You know that phrase about when you're​ young you're​ liberal but conservative when older?

[retrowire]

I'm starting to see why that happens. I think it's this...

When you get to the point that you realize that there's so much hate and stupidity that it's inconceivable your mind reaches a fork in the road.

Fight against it even if the battle will never be won.

Or...

Throw in the towel because this is the way of things and all you really have control over is yourself.

I find myself looking at this fork today. And I want to be compassionate and selfless but... To what end?

Nevermind I think I just figured it out. It's the same reason I'm vegan. It may not make any difference at all in the end, but my choice is still one of compassion and it does something.

So I should not give up, even if the alt right grows more hateful, even if the government collapses, even if family and friends remain ignorant to it all.

My life won't be in vain. It won't be a waste to continue this path.

This is just a monologue. An introspective.

[DetlefK]

1. That's from Winston Churchill and he didn't mean it that way.

He switched parties mid-way through his political career. When asked about it later in his life, he made it up:
"If you are young and not a liberal, you have no heart. If you are old and not a conservative, you have no brains."

[retrowire]

3. That's what I was thinking of thanks. Nt

[PoliticAverse]

10. Not from Churchill, see...

https://www.winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/quotes-falsely-attributed

History of the quote:
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/02/24/heart-head/

[Donkees]

2. ...

[Javaman]

4. the best quote I ever read was right here on DU...

As a kid I was conservative

in middle age I was a liberal

as an old man I'm a bomb throwing anarchist.

[babydollhead]

5. Thank you.

Love and compassion, acceptance, concern for people who suffer, remaining a steward of this one earth. No one can take that away. It's called being part of humanity. It feels much better to remain steadfast to the idea, that we are alive ever so briefly, to see what good can be done, and to hurt no one.

[Laf.La.Dem.]

6. "conservative when older"

I am now 75 - I am a long way from being a conservative (thank goodness)
Does that mean I am NOT "old"

[skip fox]

7. I'm seventy.

Still waiting.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. You'll Get There

My guess is 175! Good to see you around Skip. You and me are among the old timers here at DU!

[Buckeyeblue]

8. I'm 47

And very much to the left of my 18 year old self.

[GeorgeGist]

11. My brain didn't rot from disuse ...

still a progressive after all these years.

[oasis]

12. Liberals embrace "vision" while conservatives embrace "tunnel vision". nt

[DrDan]

13. Then again - perhaps it's just a lie

[katmondoo]

14. I am more liberal every year and I am 87

[Skittles]

15. I will never be a fucking conservative HYPOCRITE

fuck that noise

[MountCleaners]

16. My brother married a woman whose parents are stuck in the 1950's

While my own parents and grandparents were much more liberal. Anyway, because of the insufferable in-law, family get-togethers are a painful reminder of how unbecoming conservatism is on older people. Thank god it's not true across the board.

[MindPilot]

17. I hear ya. I'm way more liberal / progressive than when I was young.

And I was already pretty radical in my youth.

But more recently I've pretty much given up on the notion that things will continue to improve. I recycle, conserve water, drive a hybrid, etc, but I harbor no illusion that anything I do is going affect anything one way or another...and that includes voting.

I still do all that stuff because of habit, and when things do go completely to hell , at least I can say "it wasn't me..."

[treestar]

18. right wing relative put it

You become conservative when you have something to conserve.

Which shows how they are only about how it affects them, really.

[Aristus]

19. I get more liberal the older I grow. I'm 48 now, and practically a socialist.

My DU friends will no doubt remember my long-time axiom: "Liberal till I DIE!"

[Different Drummer]

20. 55 here, and *much more* liberal than I ever was in my teens and twenties. n/t

[WinkyDink]

21. No, I'm not familiar.

[TheBlackAdder]

22. I'm not sure that's it. When older, many resign themselves to their life choices and stop changing.

.


They acquire whatever assets they have and then, since the looming prospect of retirement and physical impairment approaches, they worry about hoarding whatever they can, forsaking the community and placing ones own self as the priority.


It should be noted, that the whole point of life is to experience new things, learn, adapt and evolve. When people stop doing that, they are essentially in the process of stagnation, much like an animal placed out to pasture. However, this is a self-imposed state as I know many people with impairments and difficulties rising above them and plowing forward, contributing to the society around them. I'm in my mid-fifties and still taking college courses. When you are retired, most universities will let people sit in on classes for free, contribute to them, but not have to take tests. It's really nice, because they bring perspectives to the classroom that many don't have.

Adding a further comment, I was taking a class, last Spring, comparing Liberals and Conservatives. A married octogenarian couple, both lawyers, were attending the classes and they offered historical and perspectives that were just fascinating. They attend courses each semester, and I would see them in my travels throughout campus.

.

[trof]

23. When I was young I was clueless and apathetic.

"Who cares (about politics)?"

In my 20s I wasn't quite as clueless, but still apathetic.
"I don't care (about politics)."

At 30 I became a parent and decided I needed to step up and be a citizen.
I registered to vote.
My first presidential vote was for George McGovern because in my gut I knew Nixon was a crook.

Although I had never voted for a Republican for president, I considered myself to be an 'independent'...until 2000.
Then I saw the slow motion, truly horrifying train wreck which that sElection became.

And that's when I became a Yella Dawg Democrat.