitt Romney will be elected the 45th President of United States of America.

"According to the final Gallup poll President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are within one percentage point of each other in Gallup's final pre-election survey of likely voters, with Romney holding 49 percent of the vote, and Obama 48 percent. After removing the 3% of undecided voters from the results and allocating their support proportionally to the two major candidates, Gallup's final allocated estimate of the race is 50 percent for Mitt Romney Romney and 49 percent for President Obama.

http://www.examiner.com/article/gallup-poll-shows-romney-will-win-the-election-over-obama

[treestar]

124. But these results are after the vote and from CNN

They show that R$ won people 45-64 by 51%. And even more of people over 65.

Because Gallup was wrong about pre-election polls does not prove that post election results from CNN are wrong.

And so it is rational to address the issue that people may get more conservative as they age.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

130. No. Under the plain language of the story, the results are from BEFORE the votes are counted.

[treestar]

147. The results are from when after the votes are counted

The only poll is the final one.

That's why President Obama will be re-inaugurated and Mittens will go home to his car elevators.

If you are denying that Mittens won 45-64 year olds by 51% and 65 over by a greater %, then are you also denying that Obama won women and minorities? The results come from the same place.

[djean111]

163. Winning 45-64 years olds by 51% means almost half of that group

did not vote for mittens. So why define and generalize an entire age group by a poll on a sort of conservative website?

[quakerboy]

43. Numbers

In 1980 the 18-21 year olds went 44/43 for Carter. Those who were 22-29 years old voted 43/43 even split between Carter and Reagan (per wikipedia)

In 2012 the 18 year olds would be 50 and the 29 year olds would be 61. The 45-64 year olds went for Romney 51-47. (per Pew)

This would seem to indicate one of four things. Either 1) Liberals died off at a greater rate, leaving a higher proportion of conservatives in that age range to vote, 2) Liberals in that age range chose not to vote/conservatives voted in greater than normal proportion, 3) those who were 13-18 and 30-32 in 1980 are drastically more conservative than those 18-29 at that time, or 4) your assertion is incorrect.

Then again, looking at Reagan election, compared to ford, He actually dropped 7% in the 18-21's. He dropped 3% in the 22-29's compared to Ford. So that would seem to indicate that it was in fact, not conservative gains in the youth that pushed him over the top. It was the over 30's where he gained. 5% in the 30-44 year olds, who are our current 62-76 year olds. 54/37 for Reagan. Nowadays that group went somewhere around 53/45 for Romney. So that set of voters, if anything, have gone the other way from the Ops Hypothesis. The conservatives stayed conservative, and the independents became liberal. At least for a day, a vote.

For whatever numbers are worth, anyway.

[gtar100]

84. +1 Fascinating number study!

[DirkGently]

19. Medicare and Social Security?

All this "collectivism" nonsense we're all into benefits the elderly the most.

[Douglas Carpenter]

21. I cannot imagine maturity producing agreement with today's so-called "conservative movement'

I would agree that most people become more skeptical as they grow older and perhaps frequently many might even become more resistant to change. But today's "conservatism" is a misnomer. It is not conservative in any real sense of the term. I can imagine how some people may have been attracted to old style conservatism - but it is beyond me that anyone could embrace the new conservatism of today's Republican Party as they mature. This so-called conservatism is simply the embrace decadence, willful ignorance and a kind of childish machismo.

[applegrove]

25. But so many white males have bought into it.

[applegrove]

27. I agree with you it is not old time conservatism.

[Chorophyll]

23. I haven't actually seen this happen with the people I know.

My mom is 87 and more liberal than ever.

[applegrove]

29. My dad went conservative (progressive conservative - Canada) 25 years ago.

He has since been horrified by this new ilk. He went back to the Liberals in the 1990s.

[treestar]

28. Rec'd, this is a big question

Rmoney won older voters, and now that includes people who are baby boomers - people who were young in the 60s and 70s and would have thought not to be so conservative - so age may be a factor.

[applegrove]

32. Didn't older white males go for Romney?

[treestar]

33. I thought they went for Rmoney

Or, all in the age groups over 45 went for Rmoney


http://www.cnn.com/election/2012/results/main

The 45-64 vote really bugged me at the time. At times we think when the older generations die off we'll have more liberal voters, but that made me less sure of that, and more sure that perhaps age does turn people more conservative.

