Why am I becoming more liberal with age instead of conservative?

[Romanov]

There’s a famous Winston Churchill quote that goes, “If you’re not a liberal in your 20s, you have no heart, if you’re not a conservative at 40, you have no brain.” So apparently I’m growing dumber with age according to that quote. But anyways, conventional wisdom holds that as one gets older, they become more conservative. However, this is the opposite for me. I welcome change, and trying to oppose change in the name of “stability” is all an illusion. The only stability IS change, just like the saying goes “The only constant is change.” I tell that to every person who talks bad about change and it makes them grimace because they know it’s true somewhere deep down. Why do people become more liberal with age as opposed to more conservative though? 
 

Conservatives will argue saying that they don’t oppose change, it’s just that not all change is good. And by that same token, I too can say that not all conservative values are good either. At one point arranged marriages were much more prevalent, women weren’t allowed to get an education, etc. Just because it’s old, doesn’t mean it’s good either. 

Edited December 9, 2022 by Romanov

[DocWatts]

The idea that people get more conservative with age is a witticism without much truth to it.

While it's true that on the whole older people tend to be more conservative than young folks, that's largely because as generalization older generations tend to be more conservative.

It's less about people radically changing their worldview as they get older, and more about the paradigms that people get locked into becoming more progressive over time (or at least that's been the trend in the Western world for at least the last century).

That vast majority of people don't significantly change their worldview after they reach a certain age (I would guess this would be their 30s).

People tend to become more liberal as society becomes more urbanized and better educated, so the paradigms that different generations gravitate towards simply refects that 

Edited December 9, 2022 by DocWatts

[Thought Art]

Funny, I’m the opposite in some regards

[Carl-Richard]

I believe the saying is confusing Red for Green. Red co-opts and takes advantage of compassionate Green ideas and institutions when possible.

Edited December 9, 2022 by Carl-Richard

[King Merk]

Let’s say you’re 20 years old and have a certain set of political beliefs such as “rock music is good”. Those beliefs are considered quite liberal in the year of 1920.

By the time 1960 comes around you have the same set of core political beliefs. You still think “rock music is good” while the median political position of the country has shifted and grown more liberal over the last 40 years. Making your formerly liberal beliefs now more conservative.

That’s how I interpret the quote.

But yea I’m the same way. As I grow older I evolve consciously and become more and more open minded which results in higher liberalism.

That said in a paradoxical way I’m also growing more conservative as I continue to integrate stage blue values.

So personally I’m growing more liberal and more conservative as time goes on. I’m developing a deeper understand of both ideologies and integrating the two into a second tier systemic worldview. 

[Leo Gura]

Prolly cause you're developing seriously.

[Clabber Girl]

I actually find that Im also much less conservative now that I am in my 30s. My reasoning is that being so conservative is only going to get you so far, and I find I had a conservative world view because of my family, friends and the environment I grew up in. Strict Conservatism does not actually align with my values and isn't who I am as a person.

[Romanov]

3 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Prolly cause you're developing seriously.

It seems that it may have something to do with absolute truth and relativism. Conservatives love absolute truth, and absolute truth never changes or grows. Liberals are much more relativistic and more aware of the complexities within a given issue. Absolute truth on the other hand is dead and lifeless, no possibility to be wrong, lacking humility. I noticed this in the debate between Bill Nye and fundamentalist Christian Ken Ham. When asked what it would take to change one’s mind about the existence of -a- God, Nye said, “Just some evidence.” Ken on the other hand said, “Nothing could ever convince me that the Bible isn’t the word of God.” 

[Leo Gura]

34 minutes ago, Romanov said:

It seems that it may have something to do with absolute truth and relativism. Conservatives love absolute truth, and absolute truth never changes or grows. Liberals are much more relativistic and more aware of the complexities within a given issue. Absolute truth on the other hand is dead and lifeless, no possibility to be wrong, lacking humility. I noticed this in the debate between Bill Nye and fundamentalist Christian Ken Ham. When asked what it would take to change one’s mind about the existence of -a- God, Nye said, “Just some evidence.” Ken on the other hand said, “Nothing could ever convince me that the Bible isn’t the word of God.” 

Conservatives don't actually love Absolute Truth, what they love is their ideology. They have confused ideology and human concepts with Absolute Truth.

Edited December 9, 2022 by Leo Gura

[Eyowey]

It's likely because you don't have children. If you had a daughter for example then you would want the world to be a safe place for her. You'd want her to have a loving husband who provides instead of working a job she hates.

[Romanov]

On 12/9/2022 at 8:24 PM, Eyowey said:

It's likely because you don't have children. If you had a daughter for example then you would want the world to be a safe place for her. You'd want her to have a loving husband who provides instead of working a job she hates.

Then again not all parents are the same. There’s conservative and liberal parents. Does that mean that liberal parents are less caring than conservative parents? As far as I’m concerned, I was abused by my father and my mom was beat…both very conservative folks, estranged to this day. They were both very strict, I grew up in a bubble. He wasn’t as conservative when it came to the beatings apparently. The As soon as I left the house for good, I’ve gotten some tattoos, my ears pierced, started experimented with drugs. All the things they told me to never do or I would be a degenerate, I did. My sister in law also grew up in a very conservative family, ultra Christian as well where they wanted her to spend her life as a missionary instead of marrying. Ended up being suicidal at one point despite “having everything”. 
 

There’s also something to be said about all the women who become “promiscuous” after growing up in a fundamentalist Christian household. What’s there to be surprised about in that situation? 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Romanov

[Tyler Robinson]

Actually you'll go through a phase that looks like this 

Conservative => Liberal  => Conservative => => Mix. 

I went through this growth curve in my  political beliefs. 

Now I'm more of a centrist moderate.. I went from a stiff liberal to a half ass conservative. And then found my center. 

You'll go through the same. So your liberal phase is not permanent. Your pendulum will come back to Conservative and then turn to Centrist. 

 

[lisindel]

You're making progress.