Why aren't you more conservative?
We all know a version of the aphorism that young people are liberal, but become more conservative as they age. It’s generally true*.
It’s been true for me. For most of my adult life I’ve considered myself a leftist/Democrat/progressive. That began to change in 2016.
But many people I know haven’t gotten any more conservative as they’ve entered middle age, at least going by what they say about themselves. They say, “I didn’t leave the left; the left left me.” They mean that the left has gone nuts over trans, or over other social issues, usually.
And they are right. The left has gone nuts. But there’s something I can’t explain. When I noticed that the left went nuts over social issues, I didn’t stop my reexamination at those issues as if there was nothing else in leftism to consider. Instead, long-held leftist ideas (I held them too) about the welfare state, the importance of the nuclear family, green energy, and many others, appeared to me to be based on shaky foundations.
Even upon no foundations at all. No, more than that—sometimes in direct contradiction to reality.
But many people I know don’t see this, and I don’t understand why. I question how you can be, say, 55 years old and awake enough to the world to say “the left abandoned me” without some of the questions I’m asking occurring to you, too.
Is this another example of how left-leaning people tend to emotionally mature more slowly, and much later than others? That’s no snotty judgment—I am one of those people I’m talking about, too.
Here are some of my former beliefs compared to my current positions. Though I believe my current positions are closer to correct than my old ones, these beliefs are provisional. If evidence shows me I’m wrong, I’m able and willing to accept that and say so in public.
Old Belief: America hates single mothers and poor people. We can afford much more generous welfare payments, but we don’t give them because we don’t care about people who can’t make it otherwise.
New Belief: America’s welfare system of giveaways is a trap, and a direct incentive to have children out of wedlock, to fail to achieve consistent and livable employment, and is a means to keeping women and black people especially voting for Democrats. It’s a policy of encouraging failure and helplessness.
Old Belief: Abortion is a fundamental right of every woman, no questions asked, no exceptions.
New Belief: There is a substantive moral difference between aborting a fetus in the early days of pregnancy, and aborting what is actually a baby that’s nearly full-term. To pretend that this is not a substantive moral difference is, itself, moral insanity.
Old Belief: Women in the West live in a patriarchy. Men control our entire economy and politics. Women are consciously and deliberately paid less for exactly the same job performed at exactly the same level because we hate women.
New Belief: [Actually, this isn’t a ‘belief’, it’s a fact] There is no “gender wage gap” if by that you mean that sexism is making companies pay women less money than a man who does the same job, with the same qualifications, for the same number of hours. That’s not real. It’s not true.
Those are just a few.
Do you have some of yours?
Or, are you one of those people whose views have not changed at all, and who would say, “the left abandoned me but I haven’t changed”?
*Remember my policy: “You have to supply your own not-alls.” Supply your own caveats.
Oh wow, so many. And I know what you mean. The left's insanity on trans stuff caused me to re-examine everything, too, and quite a lot of it just didn't hold up.
Old Belief: our for-profit health system keeps people slaves to employers and stifles entrepreneurship, and besides, healthcare is a human right! We should have single payer.
New Belief: single payer healthcare would be a greased skid to a totalitarian hell of the Wokies controlling who's allowed to have therapy, what the therapist is allowed to talk to them about; prioritizing scarce resources by the oppression hierarchy of white people and men last. (Vaccine administration was in fact done this way in some areas, making my fear proven to be quite reasonable.)
Old Belief: victims of abuse and assault should be believed by default; even if there's not enough evidence to convict, being believed is helpful to healing.
New Belief: same as above, only adding a few words--victims of abuse and assault should be believed by default BY THEIR CLOSE FAMILY, FRIENDS, THERAPISTS, AND CLERGY; even if there's not enough evidence to convict, being believed is helpful to healing. Everyone not in their inner circle is free to make up their own minds based on their own assessments of the person's story, demeanor, and character.
Old Belief: the mental health profession is vastly underutilized; many more people should be seeking therapy.
New Belief: there are maybe five sane therapists on earth and I should probably sacrifice a goat to Zeus that I found one of them; most people should avoid the mental health profession like the plague.
Old Belief: religion is the opiate of the masses and raising kids with religion is perhaps not abusive but probably not a great idea.
New Belief: yes, religion is the opiate of the masses. And now that we've seen what the masses get up to without their opiates, how fast can we re-instate this as a social norm?
So many more but I'll leave it there, ha ha.....
This is an interesting test of your own development over time. I will give it a try:
Old belief: religion is bad and poisons the mind. People need to divorce themselves from church and become atheist.
New belief: people need community and a believe in some higher purpose. While this is not for me, I understand that people in general are better off with a reasonable portion of a believe in god and goodness.
Old belief: diversity is absolutely important to increase team performance.
New belief: diversity of thinking style and thoughts is important, skin color matters little.
Old belief: For men it is easier to have a career and get promoted. Women are judged by their looks and not their competency.
New belief: After 1995 women slowly have gotten the same opportunities. Sexist discrimination is no longer the most important reason why women are held back. Often it is difference in priorities. Successful women in the late 90s and early 2000s typically we’re really good. The affirmative actions have led to more women making it that are not as impressive and the same promotional games are being played among women as they were among men before. Nowadays I believe class is more of an indicator of who is making it than any other attribute. It is very hard to find executives who come from trailer parks. Most poor people do not know how to play the games and do not have the correct etiquette or get very easily tired from playing them. They usually get left behind in career advancement.
Old belief: rich people purposefully hold poor people back.
New belief: Issue one: the social security system breeds its own customers. It is too easy for people to work the welfare system instead of working. The monetary incentive of taking a low paying job vs a welfare check is not really there. Issue two: poor people do not easily allow their peers to advance. In Highschool it is mockery of the “nerds”. In families it is the mockery “you just want to be better than us”. Overall it is the lack of societal etiquette and networking behavior.
I have many more. But it is family movie time here. And I like spending time with my kids and my soon to be husband,
Love your thoughts.