Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Liberal? Get over it
Orlando Sentinel ^ | 5/20/06 | Matthew Melone

Posted on 05/22/2006 9:03:27 AM PDT by qam1

There's good news for the young and hopelessly naive and liberal: You'll get over it.

It's common knowledge that young people become more conservative as they age. Generation X followed this trend, and indicators suggest Generation Y will be no different.

I understand what life is like on a typical college campus and have gripped with the misplaced mental energies of youth. I can empathize with the temptations of liberal cynicism, the appeal of academic elitism and an almost embarrassingly idealistic view of world affairs.

But I fought the urges, and so can you.

For all the graduates of 2007, soon you will begin being mugged by reality. As you grow more distant from the ivory towers and struggle to root yourself in the middle class, your liberal tendencies will become but a memory.

Perhaps you'll look back on these days and laugh.

Maybe you'll even wise up and realize that if you weren't so scared of the military, you could have signed up for the armed forces and done something worthwhile.

But in the meantime, to avoid embarrassment down the road, it may be prudent to stay quiet until your liberal urges pass.

For example, I've noticed a handful of columns in student newspapers and in "New Voices" that advocate the U.S. pursue unilateral disarmament in order to defuse tensions with Iran.

I enjoy a good laugh as much as the next guy, but this is a joke I've heard one too many times. If you're liberal and feel like shooting your mouth off about unilateral disarmament, I beg you to reconsider. A potential employer could Google your name, read that column, find out what a bonehead you are and not hire you.

If you don't realize how stupid unilateral disarmament is, don't worry. Just wait a few.....

(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News
KEYWORDS: genx; geny; growupalready
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-92 next last
To: eyespysomething
Why did you ping me to this?

Because I made a remark in the post I pinged you to about getting chicks with long hair. Since it's only polite to ping people in posts where you talk about them, and since you're one of the chicks, I thought I would ping you.

Additionally, I thought you might have an interest in the thread, if not the story, because of comments you've made on your profile page about your former status as an uninformed voter.

41 posted on 05/22/2006 9:56:14 AM PDT by SittinYonder (Ic þæt gehate, þæt ic heonon nelle fleon fotes trym, ac wille furðor gan,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: qam1

We need to get Matthew Melone on-board here at FreeRepublic.


42 posted on 05/22/2006 9:56:19 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Matchett-PI

The only reason I was a liberal when I was young was because my family was conservative. (Rebellion) I hung in limbo for a number of years..mostly apathetic til my son was little- then I started paying attention again and realized I didn't believe what I thought I did. My SON started listening to Rush when he was about 10 (does to this day) ...and told me I might learn something if I listened to him:) He was right.


43 posted on 05/22/2006 9:58:00 AM PDT by SE Mom (God Bless those who serve..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Crispus Attucks Patriot
I have changed some of my politics over the years, but basically I was a Goldwater conservate at 16 in 1964. I'm still there. As a Southerner, I grew up in the 50s and early 60s supporting the status quo, but later realized that people should be treated as individuals. I regret those early belief and have several Black friends.

What galls me is that many assume that in the 60s all college students were protesting hippies with long hair. In fact, (at least in Georgia) the vast majority were the antithesis of that.
44 posted on 05/22/2006 9:58:32 AM PDT by GeorgefromGeorgia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: cardinal4
I used to be a big time Deadhead growing up

I loved the Dead and went to every concert I could (even paid $150 a ticket to take a girlfriend to see them). I really enjoyed the whole "hippie" scene even though I politically disagreed with all of them.

Of course, I think it was different 15 years ago when I was in college because you didn't have the rabid anti-Bush sort of stuff. Most of them didn't care about politics, they just voted Democrat cause they knew that's what they were supposed to do.

45 posted on 05/22/2006 9:59:26 AM PDT by SittinYonder (Ic þæt gehate, þæt ic heonon nelle fleon fotes trym, ac wille furðor gan,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: qam1; xsmommy; Slip18
Real conservatism sets in about the time your oldest daughter gets a boyfriend.

Don't get me wrong. Boyfriends can value. Eventually one will turn into a son-in-law and become useful.

Girlfriends are good at helping sons grow up and become useful.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)

LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

46 posted on 05/22/2006 10:00:45 AM PDT by LonePalm (Commander and Chef)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: roaddog727

Great book.


47 posted on 05/22/2006 10:06:18 AM PDT by brivette
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: brivette

Absolutely.

I first read it like 30 years ago. I can't remember how many times I have re-read it.

Larry Niven Rocks.


48 posted on 05/22/2006 10:11:39 AM PDT by roaddog727 (eludium PU36 explosive space modulator)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: cardinal4

Paying taxes cured me around 20 years old.


