Older and wiser: the two go together. Right? If you don’t think so, tell us why.
I know people, my age-group peers, who went to college in their late teens and never grew out of it. They’re in their 70s and still babbling about a socialist utopia full of transgendered philosophers, etc., etc.
But what I don’t know, and have never known, is conservatives who, sometime around turning 40 years old, convert to Far Left liberalism. (I use the labels in the broadest and most popular sense.) It just never seems to happen.
I’ll bet there are a lot of ex-liberals/former Democrats who read this blog. I’d be very interested to know your stories. What changed your minds? Or did your minds stay the same while your political party skipped off the deep end?
(I’m already missing that lost hour, per Daylight Savings Time. Messing around with the clocks is one of those things government does best.)
It used to work that way, but I don’t see it happening these days. Now there are people in their 60 and older, out dancing in the streets and singing silly songs that would even embarass 6 year olds- at least from our days.
I’ve noticed that, myself. Dignity seems to be a foreign concept to many of these people. My father’s eldest brother, the oldest living male on that side of the family, wasn’t perfect, but he wore the mantle of his position in the family with grace and dignity. If I spoke to him, I knew that he would answer my questions from a position of seriousness and wisdom. I couldn’t imagine him dancing in the streets, or singing some stupid protest chant. Give me a break!
I would not go so far as to claim that I have the ultimate answer to what underlies the difference between conservative and liberal worldviews. I’m not certain that liberal and conservative are even the best terms to use. Let me relate my journey.
My mom was a child of the Depression and, while she had a strong work ethic, she was quite comfortable with being in receipt of government handouts and she never encouraged me to prepare for a career, because she didn’t have any confidence in the economic system. The highest career goal she ever suggested to me was to become a mail carrier.
Working mostly semi skilled jobs, making money from music and some freelance contracting, I ended up somewhat beaten up by my mid 20s. I got a job with a great company which was led by a man of great integrity. He would speak to the staff and explain just what he was doing, how it would impact our customers and what his long range strategies were. This planted the seeds of understanding the cause and effect relationship between actions and results, and taught me that planning is essential.
The next milestone was a Saturday Night Live skit, where Ron Reagan did a parody of his father, but the skit explained the Laffer Curve and how tax cuts can actually increase tax revenues, while encouraging economic growth. The skit was designed to ridicule Ronald Reagan, but it had the opposite effect on me. About the same time, I watched Reagan address the nation and listened to his explanation of his policies with a truly open mind. It made sense, and I began to see things much differently.
Over time, I began to question many assumptions I had held since childhood and realized that I could do much better. Unfortunately, many of my milieu remained in a more defeatist mindset and the commonality of worldview we had once shared no longer existed. I seized upon opportunities and became more productive. I went back to school and pursued technical education which has served me well, in aviation, IT and other technical disciplines.
There’s a spiritual aspect which goes hand in hand with this. Many in my family hold a strong belief in Christ’s return and the restitution of all things. I share this, but differ from many family members in how I apply this belief. Knowledge of Christ’s return doesn’t cause me to back away from life in this fallen world, but instead makes me want to work harder and to try harder. I want to ‘do [my] work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men’. This is a life lesson I didn’t get from an early age, but once I realized this, my life became much better.
It is my string belief that the Opposer, God’s great enemy, seeks to lead mankind into giving up, and accepting failure as their fate. This is a playground for the Left, who want to keep common people in a state of dependency. I see this all around me, and I see many people who fall for it, including a generation of youth who have been, literally, schooled to accept failure as their fate.
At the root of it all, I conclude that the scriptural admonition to “work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men” (Col 3:23) carries great weight. When I recognize that everything I do should acknowledge God’s preeminence, this will affect my ethical and moral choices, and lead to a more orderly way of living. I don’t believe that any political party or school of thought will solve all of mankind’s woes, but by doing my best in life, by keeping my life in the best order possible, I might be able to make things slightly better in this world, and contribute to the betterment of society in some minuscule manner.
IMO, this ia a better plan than bemoaning the ills and injustices of the world and embracing the fate of perpetual victimhood with hopes of becoming a ward of the state.
Oh, they don’t just piss and moan. Hand over EVERYTHING to the all-powerful state, and the state will take care of you. We have their word for it.
They have failed to learn from the past.
They don’t learn much from the present, either. The “education” birds come home to roost.
Daylight Savings Time. No such thing here in the Philippines. Elder Mike