I suppose it will not come as a surprise to many here that I am often sort of "backward".

[Atticus]

You may have heard the "conventional wisdom" that young people are usually more liberal and this is due to their inexperience and, well---ignorance. As they grow older and wiser, so the old chestnut goes, folks just naturally become conservatives and understand how things "ought" to be. Well, I am doing things "bassackwards".

With a dad who was a union member and Democratic precinct committeeman and a mother who was a federal civil service employee who cried when Adlai Stevenson lost, I was never a "conservative". But, for a few years in my early twenties, I was what would now be termed a "moderate". I had an entry level management position with a large corporation, had just married and was trying very hard to be a grownup. Grownups were serious, didn't smoke pot or have long hair. "Successful" grownups "fit in"; they didn't make waves. I wanted to be successful.

But, I had been stamped a Democrat at birth and it turned out that the seeds of "liberalness" were sown into my soul. It took a few years, but I eventually decided I did not want to be "successful" if it was going to cost me my soul. I decided to be who--and what---I really was: a liberal Democrat who cared about people and saw nothing at all wrong or naive about the Golden Rule.

As the years have passed, I have become more liberal, not more conservative. I may look like a somewhat bedraggled senior citizen, but INSIDE I am a 19 year old in a tie-dyed tee, elephant bells and a roach clip hanging next to the pewter "Peace" symbol on a chain around my neck.

I am much more dangerous as a gray-maned liberal than I ever was in my youth. You see, I have already managed to make it through my "three score and ten" and no one can take that away from me. I just don't care what "powerful people" think of me and that means they cannot intimidate me. I am free to say what I think and do as I please without regard to who that pisses off.

"It matters not how strait the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul!"

[viva la]

1. You got wiser....

and better, like fine wine.

Speaking of wine, we should put some in a bong pipe and smoke a little MJ. (Back when MJ didn't mean Michael Jordan.

[abqtommy]

2. My experience has been similar to yours. When I was younger I flirted with the

Libertarian and reTHUG parties but by the age of 50 in 1999 I'd become a staunch
Democrat and remain one to this day.

[Chainfire]

3. By golly, we may have gone to the same school.

[NewHendoLib]

4. me too. from very liberal to even more very liberal. social and fiscal.

[Bev54]

5. I did almost the same thing

Worked in corporate banking, after 30 years, decided I had enough of the politics within the system. My son was grown and left so I quit my job, sold my house and went off to Thailand for a year, ended up staying for 4. Came back and worked for myself as a management consultant, then stopped that to move again to look after my grandchildren. Never ever went back to 9-5 office job.

[Ollie Garkie]

6. Meh.

That stuff about getting more con as you get older is total hokum.
I became liberal during the dubya years in my mid twenties and no particular life experience has nudged me to the contrary.

[empedocles]

7. I find myself leaning, not on policy, but on more pragmatism.

Rhetoric in primary season, can cost too much in November - where real policy makers are elected.

[Diamond_Dog]

8. I have definitely gotten more liberal the older I get.

Conservatives love to repeat that baloney about how “growing up” makes you more conservative. It’s just bullshit.

[empedocles]

10. I lean to Joe Biden

[Maeve]

9. I grew up in a Repub family

Went Libertarian in college; supported Ford, voted for Anderson, finally caught on in '84, wore a "vote for Hillary's husband" button, was furious in 2000, celebrated O'bama and his Irish connection and lost my faith when TFG wasn't laughed out of the race.

So I kinda get what you're saying

[MLAA]

11. Right on, Brother! peace.

[Lonestarblue]

12. You're not alone. I've become more liberal with age.

As just one example, I have changed my mind on drugs. I believe the war on drugs has failed miserably, just as Prohibition did, and we need to legalize drugs and stop treating their use as crimes. Crimes should only come into play if you commit a crime under the influence (just like DUI). All we all doing now is locking up mostly black people for drug use and enriching Mexican drug cartels. It’s time to stop treating drug use as a moral failing (religious beliefs once again determining policy and laws) and treating it instead as a health issue.

[MustLoveBeagles]

13. I was a moderate Democrat in my teens and early twenties

I got more liberal as I approached thirty and I haven't looked back.

[Evolve Dammit]

14. We are on the same trajectory. "Be sure you can take your conscience to work." I did and left a

Fortune 50 company to do social service. Sleeping very well, but the fight is on.

[niyad]

15. I have been a radical, a feminist, a bleeding heart my whole life, and just getting more so

the older (wayyyy older) I get. And I know many more like me.

[gab13by13]

16. Same here Atticus, same here.

My daddy told me when I was a little boy, Republicans are for the rich and Democrats are for the poor. I was a union official for 26 years and served on borough council for 2 terms in a red neck town in Pa.

I played bass guitar in a good band in the 60's. Had a 58 Ford with the stick on the column and Flower Power painted on the door. When my daughter got married she booked an excellent band for the reception and they let me play Ronnie be Good. My name is Ronnie not Johnnie.

