Kentucky lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to a bill stripping the state’s Democratic governor of any role in picking someone to occupy a U.S. Senate seat if a vacancy occurred in the home state of 82-year-old Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.
The legislation calls for a special election to fill any Senate vacancy from the Bluegrass State. The special election winner would hold the seat for the remainder of the unexpired term.
That’s an interesting hypothesis. I think of it more in terms of human development over the lifespan rather than an artifact of survival bias. In my opinion, the relationship between age and conservatism is mainly because of three reasons:
As you get older, you tend to accumulate more wealth, responsibility, children, etc. so you have more to lose than when you are younger, which means that you tend to value the system that protects what you have.
As you get older, you get weaker and slower and lose the physical confidence and recklessness of youth. That feels vulnerable, so you tend to worry more about things like violent crime and disorder. You start to value stability and order more.
When people are young, they tend to be more prone to simplistic and radical thinking, simply due to lack of life experience. This is both a strength and weakness. It makes youth passionate and energetic, but also more prone to believing that there are simple solutions to complex problems. I say that recognizing that nowadays most Trump supporters are older and are very much embracing Trump’s simplistic solutions, but I think we all recognize that something very radical is happening on the right wing.
I note also that these are general trends across the lifespan, not deterministic or true for every individual.
I think your first point is probably the main one that affects this. People are in a good position generally as they get older so they don’t wanna rock the status quo. But with all the warning bells going off about how Millennials and Gen Z are never gonna be able to afford houses or be able to retire that is indicating the shift might not happen. Cause if they don’t have anything to maintain then why would they shift conservative?
Very true. In his new book (which I’ve only heard except from so far), Fareed Zakaria argues that the left/right split as defined since WW2 is being re-defined and I think we can all see that. It used to be that the left had the “radical” ideas and the right supported the status quo. Now, the left (the Democrats or their equivalent in other countries, not what Lemmy considers the left) is the status quo and the right is adopting radical reactionary ideas to destroy the new status quo and return to the 1950s.
So, yes, I agree with you that if Millenials and Gen Z are not able to generate wealth for themselves, they will not support the status quo. Whether that rejection of the status quo will correspond to what we today call “left” and “right” is uncertain since there is a major shift underway right now as we speak.
A lot of this resonates. I feel it has a lot to do with having kids, as well. They change your brain. I could feel it happening. When they were born, I had nightmares about forgetting them in cars or losing them in a store, or to school shooting. And that was just my subconscious brain rewiring itself for such intense love, and for preparation and protection. I’m not sure yet where the changes lead, but I can feel myself concerned much less with what my neighbors are up to and more on what’s happening at my house. I am not describing this well. Maybe someone can help out a finger on it, if it resonates.
Yes, I hear what you are saying about having kids for sure. I remember how my brain changed after having kids. I started to experience fear in way that I didn’t before I had kids. Also, abstract notions of “right” and “wrong” are far less important to me than what will be beneficial, or at least not harmful, to my children. It simplifies certain issues. For example, I have daughters. Having daughters, I couldn’t care less about abstract debates about when life begins or the morality of abortion or what’s best for society as a whole. Fuck that. My much simplified perspective is now this: Any motherfucker that wants to infringe on women’s rights in any way is my enemy. That’s some primate dad logic right there, but it is what it is.
Huh, with my kids I also felt the fear and would do anything for their safety but it was the safety of their future. To have reason to hope and dream, to have a comfortable environment, to benefit from all the science may develop, to live in a peaceful and prosperous world. To not be saddled with student loan debt. To have a safety net even when I’m no longer around to provide that. There’s definitely a big slide to the left
I couldn’t have gone further left, already basically a Maoist.