[applegrove]

35. I meant Romney. Sorry. Thanks for pointing out my mistake.

[jeff47]

38. Only a minority of baby boomers were hippies

Since it isn't something like a political party, hard numbers are difficult to produce. But estimates are around 20%, with a significant number of additional people who were only really "liberal" when it came to the draft.

About 40% of baby boomers were conservatives in the 1960s.

[treestar]

125. True but most people that age accepted the changes

the started living together, premarital sex, more acceptance of differences, women working, etc. So when we think of people who were from older generations being conservative, they did not accept all that and still don't in great numbers. Whereas people who were young adults in the 70s and 80s now seem to be getting more conservative after age 45, at least a little bit - not good.

[jeff47]

139. Nope.

Again, hippies got the press, but were a minority. That press coverage has colored your opinion.

[treestar]

146. That does not respond to what I said at all

I did not say hippies were a majority. I said the majority accepted the changes in society that were of a liberal bent.

So are they changing their minds now?

[jeff47]

150. I'm saying you believe something that wasn't actually true

and are making assumptions based on that.

The baby boomers were not liberals that have since become conservatives.

The baby boomers were a mix of liberals and conservatives that are mostly still the same liberal and conservative mix. There was no radical shift to conservatism. The conservative baby boomers didn't get press attention in the 1960s.

They did get press attention in the 1980, 1990s and today - they've been a key part of the Republican party for the last 3 decades. First as the army of foot-soldiers in the 1980s, then as the party officials in the 1990s and 2000s. New Gingrich didn't poof into existence in the 1990s.

I said the majority accepted the changes in society that were of a liberal bent.

Except they didn't. The hippies only really got traction on Vietnam. We're still fighting over the rest of their agenda today.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

49. The hippies were a minority of baby boomers

If you don't believe me, Google Seventeen magazine from 1967 and 1968 (I can't find any that will embed properly). That's what most people looked like. The white knee highs were an especially 1968 thing.

[pnwmom]

60. And a couple years before that, it was white go-go boots. Hardly a hippie thing! n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

82. Anyone who looks at high school

yearbooks from the 1960s, especially from the Midwest and South, will be able to see where today's Republicans came from.

[eridani]

30. My mom was a Republican until Reagan ran

His warmongering scared her, and from then on she voted for Dems for president.

[marybourg]

34. When I was a kid in the 50's, it was the older people, who had

been young in the 20's, who were liberal. They were marching to save the Rosenbergs, to ban the bomb, to ban segregation. They were being called commies, pinkos by the youngsters, who were trying to earn a living, raise a family, stay out of trouble. So I reject your premise as being tainted by "recency bias".

[applegrove]

37. Perhaps. But it is good to talk about. Because you can bet the GOP

is going to try something to get latinos and asians and women. Why shouldn't we think about why white men went so for Romney.

[BlueCaliDem]

86. Excellent point. It will be up to the Democratic Party and Progressives

to ensure the new swath of Latino, Asian, and Black (some really take offense to being referred to as African-American) Democratic voters are reminded what happens when the Republican Party sweeps into power - overt racism and attempts at bringing back McCarthyism and Jim Crow laws. You can bet the farm that the Republicans and their nationwide corporate media network will try everything and anything to make us forget.

Just like they'll do everything and anything to ensure a Republican president succeeds President Obama in 2016.

Just this morning as I was zipping my way through the channels for the Animal Planet channel, on ABC, I saw a segment where one journalist was bringing up Psy's past of anti-war, calling it anti-Americanism, and coupling Psy to President Obama. If that wasn't a naked attempt at tearing at President Obama's rep, I really don't know what is since that same channel pretty much went mum about pResident Bush's close family ties with the Saudi family - something we might have wanted to know since, well, 15 of the 19 9/11 terrorists were Saudi. But no. I had to learn from secular, online sources about that important little nugget. Do you think American corporate media would have been quiet had it been a Democratic president in 2001?

[Mariana]

39. I'm not sure people tend to get more conservative as they age.

All the older conservatives I know have always been conservative.

