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"Anyone who is not a liberal while young has no heart and anyone who is not a conservative when older has no brain"
I disagree with the right-wing misconception of the quote, thinking you become conservative with age and wisdom.
In reality, younger people change the world as they see fit, as you get older, it breaks your heart to see the next generations change the world as they see fit, making you feel like you have no place in it anymore. This causes you to want to preserve some of the ways in which you made the world.
This is what it means, not the silly idea right-wingers have of the quote.
Its a cute and clever statement by a great political mind but it is just a catch phrase. First of all, in the time of Churchill liberal and conservative ideals were much simpler to define.... and he was talking more to the British political system. Americans have bastardized the definitions of "liberal" and "conservative"... it is much more complex than a catch phrase.
That statement says more about charity versus pragmatism. I just think the world is much more complex than putting those two words against each other. We can have charitable conservatives and pragmatic liberals... we can also have selfish liberals and reckless conservatives.
It has been scientifically proven that as one gets older, that person becomes more conservative.
Case in point, for example, is myself. When I was in high school (10 years ago at the tender age of 14) I considered myself a Liberal Democrat.
When I went through bootcamp for the Navy and experienced life in the military and the conservative mindset therein, my view points began to change. Not only because of that but because I grew older as well.
I went from considering myself a Liberal Democrat to considering myself an Independent/Moderate (Centrist, for easier terms). I still agree with most of what the liberals and Democrats say, but I realize that there has to be a balance so I understand why people choose to be conservative and Republican.
I don't agree with a lot of what the Right wing has to say, but I respect the balance that has to maintained here.
Getting back to the original point, as one gets older they do become more conservative. That's not a terrible thing either, it's just a fact of life. Cheers.
Normal people do become more conservative with age and wisdom. Pragmatism is conservative trait, and not something that is associated with liberals. Liberals are idealists, the antonym of a pragmatist. Liberals begin their sentences with "I feel...", whereas conservatives begin their sentences with "I think..." Liberals are entirely emotion driven, devoid of any logic or reason. Conservatives are logic and reason driven.
Liberalism is a mental disease where only the very young and immature can indulge.
Normal people do become more conservative with age and wisdom.
That's because what is considered liberal today will be the conservative view tomorrow. The problem though is that conservatives today are stuck in a conservative view who's expiration date is long past due.
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Pragmatism is conservative trait, and not something that is associated with liberals. Liberals are idealists, the antonym of a pragmatist. Liberals begin their sentences with "I feel...", whereas conservatives begin their sentences with "I think..." Liberals are entirely emotion driven, devoid of any logic or reason.
Hehehe. NO, liberals start with "I think" conservatives start with "Gawd (or The Babble) told me".
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Conservatives are logic and reason driven.
ROFL! Ehh no. Especially considering just about all fundie Christians, evangelicals and young earth creationists are conservatives. ZERO reason or logic to be found in any of those.
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Liberalism is a mental disease where only the very young and immature can indulge.
Getting back to the original point, as one gets older they do become more conservative. That's not a terrible thing either, it's just a fact of life. Cheers.
Depends on what you mean by conservative. It is NOT the brain cell deficient "conservative" of the right wing, GOP, evangelicals etc.
I realize that is what your "feelings" tell you, but reason dictates that the liberal policies of today will become tomorrows failures, as the fall of socialist Europe demonstrates.
Artists are not all liberal, nor do liberals have a monopoly on creativity. Liberal scientists, on the otherhand, when they get a result that does not "feel" right, they willing commit fraud and alter the data to suit their liberal agenda. Science be damned.
Conservatives do not "think with fear," which is an oxymoron, and makes absolutely no sense. As you said, "fear" is an emotion, therefore it is in the realm of the liberal mentality. As in "the GOP want to take away your MediCare," or "the GOP want to starve your grandmother and throw her into the street." That is classic liberal fear-mongering.
I always laugh when people say the "fall of socialist Europe" yeah because Capitalist America's economy is wonderful with a plethora of jobs!
Most artists are liberal...ever wonder why conservatives claim Hollywood is liberal?
