this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2024
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They thought they got more conservative as they got older, turns out they just got more conservative as they got richer.
I got older and richer, and I'm still just as socialist as I was then. Perhaps moreso, even.
I think the idea is that they have more wealth, and are terrified of losing that wealth. It comes down to greed and fear of change, rather than the actual amount of wealth itself.
Same here. I got older and richer and became even more left wing than I used to be.
But what is true, is that society is becoming more progressive faster than I am, so by the time I am 70, I'll probably be a relative relic.
I mean.. they were right.. i am more conservative as i got older. I now put more money in my 401k. I save more. I eat at home more.
However, i still think other races and sexual preferences are human, and billionaires dont need to exist. Social welfare is still a good thing and probably more important than ever.
I did buy a gun though. Target shooting is fun. But, we need a hell of alot more gun control than there is now. If anything, my experience buying a gun made me more scared due to how easy it was.
I don't think saving money and eating at home are conservative values.
Lots of liberals and progressives do those things, too.
Heck, poor minorities do that to an extreme.
Political conservatism is distinctly NOT about IRL conservatism.
What they conserve is the "social order". They want to preserve the social stratification, not forests.
As the saying goes, it's hard to be a capitalist without the capital.
Yes but there is more to it. Formally progressive ideas (like mixed race marriage) are no-brainers today while today's progressive ideas (like same sex marriage) were beyond the scope for the moderate left back than. So you can keep your opinions and still move to the right while the left adopts new ideas.
I mean, you say that, but...
I have seen alot but that comes as a shock to me
One thing I have definitely observed over the years.
It seems only the left comes up with new ideas and so, even when they don't have political power, they still move society forward.
And yes, there are backlash and temporary regressions, but overall, no free country seems to be moving towards old, conservative ideas.
For humanity, the only way seems forward. Towards the newer and better ideas.
Countries don't always stay free, though. Look at Hong Kong, Russia and Hungary.
Russia wasn't free for very long.
But it was. Yeah, it's more likely to happen to a country that's only been more-or-less free for about 15 years, but hardly impossible in older democracies.
Fair.