49 posted on 05/22/2006 10:27:45 AM PDT by BJClinton (Forget the fence, annex Mexico.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: qam1; ItsOurTimeNow; PresbyRev; tortoise; Fraulein; StoneColdGOP; Clemenza; m18436572; ...
Little late, Boss came in before I could get the Ping off..

Xer Ping

Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.

Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.

50 posted on 05/22/2006 10:38:52 AM PDT by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: qam1
Three words awoke me from my stupor: disillusionment, disillusionment, disillusionment. Liberalism is the biggest legal narcotic in the hippie medicine cabinet, for a long night's sleep with Utopian dreams (warning: side effects may include hot flashes of anger, irritability, irrationality -- consult a conservative if symptoms persist).
51 posted on 05/22/2006 10:41:25 AM PDT by Blind Eye Jones
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: qam1
I was a Clinton/Democrat fan up until 1999 (Although I voted for Perot in 1992 and sat 1996 out) when I did an abrupt 180 switch. There was nothing gradual about it. It went from utter contempt for Bob Barr/Republicans/impeachment to upper contempt for Clinton/Gore/Democrats.

The 2 catalysts that changed me virtually immediately?

Neal Boortz and my first post-college paycheck of significant dollar amount. I looked at the amount that went to various taxes and became enraged!

52 posted on 05/22/2006 10:43:06 AM PDT by xrp (Fox News Channel: MISSING WHITE GIRL NETWORK)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SittinYonder

I didn't have long hair, lol.

Oh, you meant your long hair!!

Yeah, I was joking when I asked why you pinged me. I thought for sure it was because I voted for Clinton in 92.

**smacks forehead**


53 posted on 05/22/2006 10:43:55 AM PDT by eyespysomething (Kenny G is allowed to live because Chuck Norris doesn't kill women.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: qam1
I'm doing things in reverse. (And what else is new?)

I've always been a foreign policy and defense conservative, since I was 18 -- and try being that at the University of Michigan. If I wasn't already a fiscal conservative then, I was soon after I graduated.

But social issues.... I've never been particularly conservative; they just weren't part of my political considerations. But as I get older, I've been noticing a stronger move to the left -- even with a now adult step-daughter and a preteen son. I'm not sure how much that has been a change of view -- after all I did sign up here as Celtjew Libertarian -- and how much it has been they're becomming more important to me.

54 posted on 05/22/2006 10:49:44 AM PDT by Celtjew Libertarian
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: qam1

How long does it take? I know a 36 year old who is still a whining liberal. Of course, he doesn't have children and isn't married. Although he does have a liberal girlfriend. He still complains about his parents and acts like a 12 year old.


55 posted on 05/22/2006 10:51:08 AM PDT by HungarianGypsy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: qam1

I've actually found that today's high school and college age kids are more conservative than 20 years ago.


56 posted on 05/22/2006 10:52:00 AM PDT by RockinRight (She rocks my world, and I rock her world.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: qam1

Uh-hu. Teeners (the majority) take after their peers, the media and the professors/teachers.

As they get older, they find out that what they think is more important than what others think of them.

When we are old we know that what others think of us doesn't matter at all.

One exception: I meet surprising young people now and then and read about them - they have their feet on the ground and their heads on straight right through their youths. Every generation seems to have them. Good thing.


57 posted on 05/22/2006 10:55:46 AM PDT by RoadTest (For the love of money is the root of all evil - I Timothy 6:10)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: eyespysomething
I never had long hair, but playing in a band all through college kept me liberal.

With a part time job, and classes, and 3 to 5 nights a week of playing out in the bars, I never had time to be a "well informed" liberal.

Had my first job at 16 and had my first "Who the hell is FICA" moment, which turned me into a fiscal conservative early. It was Milton Friedman who finally showed me the light.

There was a great PBS show I remember from the 80s . . called Free To Choose which gave me my first glimpse into the failings of socialism.

58 posted on 05/22/2006 11:07:32 AM PDT by ChadGore (VISUALIZE 62,041,268 Bush fans. We Vote.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: SE Mom; oldglory

Love it.

The "Limbaugh" factor is going to bite the left in the butt big time. That's why they've been so frantic to try to silence him from day one.

It's too late to stop him now. We have two whole generations of highly informed "Limbaugh kids" who can never be turned into useful idiots either for the leftist RINOS or for the DemocRATS.

Tee Hee.


59 posted on 05/22/2006 11:13:38 AM PDT by Matchett-PI ( "History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid." -- Dwight Eisenhower)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: qam1

Ah I hope God willing I live to see these flaming liberals repeat the words "I am a conservative!'Would be worth getting old to see.


60 posted on 05/22/2006 11:19:13 AM PDT by betsyross1776
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-92 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson