Inclined to agree that political positions are largely genetically determined. But some restrictions and clarifications seem needed here. Young people (teen-agers and early 20’s) are, almost always, liberal, trusting and believing in the premise that people are always good and, left to their instincts, will always do good. For most folks, though, time and life experiences curtail that boundless optimism and teach some of the hard lessons that we are never eager to learn. Disorder and, even, chaos are atmospheres inwhich young people feel free to become what they dream of being. Of course, they are mistaken, but time and life experiences will be their only teachers in that. So, for the young at heart and in years, we can smile and even appreciate that remarkable optimism. But for the over 40 who still holds to his teen-age mind-set, who has failed to learn the lessons that life offers to all of us, who pushes onward wearing his profane T-shirt and his now-greying pony-tail, we can only conclude that he is a case of arrested development, a striver who cannot break out of his dreams and a bunptious and ill-mannered anachronism at his age — in other words, a liberal. :)
My guess is it has more to do with birth order. Conservatives are the grownups, the ones who are responsible. They tend to be the older kids.
The younger ones are the babies, and tend to be more “me” oriented and expect others to take care of their mistakes. They are the libs.
That’s at least the way it worked out in my family. I won’t say the youngest is spoiled, because she’s a hard worker, but she did have it easier in many ways and she is also the lib.