I've found the more I learn, the more liberal I become on just about everything, so I don't really understand why most people become conservative with age. Would any conservative care to explain why they have become more conservative with age? Just curious.
In any system, there are always aberrations, Phil.
Perhaps because they are realists and have accumulated some hard earned assets they would like to keep. It is easier to want to share the wealth when you are on the receiving end of the bargain.
I believe when we are young, we think we can change the world. Later on in life, we just learn how to play the game to our advantage which just happens to be the goal of both sides if you really think about it.
I tend to agree with this. In our youth we are idealistic and empowered with a very naive, but very daring, "Yes we can" spirit. After much experience our ideals are somewhat muted by real world influences and hopefully a growth in our understanding of how society, as a whole, works and how we work as individuals. It is in this light that many aspects of our former viewpoints develop a more conservative edge because we have learned from our often painful mistakes.
Like others have said, I am fairly liberal on some topics, and am still a card-carrying Liberal party of Canada member, however, due to my disenchantment with the Liberals I have voted for the "Son of Satan", Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative party, two times in a row. Overall his policies are far better, in my opinion, that that of the Liberal's who are still lost in the wilderness.
SO, Social programs Liberal, Fiscal conservative and
arch-conservative on defense. If the truth be told, I'm a hawk on defense.