Something you’ve probably heard by now is that the Republican Party’s decision to decimate reproductive rights—and celebrate the overturning of Roe v. Wade like it was the greatest thing to ever happen to America—has not gone over great with voters. The 2022 midterm elections, which were supposed to be a red tsunami for the GOP, were anything but: Democrats picked up a seat in the Senate and Republicans just barely took back the House, with voters in critical states citing abortion as the most important issue of the day. A year later, the right to an abortion was enshrined in Ohio’s state constitution; Kentucky voters reelected pro-choice governor Andy Beshear; and Democrats took control of Virginia’s state legislature, preventing the GOP governor from limiting abortion moving forward, which he’d planned to do. The results were unambiguous: The American people want abortion rights.
Now, with the 2024 election less than a year away, what are Republicans running for higher office to do? According to GOP strategist and Donald Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, the answer is simple: make their campaign slogan something like, “Yeah, we took away your reproductive rights, but, hey, we’re letting you keep contraception, and that’s something!”
My father has been telling me this for decades. When I was 18, he said that I’d become a conservative at 21. In my 20’s, he said I’d become a conservative in my 30’s. In my 30’s, it was in my 40’s. Now that I’m 48, he says that I’ll become a conservative “when I get older.” (I guess he got tired of updating the date.)
Meanwhile, if anything, I’m getting more liberal. If you asked me in 2010 about gay marriage/marriage equality, I probably would have answered “marriage is for men and women, gay people should be allowed to have civil unions, though.” Obviously, that’s not my current position. Now, I think any two consenting adults should be allowed to marry (with very few exceptions - e.g. cases of incest). I didn’t get more conservative as I aged, I got more liberal.
Furthermore, if people get more conservative as they age, how does one explain Bernie Sanders?
Yes, some people get stuck in the past and can’t keep up, but there isn’t a hard and fast rule that says people move to the right as they age.
Same boat. I went from teenage Libertarian to European style Socialism please.