Liberal? Get over it

Orlando Sentinel ^ | 5/20/06 | Matthew Melone

[Luke21]

I was a JFK/Bobby/Henry Jackson Democrat, liberal on social issues and conservative on the military and the "Cold War." Still supported Reagan as a Democrat in 1976 and was a Nixon kid before that.

I married at nineteen, held my newborn daughter a year later, and in 1978 found myself rooting for the Republicans at all levels. The more kids we had, the more conservative I got, all the way to being a big Jesse Helms fan.

If the mind and soul develop properly, the politics follows.

[Talking_Mouse]

I was raised a liberal. I remember, in second grade, wondering why a political party would call themselves the dammrepublicans, as they were always referred to in my house.

My first paycheck, from McDonald's, produced "Whose FICA and whats he doing with my money?" However that didn't turn me into a conservative. The Lord opened my heart on what abortion really was but that didn't turn me into a conservative (even though I voted for GWB because he was pro-life) - it just made me a pro-life liberal even more committed to "justice".

I became a conservative five years ago on a Tuesday morning. I now look back and say "Dear Lord, was I ever stupid."

[Almondjoy]

Liberalism sounds good in theory.. that's why it appeals to kids.

But then you grow up and realize that things in life aren't free and the best in life comes to those who earn it.

[rlmorel]

"...Me, too. I also had long hair, but I was a girl, so not quite as shocking..."

[roaddog727]

I too woke up from my stupidity in my early 20's. (Thank God!)

[Rakkasan1]

"If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain."
-W.Churchill

[maine-iac7]

a de-clawed cat let loose in the jungle quickly finds that moral righteousness makes for poor defense and turns its possessor into a snack

would make a great bumper sticker - the length of the bumper ;o)

[eleni121]

The kids might get over it. I did.

But the elderly--the limo liberals, the self annointed mandarins, etc...what to be done about them? A major intrusive enema is all I can think of.

[KoRn]

I'm a rare case. In high school I was conservative and loved Ronald Reagan. As I got older I became increasingly conservative in my view of the government's role in society and have found myself being more Libertarian.

[Seamoth]

Generation Y won't be nearly as conservative as Generation X.

Teenagers are pits of self-pity angst. On the 'Net, there'll be one side telling them to suck it up and that they're lazy whiners with too much free time and too little gratitude. The other side will tell them, America sucks, the world at large offers much better lives, and their own depression is a chemical imbalance to be treated by doctors and psychologists rather than a result of anything they have control over. Which side is a more attractive option for teenagers? And isn't Generation Y the first generation to grow up on the 'Net? QED.

[Army Air Corps]

I had a brief phase of stupidity in my sophomore year (how appropriate) when I leaned toward socialism; I had, at that time, recently read Marx and Engels. I ran like hell, intellctually, from that crap when I really thought about it and its implications.

Like Reagan said, the difference between a Communist and an anti-c\Communist is that a Communist has read Marx and Lenin while an anti-Communist understands Marx and Lenin.

[LibertarianInExile]

"I was born a conservative, I was raised a conservative, I went to college as a conservative, and I expect I will die a conservative."

Preach on, brother. Parents who teach you to think early ensure you'll always be a conservative.