I always believed that the Democratic party was for the people, for the little guy.

Funny story; I went to Penn State and took a Criminology class because it was a cake class. This was during Nam. Well half the class was long hairs and the other half was whiskey people who wanted to be cops. I just enjoyed the debates that went on and was amazed at how crazy eyed the whiskey people got. I would have gone to Nam, my draft number was 132, but I was in a bad car wreck, guess I was lucky.

You bring back memories Atticus, Peace Bro.

[NBachers]

17. My three score and twelve means that I've already got my biggest fuckups behind me, & I'm still here

If my legacy of big huge fuckups hasn't wrecked me, then I'm good to go whatever way I want. I choose to be, as always, a contributing Democrat.

[infullview]

18. I don't understand how people can changhe from a democrat to a republican.

I am now 65 and it has *never* crossed my mind to even consider it.

[Mr.Bill]

19. I'm 68 and I feel pretty much the same way.

The main change is I've become a bit more cynical.

[LakeArenal]

20. Always was liberal. Never called myself a Democrat.

However, there was never ever a Republican that I would want to vote for.
Not one. Eventually I had to call myself a Democrat cuz I just never swung the other way.

[panader0]

21. I never really grew up.

I just got old. 71 in a week or so. Lifelong Democrat from a family of lifelong Democrats. All gone now.
But my kids are Democrats.

[appalachiablue]

23. "I never really grew up, I just got old" I luv it,

that should be made into a song!

From a family of lifelong Dems., pre and post FDR, some in politics, some in next gens.

[panader0]

24. I'll try that. I play guitar every day----the main thing that keeps me sane.

I always feel like a kid until I look in the mirror. About '78....

[appalachiablue]

25. Play is wonderful & necessary, keep on

keepin on. For too many years I forgot to play, and did it kick me. I'm so grateful that I woke up.

[Aristus]

22. I'll be fifty-three in October. I get more liberal every year.

I haven’t said this in a while, so I will renew my DU battle cry:

“Liberal till I DIE, motherf*****s!”

[FrankTC]

26. Bewildered Moderate Republicans Say the Party Left Them

But for normal average Democrats it looks like crime worms ate their brains, the so-called brains of the so-called moderates as well as the brains of the idiot committed among them. Left-leaning Democrats are mostly frozen out of mainstream media, but thank goodness for DU, Bradcast, Stephanie Miller, The Professional Left, Digby, and a few others. Sanity still has a small square on the checkerboard. I was a hippie at UCSD, had a class taught by Herbert Marcuse with, if I remember correctly, Angela Davis as a teaching assistant. Concepts that eluded me then (c. 1966) make total sense to me now. Theodore Adorno and the Frankfurt School — more relevant than ever. The Authoritarian Personality — watch them go supernova at your local school district. It’s easy to be a “conservative,” just turn on Fox News and let them addle your brain. Harder to be a liberal or some variant on the left, heavier lifting required. Thanks for this thread. I love hearing stories about old silver-haired leftists with untamed manes, or baldies as the case may be, eyes still bright with hoped for the future . . . . Go there with me.

[electric_blue68]

27. Almost always liberal social & financial even more so ...

If progressive means more left than liberal, I guess I'm partly that, too.

I'm 68, born and bred NYC'r. My dad was sometimes more moderate, but often liberal. My mom was liberal, progressive through & through. One of the most amazing things about her was her realizing that she as a first gen Immigrant got treated so much better than Black people who had 100's of years of roots in this country. She was a real white ally, and pointed out me the racist comments of the Park mom's sitting with her. How many white folks were upset when Malcom X was assassinated (10 blocks from where we lived!) - she was.

One great they both allowed was letting me and my black friends visit each other's homes.

She also was a feminist in her own way. During the war she was Head Draft"man" for a company with about ?100 probably (nearly) all men. She gave final approval on their work. 👍

I started paying attention to politics around 12 yrs, very much by 14 yrs ('67). I listened to a radio talker who had JFK's and RFK's people on as guests.

Now in early Fall '68 - at least in NYC because the word "Liberal" had become so toxic people decided to call themselves at that point - progressives.

Anyway, before I could vote volunteered for
2 genuine Liberal Republicans Mayor John V Lindsey (re-election), Charles Goodell (yes, the dad) he became more liberal in certain areas than Jacob Javits.

When it came time to vote as an 18 yr old in the
very first year it passed... 🎉
I found out it had a closed primary. I wanted to be an Independent but heavily leanibg Democrat. Still, a minor disappointment, and I quickly registred as a Democratic

No change there!

I did in my ?40's begin to understand, and appreciate the positives of Democratic Socialism as well.
Back in the early+ '60's the generalistic Socialism = Communism was a deterrent in understanding our European, and Canadian friends.

So that's my social- political story. 👍🙂

Gotta get Chinese food. Corrections later.
.