My Cement Theory. (Rush Limbaugh, drugs, healthcare, racist)

[Delahanty]

Twenty years?

Give me four years to teach the children, and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.

--Lenin

[JGMotorsport64]

I was a full blown Glenn Beck book buying, Fox News watching conservative until I moved away for college in a new town. I became more and more liberal rapidly especially on social issues. I'd wager my views being far left Socially and center economically (not opposed to pragmatic tax and spend when necessary like transportation and education).

I moved back home to go to Business school and then followed that up with law school. My beliefs are pretty firm. After co founding a small partnership of legal and business consultants who do political work during my states local elections I became more and more against my states politics than anything. I'm not big on paying taxes, but when the right project comes along I vote yes happily. I campaigned vigorously for a losing Democratic governor recently to a candidate who outspent us 2-1 with primarily out of state donors. That candidate was the only candidate in our entire race from primaries to general that refused to disclose his donors. But that didn't matter to our Republican Party line voters.

In short, the system is rigged. It is a crazy thing when you see how easy it can be to buy elections, and people vote party lines like sheep without a second thought. Candidates in AZ have no issue running on culture war or anti Obama campaigns without substance and people vote hand over foot regardless of what happens next.

[wildflower82]

Originally Posted by brownbagg

there really two types of liberal so you have to be very careful

1) a democrat who want to help others

2) those that will vote for whoever you tell them to, as long as you give them something for free ( they have no interest in politics just free stuff)

This is very true......I myself was more on the Democrat side in my 20's was not political and didn't vote. As the party moved more to your latter statement, I went Republican. I registered as one at the age of 35 and haven't missed voting. I worked for a lady who owns a cowboy ranch, she campaigned for Ronald Reagan in her younger years. She got the chance to ask him a few questions, one was; "If we could have a third party should we?" his answer, "why leave the party and not stay to vote in change, be the change." This is the reason I haven't left the Republican party, time to make a change and vote out those who are siding with the Democrats.


Plus, Dems today are connected to gun control of the wrong people, raising taxes and doing away with small business owners.

[Chango]

Originally Posted by LearnMe

Having been in many forums like this one and many discussions with people in general, ever since high school, I have come to develop a theory that people "cement" their opinions and beliefs about politics, religion and such while they are in their 20s. After that, no matter the facts or truth, people for the most part do not change their minds about those fundamental beliefs. A result of what I call my "Cement Theory" that so far has proven quite sound all considered for a long time now, again by way of these threads. Which begs the question, why do we debate? Who has changed their mind? Why bother? Is time spent pounding sand not time better spent?

The older you get, the more invested in the system you become.

A young adult probably doesn't own property or has otherwise built up any wealth so they are more willing to embrace radical and/or new ideas with big promises and high risks. As the system appears precipitously slanted out of your favor from your perspective on the bottom and you don't have anything to loose anyway, looking for new and/or easier options to get what you want is a very appealing strategy.

By the time you get into your 40's however, the same ideas represent an unacceptable risk to your accrued pile of junk and place on the garbage heap, leading you to "lean conservative" with the desire/motivation of hanging onto what you've got.

[brownbagg]

somebody talk about the death sentance, I have no problem killing an inmate, i feel those that got the sentance have no problem killing, why should i. he made the choice, not me. I dont know if that liberal or conservative, its cant do the time, dont do the crime

I know thats getting away from the topic, for that i apologize

[LearnMe]

Originally Posted by RCCCB

If you are young and not liberal you have no heart, if you become 30 and are not conservative you have no head. There is maturity with age for some people.

Must be heady to write off so many people who think differently, would most certainly disagree. I for one feel strongly that not being conservative about many things comes with mental maturity, not necessarily age. Clearly there are too many old people for whom age has not brought wisdom other than as they may perceive themselves. Comments like the above prove this out, though there is no telling the age of who wrote it...

[LearnMe]

Originally Posted by greywar

The factual data that I provided seems to indicate its more about who is president when you are 18.

I appreciate this information, because although I have long been promoting the soundness of my Cement Theory based on personal observation, I have never really looked into hard data or research that might further support my claim. This from your link is interesting...

"When voters enter the electorate, still in their adolescence, their attachment to the political parties isn’t especially developed. They are less likely to think of themselves as strong Democrats or Republicans, and also less likely to see the world through that prism. That means that the political conditions at the time are especially important to the youngest voters. If the president in power is presiding over good times, young voters swing toward that party. As with presidential approval, good times are usually defined in terms of bread and peace: How is the economy? And if a war is being fought, how is it going? If those yardsticks suggest times are bad, a president is likely to be perceived as unsuccessful and to cost his party support. But what’s more unexpected is that voters stay with the party they identify with at age 18, developing an attachment that is likely to persist — and to shape how they see politics down the road."

I have come to believe that our political leaning is more a function of who is most likely to influence us at a young age; our parents, our church, whomever might bend our ear at a young age about religion and/or politics. I had not really thought about who is POTUS when we are young, or how economic conditions when we are 18 might matter, but no doubt all those influences combine to forge what we then cement as our core beliefs, not to be much altered later in life.

Starts as early as 18, I agree, but done by the time we are in our late 20s as a general rule it seems to me...

[greywar]

Originally Posted by brownbagg

somebody talk about the death sentance, I have no problem killing an inmate, i feel those that got the sentance have no problem killing, why should i. he made the choice, not me. I dont know if that liberal or conservative, its cant do the time, dont do the crime

I know thats getting away from the topic, for that i apologize

A lot of my liberal friends, and I as well agree 100%. The problem we have is that too many people have been found to be innocent.

[lilyflower3191981]

Originally Posted by LearnMe

Having been in many forums like this one and many discussions with people in general, ever since high school, I have come to develop a theory that people "cement" their opinions and beliefs about politics, religion and such while they are in their 20s. After that, no matter the facts or truth, people for the most part do not change their minds about those fundamental beliefs. A result of what I call my "Cement Theory" that so far has proven quite sound all considered for a long time now, again by way of these threads. Which begs the question, why do we debate? Who has changed their mind? Why bother? Is time spent pounding sand not time better spent?

I was a conservative when I was 18 years old. Now I am in my late 20s, I am still a conservative, this perhaps won't change any time soon.

My grandparents on my dad's side were liberals when they were in their 20s, they became those hardcore conservatives when they were in their 40s.

My grandparents on my mom's side were conservatives all their lives.

One of my older brothers wanted a career in politics, he went to Marine Corps, then graduated from UC Berkeley. He was a libertarian leaning Republican (kind of like Rand Paul) - He used to be very conservative.

My other older brother became somewhat conservative after graduating from law school. He used to be pretty liberal.

My sister in law was a hardcore feminist and a hardcore liberal. she is in her mid 40s and is still hardcore liberal. I love her, but I learned to keep my mouth shut when it comes to politics. She is incredibly aggressive.

I think there are a lot of factors shape political attitude. Generally speaking, I think the more politically active your family, the more likely you are to hold the same beliefs. This is certainly true for my family. . As people grow older, other influences crisscross the family, and naturally their attitudes tend to diverge from those of their parents. The funny thing is that my political views are much more conservative compare to my parents or even my grandparents. Negative experiences from college helped shaping my political views.

[LearnMe]

"Or maybe your cement theory is somewhat valid...although think how easily cement can become cracked, shipped, or broken."

Most people have a real hard time breaking cement, but it is not impossible. I agree, just rare. Like I wrote before, there are always exceptions to every rule, but they are exceptions...

PS: is it "easy" to crack, ship or break cement? Having just done a bit in my back yard, I found the cracking of cement to be no easy task whatsoever...