What has happened, it seems obvious to me, is that conservatives have become more extreme in their views and more obnoxious in expressing them. I think this is a direct result of Fox News and RW radio.

[doc03]

40. The older I get the more liberal I am. Back in 1980 when I was

32 I was a racist asshole and voted for RR. I got that from my dad, you could say they could have patterned the Archie Bunker character after him. He wasn't a bad person that is just how he was raised. He came around later in life too, if he was still alive in 2008 I think he would have voted for Obama.

[MrsBrady]

42. um I don't know I'm more liberal now than ever n/t

[Cleita]

44. I don't know. I'm an old person who gets more liberal as I

get older so we aren't all Kool-Aid drinkers.

[Warpy]

45. Is that what's supposed to happen?

I get farther to the left and more radical with every passing year.

[burrowowl]

46. Have no idea!

I was always a socialist since I was 10 and will always be, even in my old age.
Today's Dem Party is really far to the Right, but I voted for Obama anyway, we don't have much of a choice.

[SheilaT]

47. Speak for yourself. Don't make assumptions about the rest of us.

Maybe it's just that we're all here on DU, but I'm another one who gets more liberal as I get older. I'm 64, and I did not quite get the student protests of the 1960's. Now I'm sorry I was not out protesting the Vietnam War back then. But I did protest Bush's wars.

Actually, as a couple of people have already pointed out, it is often your age cohort that influences your political opinions and actions. I am constantly recommending the book Generations by Strauss and Howe, and I am yet to run across anyone else who has ever read it. In short, their thesis is that you are profoundly affected by the conditions around you, especially in about the first 20 years of your life, and that each generation has a "personality" that they carry with them their entire life cycle. Fascinating book. It has profoundly affected how I think about lots of things.

[llmart]

135. I think I'll read that book now after your recommendation.

But then, I'm always reading Without books and music I'd die!

I didn't actively protest the Viet Nam war either, but I did make sure people knew I was against it. I was young, raising a family and just trying to make ends meet. I did actively protest Bush's wars and I'm proud of that.

I always thought of myself as a hippie wannabe. I liked the clothes, music, hair, etc. but I had to actually work so couldn't go taking off to the Haight, though I had a cousin who did and she's got some interesting stories to tell. As someone else said, I think the hippies just got all the press because, well, that's how the press has always been. They focus on the stuff that will most likely get the attention.

[Speck Tater]

48. I was a lot more conservative in my 30's than I was in my 50's

Now as I approach 70 I realize that I am still becoming more liberal with every passing day.

Risk averse? I hardly think so. I've reached they age where I realize that I'm going to die some day, so if anything I am more willing to take risks because, having already spent nearly 70 years of life, I have less to lose by taking risks.

I've begun to realize how foolish I was to be so risk averse in my youth!

[patrice]

50. Non-essentials become less important. I'm getting more liberal as I get older.

[OldDem2012]

52. Making a bold assertion with nothing to back it up but speculation....

...is not a good way to go on DU. Perhaps you would have found out more information if you had asked the following question:

"Do you consider yourself to be more or less liberal as you've grown older?"

Oh, by the way, I'm almost 62, and I definitely don't come to this board to read conservative views.

[jberryhill]

53. There is medication for it now

But everyone who takes it ends up going to New Zealand.

[dimbear]

54. I think I landed way over on the left when I was about 20 and haven't changed much that I notice.

That was a long time ago, too. Maybe it's the folks that toiled their lives away accumulating possessions that get conservative as they ripen. I didn't do that.

[socialindependocrat]

55. As a 60 year old liberal

I have worked for a conservative company and retired.
I cut my hair for a period and whe we started to "value people" I let my hair grow long again and put it in a ponytail.
By then I was in my 40s and in marketing.
It was a struggle. People in power want to be agreed with.
If the idea wasn't 'invented here" -meaning by the boss - then, you were considered a threat.

I have been reading a mag called SOCO (South Coast of New England)
I get info on local events
What I just noticed is that there are a lot of business ads
I notice a lot of people in suits and ads for "classy" restaurants
These are the conservatives and they were the conservatives at work.

They want to dress up in suits and ties and are very concerned with style and not substance.
they are concerned with who knows who and what benefit they just attended and being seen as the "in crowd"
Who's got the Mercedes and who talks the loudest on the cell phone in line at the Starbucks

I am not saying that being a business owner is bad but there is an ego-feeding component with some people.

I had fun working in research and finding new ideas
I found that the liberals were into working smarter, not harder.
Let's make a better mouse trap so people have better lives.
The conservatives seemed to be into turning everything into money and status
We got rid of our dress code at work and I know it pissed off the Powers That Be
We got into "Team Directed Workforce" for a while, until they shook the reigns and got everyone back in line again.
Diversity, to them, was black/white and male/female and not diversity of thought.

I think there is a difference between supporting everyone to grow and develop to their greatest potential
and saying you value diversity but holding people back for not acting and dressing within the "norm".

I was just a bit too young to go off and join a commune and I've worked since I was 16 years old.
I am now retired and still have a liberal view - that is, live and let live and I voted for Pres. Obama twice.

Hopefuly this sheds some additional data to the argument.

I think liberals do what makes them feel good and they look to help others.
Conservatives seem to value everyone looking the same and "acting" responsible and "I got mine, too bad you didn't get yours"


Just an opinion - fire away....

[Tunkamerica]

56. my dad always says that

truthfully i think he remembers himself as much more liberal than he was.

[murielm99]

61. I told my kids not to let me turn into a conservative as I age.

They told me not to worry. I am moving further to the left every year. I argue with my moderate son periodically. Funny thing - he gets elected to office. I don't.

[Egalitarian Thug]

62. I'm the worst sort. I started out liberal and as I learned more about how things really work

I am becoming more and more radical. Egalitarian is not just my username, it's my goal.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

67. As I get older I reject labels & factionalism & divisiveness & polarization

There is way too much labeling going on.

The Rovians and Bushes and McConnells and Boehners are plenty happy with it.

The older I get, the more determined I become to be a free thinker. That means not being an automatic liberal who can pass any loyalty check some at DU would impose, but becoming a deeper thinking liberal holding more mixed and nuanced positions.

[marions ghost]

70. Except in a few areas I think it's a myth

--might get a bit more risk adverse and slightly more judgmental--but in other areas could get even more liberal.

But your message to beware of rigidity is still appropriate--people sure do seem to go conservative around M.o.n.e.y.

Because we live in a society where to have no money is to be worthless.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

71. By using reason...

I don't have a liberal personality, but I know liberal policies work.

[MineralMan]

72. I'm not at all sure that your premise is correct.

Do you have some information that demonstrates it.

I'm 67. The people my age that I know still hold the essential views they held when they were younger. Those who were liberals still are. Those who were conservatives still are.

If your premise is incorrect, then discussing it makes no sense.

[Odin2005]

74. The notion that people become conservative as they age is a myth.

It is a myth that originated in the late 1950s because the old folks of that time, the generation of Truman and Ike, were conservative, but that generation was conservative their entire life, they were the people who derided FDR as "THAT MAN in the White House!". Likewise, the Greatest Generation that followed them tilted to the Left their whole lives.

[davidn3600]

75. Not with women...they get more conservative when they get married and have kids

The statistics is pretty consistent in every election. There is a huge marriage gap when it comes to women and voting. The GOP usually gets about 50% of married women, but only about 33% of single women.

There is a slight marriage gap for men too, but it's not as big.

[standingtall]

78. The older people of the present maybe more conservative

but I don't think that means people tend to be more conservative as the get older. The baby boomers were a unique generation, and there are many variables in which has lead to them being more Republican. Some example the abortion issue. Kennedy never had to take a position on, and of course racism is a factor don't get me wrong there are still plenty of racist left, but it is fading. I doubt the younger generation of today is going to reverse itself, and become more conservative as they get older.

[lunatica]

79. I've become a Progressive Democratic Socialist in my old age

The Baby Boomers have always been a mixed bag. We still are.

[southernyankeebelle]

80. Old people don't like change and are set in their ways. However, I have always been liberal and am

still liberal. I guess if your a conservative and are upper middle class that might apply. However, if you make less than $50,000 you kinda see things a whole lot different. We see how people are struggling.

