Did anyone else find themselves suddenly agreeing with Republicans as they got older?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Note: I don’t want this to be a thread about which political party is better. Rather, this is my experience about my shifting political beliefs. That’s why it’s in MPSIMS, not GD.

When I finished my freshman year of college, I considered myself not only liberal, but flat-out democratic socialist. Redistribute income? Sure, why not! National health care? Works for me! I felt really confident in what I believed, too.

Here I am today, having graduated college only a few days ago. As some of you know, I’m on an internship in Washington, DC. As part of this internship, me and a few other interns have seminars where we meet with various movers and shakers about all sorts of issues.

While I am still basically a left-winger on any and all social issues, I find myself shifting to the right a LOT on economic issues. The more I look at it, the more it looks like Democratic economic policies are just overbloated and wasteful. Meanwhile, while conservative policies look harmful at first, in the long term, they’re really what’s best. That’s not to say there shouldn’t be welfare at all, but the Democratic version just creates a vicious circle of poverty. Getting into the details would take up way too much space, but I think you get the general idea. When it comes to the economy, I’ve come to believe that a small government is the best government.

Meanwhile, I’m still pro-gun control, pro-choice, pro-gay rights, anti-school voucher, and, to be honest, I still don’t see what’s wrong with national health care (I think it’s a right, not a privelege, so economics don’t come into it for me.) I even like some drug legalization. And I still don’t like the Bush tax cut, mostly because it relies on money that may or may not actually be there.

For a kid who was once a socialist, this has caused some growing pains. I feel almost disappointed in myself, but in other ways I don’t. And it also explains why I’ve always been a fan of moderate Republicans (you know, the ones that don’t hate poor people and minorities). :wink:

I don’t want this to be a political discussion. I just want to know if this is normal for this to happen and if it’s happened to anyone else, because I’m having a really hard time dealing with it. It’s hard admitting those people I argued with for so long… were right. And for those of you who have experienced this, how much more change I should expect to go through?

2

I meant to say “in IMHO, not GD” in the first line. Sorry 'bout that. :smiley:

3

Frankly, I don’t see much change in you.

“Meanwhile, I’m still pro-gun control, pro-choice, pro-gay rights, anti-school voucher, and, to be honest, I still don’t see what’s wrong with national health care (I think it’s a right, not a privelege, so economics don’t come into it for me.) I even like some drug legalization. And I still don’t like the Bush tax cut, mostly because it relies on money that may or may not actually be there.”

None of these sound much like a GOP position from here.

As for myself, my views haven’t changed so much as having altered through my experience with the world outside of college. Libertarianism and socialism sound great on campus, but in the real world, the answers become a lot greyer, the issues more complex, and the solutions MUCH harder to impliment because you’re going against the money in a lot of places, or dealing with people who don’t “get it” why the arts should be supported, or why all schools should get an equal amount of funding.

4

I’m personally the reverse of this rule. I joined the Young Republicans my first year in college. Indeed, I wrote an essay on “family values” in 1979 for my application to get into UVA.

Now its 20 some odd years later and I realize that I was amazingly naive then. I find it hard to believe I could have thought the things I did.

Liberals, from my experience, often have a crisis of faith when they realize that their solutions probably won’t work in the “real world”. But the alternative of giving up the idealism in favor of Republican isolationism seems not only wrong, but foolish as well. Long term Conservative “solutions” fail with much worse consequences than the Liberal solutions, it seems to me. (Trickle-down economics and environmental de-regulation are two obvious examples)

5

Was a social liberal and an economic moderate in college.
Was a social liberal and an economic moderate at age 30.
As I approach 40, I find my economic beliefs about the same, while my social political beleifs have drifted a little more to the left on some issues, and little towards the middle on others. Don’t know if this helps, but there you are.

6

Just turned 31 the other day, so I don’t know if that qualifies as “old”, but I’ve definitely not become any more conservative. My liberalism is just a little more well thought-out and less received is all.

7

Ah, but the great debate will begin soon enough when everyone starts critiquing the rationale behind other people’s changes (or lack thereof). :slight_smile:

I don’t know how often it happens, but you’re not alone.
I have known several people in their mid-20s who went through such a change (including my own brother), though not necessarily adopting the same views you did. I think it’s an individual thing, as far as to what degree the person’s views change. I don’t think it’s anything to be ashamed of. It’s admirable to be able to follow the truth as you best understand it with an open mind instead of dogmatism.

As for the issue of moderates and mixes of liberal and conservative views, while not intending to get into GD territory, I too feel that neither party has it completely right. There are so many different ways of framing certain issues that often a credible argument can be made for the political parties taking either side.

