I think the truth is that people just moderate more towards the center as they get older. That happens from whatever extreme end they start from.
Actors need to work, especially the young and unestablished. Why would a paying gig have to align with one’s worldview?
A “smart Repulblican” is an oxymoron (in more ways than one). They just don’t belong together in the same sentence.
It’s certainly something that can happen, Siam Sam – I don’t think anyone denies that the “liberal youth turns into conservative senior” stereotype exists and is embodied by many – but Weirddave’s ascribing it to ‘becoming more smart’ is what people are objecting to.
In any event it’s not automatic by any stretch. My father began liberal and stayed that way until after my mom (who was politically pinkish-red) died back in '86; in his late sixties, when he eventually started dating a right-leaning woman he was influenced by her and the Upper East Side lifestyle they began to live (very comfortable, very insular) and started turning reactionary. Life and loss of loved ones had embittered and hardened him, I think. Made him angrier and less trusting for a while. Understandable but frustrating for us, his children, who are all pretty lefty.
And yet, once he hit about 77, he shifted again. Shortly after GWB entered office, and especially after 9/11, Pop grew disillusioned with the harder lines he’d been walking – he woke up, IMO – and began again to return to his roots. He was still living with the right-leaning lady, but he was less influenced by her; he read more political tomes, he watched more news, and soon returned to being more open-minded re: social issues while being furious at the war and the administration’s policies. He was again a gentle, loving guy with a fiery passionate political temper. (And before anyone makes cracks about senility or Alzheimer’s, Pop had some standard memory issues for someone his age, but otherwise was as sharp as a tack until the day he died at 80.)
Speaking with as much objectivity as I can, he was a fascinating case study of someone’s political/social opinions shifting due to internal and external influences, both emotional and circumstantial.
So all this is to say Dennis Hopper isn’t Republican because he’s older and smarter. He’s just a big dumb jerk. 
Thread over.
> BANG!! < ::: Moderator bangs gavel for attention :::
This is Cafe Society forum. That means it’s for discussion of art/entertainment. A discussion of Dennis Hopper’s politics is OK for this forum. Some comments on whether people turn more conservative as they age are certainly within topic. However, a general discussion about that, or about whether people become smarter or more worldly as they age, do NOT belong in this forum. So, this thread either quickly gets back to Dennis Hopper or it gets moved to Great Debates forum.
CK, why do you hate America?
Children are use to being taken care of. It’s only natural to start out voting to spend other people’s money. Charity is easy when you can vote it out of someone else’s pocket. Referring to this concept as being unselfish and open-minded is misleading in that respect.
The reality of taxes changes when you have to budget your own money to take care of yourself and your family. Then the adage: “charity begins at home” holds true. It’s a natural progression.
Did not realize this was in Cafe Society - sorry for the post, not the opinion.
Without more information, it doesn’t look like we can say anything definitive about why Dennis Hopper, actor, is a Republican. Given that, is there any point to continuing this thread here in Cafe Society?
Yeah, more liberal self-congratulation. How surprising.
It’s also a typo.
Indeed. After most on the left had accepted the fact Stalin’s purges were simply intended to eliminate his political enemies and consolidate his power, Einstein continued to think they were probably, at worst, unpleasant necessities. http://www.csicop.org/si/2007-03/einstein.html
I propose closing this thread, for four reasons: 1) nobody seems to have anything to say about Dennis Hopper; 2) a political debate doesn’t belong in Cafe Society; 3) it’s been a particularly stupid, cliche-ridden, simple-minded, pointlessly insulting “debate” so far; and 4) what more can possibly be said about Republicans and Democrats on the SDMB anyway?
Thats a mindless cliche. It is amusing that people still believe that kind of crap. I am old. Most people I deal with are old. This prez has radicalized the group. I thank him for that. But the group is normally as varied as any other.
This is all a load, of course, considering that conservatives are just as eager to spend my money as liberals are. The only difference is what they want to spend it on. Conservatives want to spend my money on corporate welfare, the death penalty and illegal wars. Ask them to throw a spare dime towards feeding or educating babaies, though and they go into a spit flinging rage. Any group who supports the colossal expense of the Iraq occupation surrenders all credibility when it comes to complaining about taxes. The Republicans have been spending more tax money with less justification any Democratic administration would ever dream of.
Seconded.
I try to avoid political insults by staying out of GD and the Pit. I hate to see this sort of thing creeping into CS.
Since almost none of you could follow Dex’s instructions, this thread is closed.