[Jackpine Radical]

83. Well, I'm only 68, so I'm still waiting

for my conservatism to kick in.

I go down to the Dem Party meeting and find it filled with 60+-year old left-wing crazies who are a helluva lot more radical than the state-level party hacks. Those same commie geezers seem to do a lot more than their share of walking the protest lines & manning (personning?) the phone banks too.

I guess they're waiting for their conservatism to kick in, too.

[applegrove]

115. LOL!

[Awknid]

85. Looking from a general point of view

This is similar to the question, why do some people get meaner after going through a hardship and some get kinder? Some will be cruel to others going through the same thing, while others will say to themselves, I know how she feels, and be kinder. Do they just have no empathy? It has always puzzled me.

[raccoon]

96. That's a very good question. I've observed it too. I don't know what the difference is. nt

[librechik]

88. I'm thinking either brain surgery or gene treatment before birth

if we ever get to that point who cares? we gotta live with conservative brain deformities now.


http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/201104/conservatives-big-fear-brain-study-finds

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-04-12/opinions/35451790_1_liberals-and-conservatives-political-differences-openness

[FarCenter]

92. Fluid intelligence decreases with age.

[IDemo]

94. 55 here, and more liberal than at any time of my life

If it were up to me, America would re-experience the era in the early 20th century when socialism enjoyed a great following.

[union_maid]

95. I was born into a liberal family and none of us have changed much

I've maintained that the 2004 election killed my mother. Oh, she didn't die until early 2006, but she had a stroke and it started a process and every time she came to that night she asked about how Kerry was doing. So, she didn't turn more conservative. I certainly haven't and neither has my husband or my sister. We could all be described as social democrats by preference, I think. I am less idealistic, however. That is to say, my ideals haven't change, but my belief in their achievability has mitigated somewhat.

[bamacrat]

98. I think this may be more of an issue with the current group of elderly.

Think about it, they have seen the most change. Born around WW2, remember the first TV they got, the first home phone they didnt have to share with the whole street. Black people and women can not only vote but are candidates and win. They saw movements around the world by groups of people they are not familiar with. We landed on the moon, we can carry a miniature computer in our pockets that we can call people on. Computers. The internet, tablets, HD TV, open acceptance of gays. Technology in general. Of course the people of my generation (born in 83) we grew up with changing demographics and technology. We are used to change and almost require it. I think as we age this phenomenon will not continue, but the opposite may take place.

[HockeyMom]

157. Change. You hit on it!

Progressive equals CHANGE. Evolve and move on. You stop evolving and you become stagnant, stuck in your ways.

I've had this conversation with my husband, sister-in-law, neighbors, etc. We are all in our 60s. I have a VERY DIFFICULT time talking to them because all they want to do is talk about the PAST, which they wish they could still be living in, because it was so much BETTER than now. Really? ALL of the past was better? ALL of today is bad??????

Honestly, I hate talking to this kind of of "old people". In my book, they ARE old, and not just their chronological age.

I am 64 and I have a easier time talking to my kids (28 and 33) and their friends, than the majority of people my own age, with the exception of those here on DU.

[slackmaster]

99. Here in California the answer is to avoid any suggestion of removing the property tax limits...

...on residential property that were implemented as part of Proposition 13 in 1978. I cringe when people suggest repealing the whole thing, because I remember exactly why it was enacted.

We older homeowners vote.

[johnlucas]

100. People are fickle. People are programmable.

Sometimes when people are young they do the things they do to rebel against the previous generation.
Just for the sake of rebellion.
But then as the saying goes 'You Will Become Your Parents' & when they hit the 30s & 40s they will find themselves saying the same things their parents said right or wrong.

Sometimes people join a group because they want association with some particular person in that group.
Their beliefs are held only by the condition that they have that person's favor.
If that's lost, they may discard that belief along with that lost favor.

Sometimes people have personal life-changing events that cause them to reevaluate their whole belief system.
They may have suffered a trauma & someone influential speaks to them while in the midst of this trauma.
Because of the closeness from that influential person, the traumatized person may just subscribe to that influential person's belief system.

Sometimes people are persuaded by the advertising.
They never had really strong beliefs about anything & can be persuaded with the right appeals.
Propaganda works.