I feel those perennial political debates become far less tedious with the participation of those who don’t rigidly follow mainstream political alliances. I for one welcome the input of the gay gun owner, the
pro-life pagan feminist, the
environmentalist Republican and whatever other controversial political “heretics” are out there. When Democrats and Republicans can be found on both sides of an issue, at least it’s SOMEWHAT less likely to turn into partisan bickering. :slight_smile:

8

I find myself getting more liberal as I get older.

Go figure.

9

I’m probably just a liberal as I was 30 years ago, but liberalism has moved further to the left. My main drift to the right is for more fiscal conservatism, something the Republicans don’t care about any more.

I find the Republican philosophy appalling – the general belief that freedom is an inconvenience and that the rich are better than anyone else.

10

I’ve always been pro-choice when it comes to guns. (Read: anti-gun control.) But I’ve always been pro-choice in regards to abortion (I think they government should pay for abortions for people who want but can’t afford one), sexual issues (it’s not the governmen’t business what goes on between consenting adults), drugs (I choose not to use), and so forth. I’m in favour of national health care.

On the other hand, I’ve seen a lot of abuse of government programs; for example, welfare. I did know one woman who used it as intended. She collected welfare, raised her four children, went to school, and became successful in an aerospace career. But I see people who abuse it, and I work with a woman who was a case worker who says abuse is rampant. So I’m (Democratically) in favour of a “safety net”, but I’m (Republicanly -?) in favour of people working for what they receive in such programmes. Again, I’ve always felt this way.

The one issue where I’ve changed my opinion is capital punishment. I used to think that CP is acceptable and necessary. I changed my mind initially because it takes so long to execute someone that when the person is finally executed, he’s not the same person who committed the crime. Then I began to think about the process of killing the condemned. It just seems inhuman to me. We already keep condemned prisoners locked up for ten or 15 years before killing them; why not just keep them locked up until they die? I used to think, “He killed someone. He deserves to die.” But now I’m not so sure. It would be difficult to make a statement that “this crime is so heinous that the perpetrator needs to be killed” and I think there are some people who “need killing”. But given that the person is already removed from society and the possibility of mistakes, not to mention that “civilized” countries don’t execute people, I’ve changed my mind on capital punishment and think it should be discontinued.

11

I haven’t changed much; I was a very conservative Democrat/somewhat liberal Republican from about 17 onwards. It’s just that I switched parties in about '94, when the extreme liberals started scaring me more than the extreme conservatives.

12

I am really confused about the whole “what party am I” issue. While I think a lot of the things that Bush campained for were good, and a lot of times he had better ideas than Gore, I am kinda in the middle. Gay rights? yes sir. Reditribution of wealth? No sir. I have no clue. If I was old enough to have voted (I am 17 right now), then I would’ve gone for Nader. I participated in the protest at Wake Forest, in Winston-Salem, the 2nd presidential debate. Argh, so confusing.

13

God, NO.

14

Harvey and Sheila did, according to Allan Sherman:

“ . . . They bought a house one day, financed by FHA
It had a swimming pool full of H20
Traded their used MG for a new XKE
Switched to the GOP, that’s the way things go . . . ”

15

didn’t Churchill say something like

“If you aren’t a liberal when you’re 20, you have no heart.
If you aren’t a conservative when you’re 40, you have no mind.”

He started relatively liberal and drifted right.

16

Dr. Brett, is that you?

Hehehe…that’s what my advisor always says!

I think I’m more left than I was, but I’m only 22, give me time. I do have a fear of turning more to the right. Eeek!

Although, there are somethings on the left I disagree with (affirmative action, communism, etc etc…whatever)

17

I thought it was Disraeli: “A man who is not a Liberal at sixteen has no heart; a man who is not a Conservative at sixty has no head.”

One of the more well-known examples might be David Horowitz.

18

To paraphrase poopah chalupa: Hell NO.

However, please check back with me in 15 to 20 years. And if I say anything remotely close to “Well, you know, they have a point”…

please shoot me.

19

I don’t think I’ve become more conservative as I’ve aged, but I’ve certainly become much less dogmatic and partisan.

20

Well, I was reading in the New York Times this morning about President Asterisk’s new public relations problem…what with his pals and benefactors in Big Oil enjoying whomping profits at the expense of the poor schmoes west of the Hudson who have to drive everywhere instead of taking the subway, many of whom voted for the guy…and I caught myself thinking…

Go ahead and dig up the fuckin’ Alaskan wilderness. Wheel in the derricks. I don’t give a damn. It’s not like I’m planning any trips up there to gambol about with the polar bears in the Unspoiled Nature.

…but I believe it was an internal narrative engendered by despair, following on some of the more outrageous comments made by Bush and Cheney in the past week, rather than any deeply held political or philosophical belief.