A Sudden Leftward Lurch

[spencer rifle]

No, not the Addams family Lurch.
I have noticed one of my in-laws undergoing this. He was always a good Christian with right-of-center views and we got along well. But then he contracted MS, and gradually became more and more dependent on government support (he has no close living family - we are as close as he gets to that). Now he never meets a government program he doesn't like, and his views are not just leftward-leaning, but going hard left. I have to avoid anything political now unless I want to alienate him, though I occasionally think "Let his leftist 'friends' come and visit him." Of course, they never do. Unless they're paid to do so.

Our youngest daughter, extremely intelligent but living now in Commiefornia, insists that the government money she's absorbing is only "government money," and apparently just appears out of nowhere. We can try to tell her otherwise but that doesn't get through the filter. Maybe she's not as intelligent as we thought.

I've also seen it moving a little the other way. Our oldest, the anti-capitalist entrepreneur, started moving rightward after paying his first self-employment taxes. He now owns firearms and is readying for SHTF. And he's officially "The Man" - he got elected to town council. Real life is pulling him rightward.

Any of you see this also?

 

[Expat]

My son is a hard core socialist but he has been taken aback by his fellow travelers embrace of the raping, murdering hamas bastards.

 

[MrSmitty]

"If you are not a liberal when you are 20, you have no heart, if you are not a conservative when you are 30, you have no brains" Not sure who actually said this, but I tend to agree. My son is 22, and has guns, but has said he would give them up if he needed to for other things (he might be adopted...lol)

 

[BugI02]

I have a nephew who did two tours (army) in Iraq and somehow came to the belief that only ex-military should be allowed private gun ownership. He thinks Democrats care about 'the people' more than conservatives do

Then last year I noticed he had a 'III %' tattoo. I guess he thinks those three-percenters got their military training in the US Army, also

They don't even teach American history properly in schools anymore, no wonder no one seems able to understand what the militia is/was

 

[blain]

Has your in-law and daughter gone "vegan" and left behind meat, fat and food born with a face?

 

[bobzilla]

"If you are not a liberal when you are 20, you have no heart, if you are not a conservative when you are 30, you have no brains" Not sure who actually said this, but I tend to agree. My son is 22, and has guns, but has said he would give them up if he needed to for other things (he might be adopted...lol)

Well, this cinches it. I have no heart. I was conservative at 20, 18, 16.....

 

[Fiddle]

"If you are not a liberal when you are 20, you have no heart, if you are not a conservative when you are 30, you have no brains" Not sure who actually said this, but I tend to agree. My son is 22, and has guns, but has said he would give them up if he needed to for other things (he might be adopted...lol)

I was always told it was Churchill who said ‘If You Are Not a Liberal When You Are Young, You Have No Heart, and If You Are Not a Conservative When Old, You Have No Brain’

But the saying may be older than him.

https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(16)30193-0/pdf

 

[BigRed]

My sister has a baby. That baby does nothing but feed off of a teat, sleep, and **** it's pants then cry until somebody else cleans up it's mess. Seems like people are born democrats. The better one move past it.

 

[Leadeye]

Both of my kids became economic conservatives when they got their first paychecks and were shocked how much had been extracted. Both are now employed, tax paying citizens and own guns. They enjoy more aspects of city living than I ever did so there is that difference.

 

[spencer rifle]

Has your in-law and daughter gone "vegan" and left behind meat, fat and food born with a face?

Actually, the in-law became a vegan last year.

 

[spencer rifle]

"If you are not a liberal when you are 20, you have no heart, if you are not a conservative when you are 30, you have no brains" Not sure who actually said this, but I tend to agree. My son is 22, and has guns, but has said he would give them up if he needed to for other things (he might be adopted...lol)

It was this guy:
"Not to be a republican (leftist) at 20 is proof of want of heart; to be one at 30 is proof of want of head". - François Guizot

And this guy:
Thomas Jefferson preserved this quip, writing in a 1799 journal that Adams had said: “A boy of 15 who is not a democrat is good for nothing, and he is no better who is a democrat at 20.”

 

[Creedmoor]

I feel for you guys with left leaning children, I really do. Mine left home before they turned 18, and are also economic conservatives that own and carry firearms for a living.

 

[Cavman]

I have a nephew who did two tours (army) in Iraq and somehow came to the belief that only ex-military should be allowed private gun ownership. He thinks Democrats care about 'the people' more than conservatives do

Then last year I noticed he had a 'III %' tattoo. I guess he thinks those three-percenters got their military training in the US Army, also

They don't even teach American history properly in schools anymore, no wonder no one seems able to understand what the militia is/was

He sounds like more like the bro vet culture. They look down on anyone who didn't serve even if their service was easy even with tours in Iraq. I started down that road then realized that wasn't what serving was about.

 

[ZurokSlayer7X9]

Well, this cinches it. I have no heart. I was conservative at 20, 18, 16.....

Same here. I guess it helps that I was pro gun from an early age and had enough sense to not support the people who said they were going to take them away. Huh, now that I think about it, a lot of kids from my grade school were in the same boat. I remember all the boys reading books about small arms throughout history and talking about them with the teachers, and this was only back in 2010.

 

[jwamplerusa]

My sister has a baby. That baby does nothing but feed off of a teat, sleep, and **** it's pants then cry until somebody else cleans up it's mess. Seems like people are born democrats. The better one move past it.

Just to be up front, I'm stealing this! I'm sure an opportunity to make it a good home will come about.

 

[jwamplerusa]

There are those who make a lurch to the left. As you have observed, and I believe this is sadly too often the case with those who become dependent upon government through ill health or poor Fortune and easily fall into this trap.

I have however seen many who have what I have come to term "The Epiphany". These are fellow citizens who realize something is wrong with the Republic, start objectively assessing what they are seeing and begin comparing it to our founding documents.

Many of these individuals eventually have the epiphany. I have seen some gradual turns to the right, I have also witnessed some amazing slam on the brakes spin the wheel to the right lock and pound the accelerator cases. They are both satisfying and encouraging.

 

[blain]

Actually, the in-law became a vegan last year.

oy vey

 

[sapper83]

I feel for you guys with left leaning children, I really do. Mine left home before they turned 18, and are also economic conservatives that own and carry firearms for a living.

Funny you mention the age they left. I left at 17 and enlisted. I have always been right leaning. The sooner one is responsible for ones self is the sooner they realize they have become conservative. Lol

 

[sapper83]

There are those who make a lurch to the left. As you have observed, and I believe this is sadly too often the case with those who become dependent upon government through ill health or poor Fortune and easily fall into this trap.

I have however seen many who have what I have come to term "The Epiphany". These are fellow citizens who realize something is wrong with the Republic, start objectively assessing what they are seeing and begin comparing it to our founding documents.

Many of these individuals eventually have the epiphany. I have seen some gradual turns to the right, I have also witnessed some amazing slam on the brakes spin the wheel to the right lock and pound the accelerator cases. They are both satisfying and encouraged.

Inwas just 19 when crossing the border into iraq. I absolutely hated the republican party after my tour of duty.

Then when I went into the world of electrical work post army, obama came to the scene and i hated the dems. I just had that epiphany!!!!

I hate politicians!!!

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

There are those who make a lurch to the left. As you have observed, and I believe this is sadly too often the case with those who become dependent upon government through ill health or poor Fortune and easily fall into this trap.

I agree with you on that. Perspective may be the strongest driver of political viewpoints.

Something that most of us have a hard time admitting is that almost all of us would "fall into this trap" if our perspective was changed in the same way.