Sometimes it's just a matter of wanting to be on the winning team to fit in.
Strength in numbers mentality takes over & people may discard their belief system to fit in the popular mentality of the day.
Most people really don't have the nerve to stand against the tide.

Sometimes people join a group to escape someone from the group they came from.
They for whatever reason logical or illogical detest a person within their group & with the group refusing to get rid of this detested one, they leave to join another group.

Sometimes people gain a certain understanding over time & change their views accordingly independently without regard to what group's popular or not.
These views may be misguided or incomplete but they saw enough in them to make a change.

These are just a few factors why people switch to ANY belief system much less Conservative.
These factors led to people becoming Liberal as well.

Few people really stick by their beliefs in both good times & bad.
People are generally fickle.
People are definitely programmable.
All we can hope is for their fickleness to go our way & that they get good programming.

MY program says that Society is not right until ALL members of that society get a proper seat at the table.
I'm one of the few who will say this no matter WHERE the political tide flows.
Whether it goes with me or against me, I stick to this.
John Lucas

[northoftheborder]

101. An oldie here, who is more liberal than ever. More liberal than my children.

[Romulox]

103. I don't think it's a coincedence that the Democratic Party has moved to the Right

at the very same time the Boomers move into old age...

[appleannie1]

105. Almost 70. When will I get conservative? Hubby is 76. He is more liberal.

I guess we are not normal.

[ehrnst]

106. I think there are some gender tendencies

I read somewhere that women get more active and radical as men start to find their favorite chair, and that has materialized in my family.

That's defining conservatism with a small c rather that the right wing Conservative definition.

[Coyotl]

107. That is a false meme.

People don't change, but the old ones do die.

[CrispyQ]

109. I don't believe the myth that people get more conservative as they get older.

My husband & I are getting more liberal.

It is not age, it is your mindset. Do you fear change or can you deal with it? Authoritarian types tend to fear change & probably do become more conservative.

Remember, the media is giving the teabaggers a bigger voice than they actually have. They are in it for the ratings & they love drama & conflict. If they were honest, they would report on the low turnout most teabagging events have, vs the dramatic turnout of Occupy, which they minimalized.

[we can do it]

111. It's been the opposite with me and also with my aunt who is now 75.

[upaloopa]

126. You should use some percentage of older people

Contrary to one of DU's hardest to kill fantasies, all older people are not conservative selfish & wealthy. Many of us have been progressive for more years than a bunch of you put together. We have kids and grand kids whose futures we care about.

[djean111]

127. After thinking about this, I have concluded that, as one of the earliest Boomers who started out

progressive and has never ever entertained any conservative thoughts whatsoever - I think this question is like that
illogical thing where we say all mean people have blue eyes so all people with blue eyes are mean.
A CNN poll sometimes isn't worth shit, too. I wouldn't respond to a poll on CNN.
So maybe it is that lots of older people who respond to polls on CNN turn conservative, or something like that.
Get back to me when everyone over 60 or whatever - everyone - has taken the poll and sworn that they were truthful.
Anyway, there is no answer to your question because your question is grounded on a CNN poll, and evidently a lot of the older folks here are not.
And you got more risk averse, less open and less liberal from a CNN poll? Must have been quite thorough!

[applegrove]

131. I did not watch CNN to come up with

the question. See my post below to find out why I asked.

[treestar]

149. The EXIT polls

The polls that show how people voted.

It showed that Mittens won the older age groups. Why people are having a hard time with this is strange. It's like throughout the thread people are saying "I or my older relative are liberal, so that means the poll is wrong."

It would be like denying that Obama won women's votes in a majority or any other study of how the votes were distributed.

Amazing how many responses there are here denying the issue even exists due to personal experience and denying the polls. Wasn't it the republicans who did that and that is why they are so surprised at the result?

We know the oldest people now tend to be conservative. Of course there are liberals among them, but there are more conservatives. When this older generation dies off, while we have a more liberal electorate? Or one that is equally conservative because people who are liberal now age and get more conservative?

[upaloopa]

155. Winning a group doesn't define that group

It means a higher percentage voted for MIT not that the group as a whole is conservative. It is offensive to be lumped into a box like that.

