I know you don't mean Republicans. The ones who are almost exactly like Democrats.
The correct order of growing up intellectually is, infancy, awareness of politics, childish belief that government force is the answer to societal problems, becoming a liberal, becoming a Democrat, switching to the Republican party, and finally after seeing the futility of Democrat Lite, becoming a classic liberal. (libertarian)
You have your "teenage mentality" thing out of order. Anyone who thinks Republicans are the solution to the problems has a teenagers view of history, namely, less than twenty years.