Political Views as we get older

[Whickerman]

Do you feel your political views change significantly as you get older and 'wiser'? I guess I'm pretty liberal on most things, eg freedoms of belief and sexuality, free speech, freedom of movement etc, but I feel I'm far more right wing than I used to be on certain topics. Eg - I now feel that burglars should be jailed for years. What about you - do you think your views have become more entrenched on some subjects as you get older? would the 20 year old you recognise your personality these days?

[unrulyjulie]

i think we change obviously, older and wiser. I just remember thinking what the hell was politics about. how could anyone possibly be interested in that! ;-)
Now of course, it concerns seeing as im approacing 40!
I think about things i wouldn't have given two hoots about in my twenties.
I have to say, the stuff i believe in are pretty much as they were though, just way more imnportant now!

[Gromit]

Probably the opposite is true of me. I used to meet scrotes ansd idiots and say they should be behind bars. These days, I usually know the parents of the new generation of scrotes and idiots and spot that there is a pattern there (which needs breaking).

I am also of the opinion now that prisons should be the domain of people who are going to cause you physical harm. Violent people who should not be on the streets should be locked away, not burglars.

Burglars, shoplifters, drunk drivers, coucil tax non-payers, whilst very annoying should be put to services to benefit the community rather than incarcerated at her Majesty's pleasure at �1000 a week.

I think I am a lot calmer and more chilled that the gromit of twenty years ago.

[ELVIS68]

Good question Whickerman

I didn`t care too much about politics when I was 20

I can`t help feeling that most politicians are full of bullsh!t and drum up lots of rubbish just to win your vote when there`s an election coming up

In the past year or so all you heard about is the climate change etc...now there`s talk about an election and it goes back to immigration,crime,nhs,schools and how they would do this and that

Total bollox the lot of it

[jake-the-peg]

As we get older we are exposed to more things.

Surprisingly this doesn't necessarily make us wiser, because we don't always deal with all that extra information well.

I think there is a tendancey for people to become more right wing on some topics but, no offence intended, I think that's sometimes because they feel more insecure.

I tend to associate right wing thought with fear and the need to strike back at perceived threats to them like changes in culture or crime.

[Shadow Man]

Born a Conservative, lived as a Conservative, will die a Conservative.

Conservative equals Clean
Labour equals Lice

[ludwig]

Yes, your views do tend to change. You lose some of the idealism of youth and tend to grow more cynical.

There's a famous quotation, something like this..
"If you're not a socialist when you're 20, then you have no heart. If you're still a socialist when you're 40, then you have no head".

[ludwig]

..got that wrong, think it should be 'no brain'. Anyway, can't remember who said it.

[Pippa68]

I wonder how many of those 'Red Wedge' celebrities from the early 1980's are now Tories?

[beryllium]

It seems there's no point in my having a political view now.
I am classed as a non person in this country.
I still have to fill out the voting thing they send and when the card comes I shred it lol

So.... I guess I agree with Elvis lol....

[ruby27]

Ludwig

A quote that's been attributed to Winston Churchill:

"If you're a conservative at 20, you have no heart; if you're a liberal at 40, you have no brain.

I prefer yours and I guess I am an idiot, just not so radical an idiot as I once was.

[jake-the-peg]

Ah so a quote from a man who left the Conservative party to join the Liberals and then left them to rejoin the Tories again.

Puts a rather different complexion on the quote eh?

[ludwig]

Thanks Ruby, I think I prefer my version too.

[ruby27]

jake-the-peg

Yes, I have always wondered when he said it, whether it was before he defected/moved for personal gain, ideology and commitment to hell with or whether it was a conclusion he reached later in life after realising that he had neither perhaps.

[trt]

If my Political views at present, were the same when I was 21yrs old, I would be trying to climb onto the roof of 10 Downing St, dressed as a Doctor/Nurse, scale The Shard, dressed as a Plastic Bottle, and climb Saint Paul's Cathedral in a Hijab, holding a Crucifix.

I could add a lot more, but you know what would happen?