[applegrove]

128. No I did not get it from a CNN poll

Last edited Mon Dec 10, 2012, 10:08 PM - Edit history (1)

I was reading a book that talked about what the differences are between liberals and conservatives. It mentioned that liberals were more open and less risk averse. I added that to my own experience of growing much more risk averse as I age. Next I mixed that with the old adage that some people, not me, become more conservative as they age. So I put the question out there. Because we certainly do not have white older males voting Democratic. I was wondering if we could appeal to them.

[djean111]

144. Point taken. Your question, though, does not ask why "some" older people get more conservative.

Any time a group of people is summarily stuck in a group like "old people become conservative", it becomes immediately apparent, just from the responses, that only some of those people get more conservative.
And I don't believe being averse to risk taking or anything else can be usefully applied with a broad brush.
I had to laugh at being put in a grouping decided only by my age, due to a poll on a site that I call Conservative Nut Network.

[upaloopa]

152. What am I chopped liver?

You got to get over yourself and your need to define the world outside your head by the world inside your head. Millions of older white males voted for Obama and worked for his re election and gave money to the campaign.

[jehop61]

129. Never generalize

Please don't lump anyone over "a certain age" into tbe same bag. I was much more conservative when my children were small. Today I'm fighting for a better world for my grandchildren and great grandchildren.

[RebelOne]

132. I have been a Democrat since I voted for JFK.

I am 73 years old and have always been a Democrat. Who says you are more conservative with age?

[kiranon]

140. Voted for JFK and voted for every Democratic nominee since. Am 71 and

as liberal today, if not more so than when I was young. Had 4 children and having children didn't make me conservative. Came from a liberal family and all of my siblings are Democrats as are my children. Getting a good education and applying it to religion as well helps.

[Liberal In Texas]

138. In my case I've only become MORE liberal.

The more you learn, the more you see what a total failure the conservative ideology is and what awful harm it has done to this country over the years.

[applegrove]

142. This is the answer I was looking for. Thanks Bucky.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1957627

[In_The_Wind]

143. I did volunteer work at the East Village location of the Merton Buber House in the early 70's.

I'm a Liberal, now, I always was.
Change happens with one person at a time.
We can't give up our beliefs as we age. We simply must pass them on.

[Old and In the Way]

154. I've become more liberal as a reaction to growing extremist conservativism.

I think political labels and self identification play into this. I think way too many people view politics, like sports. You stick with your team, even if they aren't very good and they cheat to win. Because you cannot imagine rooting for the other team, no matter how awful your team is.

[Eleanors38]

156. Don't buy these stereotypical assumptions. However, some

older folks, after being told with some off-hand clinicism and a wink of a benevolent eye that they are not progressive or liberal, tend to disengage. This can exclude many older folks who have the time for activism.

[PDJane]

158. I have found that women, in particular, get more radical with age.

My mother was a conservative in her youth; now, she wouldn't vote for a conservative if he came with a gold-plated certificate of authenticity.

Most women in my age group and my acquaintance have become the women you see out marching, demonstrating, writing letters and generally using the 'f' word...you know, feminism...and talking to younger women, explaining why feminism is a good thing. Granted, when I was young, I was socially aware and politically active, and most of the women I know were in the same category. I do know one American woman, a good friend, who was a lifelong republican until she figured out that she was simply doing what other people told her to do. She stopped biting her tongue, moved from Texas, and has become an independant. She's somewhat to the left of Bernie Saunders!

[Agnosticsherbet]

159. Becoming risk averse is not synonymous with less liberal...

From my observation, people get set in their ways. A liberal or a conservative in youth will tend to stick with those political leanings as age takes them. I think that is because poltics is based more on core personality than information.

[Bake]

160. I've aged, and gotten more liberal.

I've gotten more sick and damn tired of the cons' b.s. Nothing conservative about me, except that I own firearms and plan to keep it that way.

Bake

[ladjf]

161. Some people become more conservative as the grow older, others more liberal and many don't

change in either direction. In other words, I feel that your question is based on an invalid assumption, i.e. that "People become more risk averse, less open and less liberal". It should have included the work "some" before the word "People".