Some comments in a diary prompted my to wonder what kinds of changes in our personal ideologies we've seen as we've aged. Have we changed, and if so how much and in what ways. I think that the classic tale is of the liberal who becomes more conservative as they gain wealth and stability, joining the establishment. I have a hunch that though that may be the norm, the details may be surprising, especially after having found so many hard core lefties over age 70 while canvassing last year. First, I'd like to share what I've observed about myself.
I was raised in the '60s and '70s to be a moderate liberal by my liberal Democrat Mom and culturally liberal but economic & defense conservative Republican Dad. I started out between the two, going anarchist punk in my late teens, then turning briefly rand-head Libertarian before turning left and flirting with revolutionary Marxism all before age 21. Since then, I've really been a pretty vanilla liberal to varying degrees, but there have been trends.
I find that as I have aged, paying close attention to economics, I am moving back toward what may be called a "market socialism" view of economics after becoming enthralled with a more typical "regulated capitalism" attitude from graduation through the mid '90s. I have drifted leftward and become much more passionate about social injustice.
I am much more concerned with fighting crime and maintaining order than I was when I was young. I want far more police on the street. I tend to view police as helpers rather than oppressors. I favor longer sentences for violent crimes fewer 2nd chnaces. I know the prisons are crowded, but we could make a lot of room be freeing drug users to seek treatment instead of punishment. I am not interested in spending political capital to protect pornography, though it doesn't bother me personally. Altough I am pro-choice, I no longer consider it a defining issue. I have moved slightly right on cultural issues, but generally become less interested.
On foreign policy I have always been out of step with the Democrats and the Republicans. I have only been ambivalent about two US foreign military actions in my life: Afghanistan and Haiti (1994). I have vocally opposed all others. I am basically a peacenik just short of a pacifist and that has not changed one iota. The only thing that has changed is that my nation's foreign policy has beceom more overtly evil in recent years, making me seem further left relative to my govenrment (and until very recently, my fellow citizens).
Basically, I havent changed much, but I've become more passionate about socio-economic issue and more detached form cultural issues (partly becuase it's the area where I believe general long-term trends trump political action).
So what's your story? Have you had a conversion? Have you had a general strengthening of your views? Or is the story more complicated?
Tell your story, as the poll is quite inadequate. But please give the closest answer in the poll, too.