I posted the following in another thread a while back but it applies here as well...
he essence of liberalism is empathy and imagination. They construct a world that does not exist and take steps to bring it into existence. This is highly sophisticated ideation confined only — so far as we know — to humans.
The essence of conservatism is to attempt either to impede liberals in their efforts to change the future, or actually return to some (always absurdly misunderstood) past state. The intelligence required to say, “Let’s all go back to 1955″ is less than the intelligence required to say “Let’s envision a world that does not now exist, but could, and let’s make that happen.”
The core of conservatism can be seen in an ant colony: let’s make the same ant heap again and again and again . . .
There’s a reason why “creatives” are overwhelmingly liberal. Creatives — artists, directors, designers, writers — spend their days creating not re-creating, inventing not pining for the good old days. That takes more horsepower. Sorry, conservative engineers and number crunchers, it does.
The conservative mind is more likely to require a supervising father figure: God. The liberal mind is more likely to be self-sufficient, probably because what the liberal mind is doing is not an attempt at faithful maintenance of the status quo but a revolutionary reassessment. A creative doesn’t need a god because he thinks he is one.
Liberals create the world that conservatives then defend. There are going to be IQ differences between creators and defenders.
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Originally Posted by nightflight
Like the Loughner shooting? Where Sarah Palin and all conservatives were somehow blamed even though there was zero evidence for that blame?
Really?
I meant why a majority of scientists are liberal....
For scientists in general, these are the numbers:
Rep = 6%
Dem = 55%
Ind = 32%
When leaners were told to choose:
Dem = 81%
Rep = 12%
For those in private industry:
Rep = 10%
Dem = 47%
Ind = 37%
It has been scientifically proven that as one gets older, that person becomes more conservative.
Case in point, for example, is myself. When I was in high school (10 years ago at the tender age of 14) I considered myself a Liberal Democrat.
When I went through bootcamp for the Navy and experienced life in the military and the conservative mindset therein, my view points began to change. Not only because of that but because I grew older as well.
I went from considering myself a Liberal Democrat to considering myself an Independent/Moderate (Centrist, for easier terms). I still agree with most of what the liberals and Democrats say, but I realize that there has to be a balance so I understand why people choose to be conservative and Republican.
I don't agree with a lot of what the Right wing has to say, but I respect the balance that has to maintained here.
Getting back to the original point, as one gets older they do become more conservative. That's not a terrible thing either, it's just a fact of life. Cheers.
well yes, I am liberal but not socialist. I understand the economic policies of the right but I still consider myself liberal and I pay taxes and have a part time job and go to college...I'm not going to turn 40 and suddenly hate gays and blacks and other minorities and turn to god...people do get more fiscally conservative but I really doubt more socially.
Depends on what you mean by conservative. It is NOT the brain cell deficient "conservative" of the right wing, GOP, evangelicals etc.
Right. Apologies for not being more specific.
What I mean by that is one's viewpoints tends to be closer to what they believed in when growing up (as in what was considered liberal in their time). When they become the older generation, what they had held to be liberal now becomes conservative and new ground is being broken.
That's where the whole "back in my day" thing comes from.
It just means that a person holds onto their beliefs they had about certain things despite the changes that may come.
Normal people do become more conservative with age and wisdom. Pragmatism is conservative trait, and not something that is associated with liberals. Liberals are idealists, the antonym of a pragmatist. Liberals begin their sentences with "I feel...", whereas conservatives begin their sentences with "I think..." Liberals are entirely emotion driven, devoid of any logic or reason. Conservatives are logic and reason driven.
Liberalism is a mental disease where only the very young and immature can indulge.
Your post sounds like it came from someone who lives in a small town in the middle of nowhere that likes to elect mayors who like to shoot wolves from a helicopter.
I meant why a majority of scientists are liberal....
For scientists in general, these are the numbers:
Rep = 6%
Dem = 55%
Ind = 32%
When leaners were told to choose:
Dem = 81%
Rep = 12%
For those in private industry:
Rep = 10%
Dem = 47%
Ind = 37%
So what shall be done with all those dumb conservatives? Perhaps an I.Q. test for voting?
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