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Comment by ggm | Hacker News Reader

If the historical drift right with age is true (I've never believed so, but it's a popular theory) they could return to influence. That's the main fear.

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Imo, it's clear that the 'historical drift' was an artifact of Western society in the past century. It's not an absolute rule or some fundamental property we've established about human beings.

Indeed, I also think it's partly an artifact of the sheer size of the baby boomer generation, which gives them outsized political power even as their cultural influence wanes.

I'm 66; when I was younger, I assumed (with some dread) that I'd drift right, and become more like my dad. The opposite happened; I have consistently moved leftwards, as centre-left politicians have consistently disappointed me.

I did become more like my dad; but mainly on personal matters, not on economic or social issues.

Perhaps a bit longer than that [1]

[1] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/02/24/heart-head/?amp=1

Good timing: https://www.ft.com/content/c361e372-769e-45cd-a063-f5c0a7767...

I linked this elsewhere in the thread, but given it’s an up to date survey on this very question I’ll post it here too.

Top line is, the drift to conservatism as we age no longer holds. The thread goes into more detail as it’s a bit nuanced.

But as one LNP strategist said dejectedly on national television during the LNP wipeout “you can make new conservatives if they have nothing to conserve”. If the status quo doesn’t serve the majority of voters why would they do anything but vote to change it.

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1608746369505976323?...

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