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Comment by mech422 | Hacker News Reader

I can't respond to AntiImperialis2 directly anymore, so I'll leave this here...

I don't think that because Boomers and (a lot of ?)GenX tended to grow more conservative as they got older proves it's 'the natural order'.. Millennials are approaching 40 now and the liberal ones I know are still very liberal..

I'd argue that Truman getting elected in 1948 meant that there were a lot 'progressive' older folks back then. Especially since there was a more conservative "Dixiecrat" on the ballot as well.

So growing old and becoming conservative may not necessarily go hand in hand...

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Telling someone they will more conservative as they get older is a great in innoculation against that event occurring.

Perhaps...

I've also read it cyclic, with the pendulum swinging from very conservative to very liberal every couple of generations ?

People don't get more conservative as they get older, they get more conservative when they have more to lose. It just so happens that as people get older they tend to get houses, families, long-term careers, etc, which tilts them towards preserving the status quo in amber so as not to threaten what they have.

And if, hypothetically, a generation were to grow up and find themselves unable to afford a home of their own, unable to afford a family, and unable to land a career, they will find themselves with very little to lose and very little incentive to preserve the status quo, regardless of their age.

People get more conservative as they get older because they realize things cost money, how hard they have to work to earn it, and how bad the government is at spending it for them. I'd say modern day conservativism is more akin to individualism - don't let others spend money for you because you spend your money more wisely, and if you don't it's your fault. I think you'll find most young people don't even make the correlation that everything governments spend costs money and that money comes from their own pockets. They usually consider the government to have infinite money and have barely stopped being taken care of by their parents or still are. You even see cities like Detroit going bankrupt because, no, governments don't have infinite money. You do have to pick and choose what to spend it on and you can't get everything that just sounds nice.

This is not only incredibly patronizing, but also just false.

Let me put it this way. Young people see their elders espouse these views. They associate conservative ideas with being patronizing. This actively pushes them away from conservative ideology. This occurs whether or not the views themselves are correct. Change people's minds by being less patronizing not more.

Modern conservatives loves to spend taxpayer money right up until they are out of office. Not a peep about the budget deficits the past 4 years, but now suddenly it matters again.

Wrong. As they get older the Overton window shifts beneath them.

The “people get more conservative as they get older” idea is somewhat of a myth. My family and family friends who were free love hippies in the 1960s and 1970s are Trump haters on Facebook today.

To give some more solid data than people in my circle of friends: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_United_States_presidentia... This is the demographics for the 1984 election, the one where Reagan wiped Mondale out. Among 18-24 year voters, 39% voted for Mondale (liberal/D); 61% voted for Reagan (conservative/R).

Now, let’s fast forward to 2004, which is the first election where young people were more liberal than older generations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_United_States_presidentia... Here, among 19-29 year old voters, it was 54% Kerry (D), 45% Bush (R). It was also the last election where a Republican won the national popular vote.

This year, with 18-24 year old voters, it was 65% Biden, 31% Trump: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_presidentia...

Point being, our youth and our society are a good deal more liberal than they were 15 or 25 years ago.

All that shows to me is youth is liberal, which no one was denying? I'd be happy for enough for the general population to be more liberal leaning, but I can't say I'm seeing evidence of it outside of urban areas ?

The youth in the 1984 Reagan-Mondale election was not liberal (nor were they liberal in 1988, nor that much liberal than voters in general in 1992, etc.), so youth being liberal is not a function of one’s age as much as it’s a function of the generation one has been born in to.

first you talk about "our youth and our society are a good deal more liberal than they were 15 or 25 years ago.". Which you show as having gone from 54% D to 65% D ?? Which I would guess is fairly liberal. Then you go back roughly 40 years to say "The youth in the 1984 Reagan-Mondale election was not liberal".

And the generational thing is what I brought up originally. Boomers and some GenX don't necessarily 'point the way' that every generation will age.

I think the primary factor is that the society itself becomes more progressive, so definitions of "progressive/conservative" change. Sixty years ago, segregated schools were supported by mainstream conservatives, and same-sex marriage would have been considered a radical leftist agenda. An "ordinary" young person from 1960s, growing old without changing their opinions, would seem hopelessly out of touch today.

I would have assumed that as well, but it seems a lot of 'social norms' I thought had changed, really haven't..from racism, to sexism, to hate crimes..It really seems we've evolved very little from 100 years ago.

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