Of the frequent commenters here, What is your education level?

PJ_Soul said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJ_Soul said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJ_Soul said:

mcgruff10 said:

PJ_Soul said:

I think it's true, but I'm curious to know what others think about what Brian said. That many tend to become more conservative as they age. I am particularly interested in this because it's not at all true for me personally. I am becoming more and more liberal as I age... So why do a lot of people become more conservative in their older years?? I have considered the possible reasons, but none of them really make sense to me at the end of the day, besides the ones related to much older people who start getting that whole fearful old person thing going on, and so are more susceptible to right wing fear mongering.

I honestly think kids make a lot more people conservative.  Not that I am a republican in any way but it happened to me and a lot of my high school and college friends (i'm 40 like you Allie).  A lot of our views on different topics went more to the right.
In  a way I think a lot of younger adults identify being liberal because they think they are going to save the world, turns out that is not the case lol.  
I don't know Allie, it's a tough call and hard to explain.

Geez, I don't think your second to last sentence warrants an lol tag. You just managed to say that younger people 1) care more, 2) are more motivated to make things better, and 3) liberals are the ones who have the ideas that will improve the world. We should all be doing everything we can to keep people's heads in that place, not make excuses for old duds who gave up and got more selfish.

I really don't think that's what he's saying. I think what he's saying, correct me if I'm wrong mcgruff, is that younger people have a very idealistic view of how they think the world should be that isn't always grounded in reality. as they get older, they realize this and also their priorities can change, especially if they have kids. 

I know what he was saying. What you just said is crap IMO (i mean that theory is crap). Calling idealistic view "not grounded in reality" pinpoints the main problem in the world. Idealistic views ARE grounded in reality. It's just that other people make better, higher ideals/ideas impossible with cynicism, greed, corruption, etc. It is basically saying that people with great ideas have to conform to a lot of shitty ideas just because the shitty ideas have become the status quo. So what is really going on is that SOME people simply get all cranky and cynical because the longer you live in a world run by assholes, the more likely you are to conform to their methods and the results of those methods. It's a terrible weakness in society IMO, and the reason nothing ever changes.

nope. not crap. and the rest of your post? from 0-100 in one sentence. and your quoting is a bit off. I said "isn't always grounded in reality".  

i'm neither cranky nor cynical. I'm more involved politically and socially than I've ever been in my life. i'm just more realistic about those goals and their possible outcome. 

I spend my time at a more grassroots level. raising good kids with good values, and helping other families in my community do the same. 

you wanna try to change greedy old bastards? knock yourself out. and good luck to you. 

OMG, dude, you are seriously in defensive mode right now. Stop taking everything so personally! I wasn't calling you any of those things! I was speaking generally. Sheesh!

PJ_Soul said:

I still can't get over how "idealist" is being used like some kind of insult or flaw or state of irrationality, lol. Holy crap, I sure wouldn't want to see a world without them - I can't even imagine what kind of hell that would be.

Go Beavers said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJ_Soul said:

I still can't get over how "idealist" is being used like some kind of insult or flaw or state of irrationality, lol. Holy crap, I sure wouldn't want to see a world without them - I can't even imagine what kind of hell that would be.

I didn't use it as an insult. I tend to think of myself as pretty idealistic actually, and have been "accused" of this a few times here over the years. I just think that the more you learn about reality, the less idealistic you become. just my opinion based on my interpretation of the term. 

For me, it’s been the more I learn, the more I’ve been able to see how my idealism fits into reality. Instead of just imagining it, you see how it can happen pragmatically.