So, when am I supposed to "grow up and become a Republican"?

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

(as the popular saying goes), because I've heard all of this...

"Wait until you get a job"
"Wait until you get to college"
"Wait until you get out on your own"
"Wait until you get out of college"
"Wait until you get a REAL job"  
"Wait until you start your Navy career"  

all the while... THIS would be a quote from me in 2004 at the age of 16...

Affirmative action is wrong.  Schools and employers should take the best person for the job.  period.  Giving a minority a job over a white person based on skin color is just racism the other way around.

Of course, I am now a strong supporter of affirmative action.

Isn't that old postulate a bit of a misnomer?  Should we really be expecting people to drift off to the right as they get older?  Or are they just pining for the past and right-wing parties tend to represent this a bit more in their platform?  

[windjammer]

I don't know. In which issues do you side with the Republicans?

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

I don't know. In which issues do you side with the Republicans?

Not one. 

[windjammer]

I don't know. In which issues do you side with the Republicans?

Not one. 

So, in which issue do you side less against the Republicans?

[Goldwater]

Based on my experience on this forum. it's the other way around. Which makes me wonder when I'll become a Democrat.

[IceSpear]

I think when people say this they tend to apply it to people who are less strident about their political views. Chances are, someone who is enough of a political junkie to post for a decade on the Atlas Forum most likely won't be overhauling their views anytime soon.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

The most likely response would be when you have kids and have to take out a six-figure mortgage that you can barely afford so that you can move to some sheltered suburban hellhole to raise them.

Interesting, because as a future good parent I plan to raise them in NYC.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The most likely response would be when you have kids and have to take out a six-figure mortgage that you can barely afford so that you can move to some sheltered suburban hellhole to raise them.

Interesting, because as a future good parent I plan to raise them in NYC.

Well, anything has to be an improvement on New Jersey.

[DC Al Fine]

Really the only thing that I've seen make people go conservative is a few babies. So maybe you turn into a DLCer when you have kids?

The most likely response would be when you have kids and have to take out a six-figure mortgage that you can barely afford so that you can move to some sheltered suburban hellhole to raise them.

Interesting, because as a future good parent I plan to raise them in NYC.

Good luck with that. Seriously. It'll be a hard road.

[Randy Bobandy]

I used to be conservative.

Look where I am now.

[Antonio the Sixth]

(as the popular saying goes), because I've heard all of this...

"Wait until you get a job"
"Wait until you get to college"
"Wait until you get out on your own"
"Wait until you get out of college"
"Wait until you get a REAL job"  
"Wait until you start your Navy career"

Wait, in America you guys tend to get your first jobs before getting to College? This is pretty depressing.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

(as the popular saying goes), because I've heard all of this...

"Wait until you get a job"
"Wait until you get to college"
"Wait until you get out on your own"
"Wait until you get out of college"
"Wait until you get a REAL job"  
"Wait until you start your Navy career"

Wait, in America you guys tend to get your first jobs before getting to College? This is pretty depressing.

Generally a service industry job for some extra-spending money either after school or during summer break, but yeah, it's fairly common.

Back when I was in high school, the most common summer job was peach picking and packing.  The peach picking season was right after school let out for the summer.

[they don't love you like i love you]

I've been wondering the same. Also when I supposedly move to a suburb.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Really the only thing that I've seen make people go conservative is a few babies. So maybe you turn into a DLCer when you have kids?

The most likely response would be when you have kids and have to take out a six-figure mortgage that you can barely afford so that you can move to some sheltered suburban hellhole to raise them.

Interesting, because as a future good parent I plan to raise them in NYC.

Good luck with that. Seriously. It'll be a hard road.

As is any road with childrens.  But, even given economic hardships and the challenges of the city, all would certainly be easier on me than hearing the same classist, racist crap come from their mouths like living in the suburbs caused to spew forth from my own at one point.  

[bedstuy]

Really the only thing that I've seen make people go conservative is a few babies. So maybe you turn into a DLCer when you have kids?

The most likely response would be when you have kids and have to take out a six-figure mortgage that you can barely afford so that you can move to some sheltered suburban hellhole to raise them.

Interesting, because as a future good parent I plan to raise them in NYC.

Good luck with that. Seriously. It'll be a hard road.

As is any road with childrens.  But, even given economic hardships and the challenges of the city, all would certainly be easier on me than hearing the same classist, racist crap come from their mouths like living in the suburbs caused to spew forth from my own at one point. 

Upper East Side kids are less classist and racist than say, kids from Mount Vernon?  I feel like white kids from NYC are more spoiled and snobby than people from almost anywhere else in America.

[Cassius]

God I love suburbs (though I'm more of a countryside man myself, but whatever).

Anyway, I think it is true to say that people become more 'conservative', in terms of their outlook on life, as they grow older. Such is only natural. After all, supporting the extension of marriage to same-sex couples would have been considered a radical position in the 1990's, but in 20 or 30 years time, supporting that but opposing further redefinitions of marriage may well be considered a conservative position. People don't tend to change an awful lot, but the way the world interacts with them inevitably does.

Also, I think that conservatism should be separated from being right-wing, at least in this context. Whilst it is true that conservatism is usually associated with the right, I would argue that whilst 'the right' refers to a collection of political viewpoints, conservatism is more of a mindset. For instance, a right-wing position to take might be 'I think that taxes should be cut in order to stimulate economic growth and enable taxpayers to retain more of their money'. A conservative position might be 'I don't like these changes to the tax-code, I don't see any reason for change at the moment'. Whilst, obviously, the latter statement might well lead to the former, it doesn't have to. Of course, we shouldn't generalise; after all, there are conservative young people, and radical elderly people, just as their are radical right-wingers and conservative left-wingers.