I'm writing this under the topic of politics, but I think politics is just
an expression of something more... it's a dimension of a bigger thing. How I
got here is, well, it's just plain weird. But I can't shake the idea that it's
how many get here— to political conservatism, I mean.
This is an exploration about how people become conservative. And I'm trying
to choose my words carefully, because it's not a thing that happens to everyone;
the "Yuppies" of the 80s would likely be called Conservatives today, and the
"Hippies" of the 60's — the definition of liberal in their time — likely
never crossed into convservativism. This is speculation, of course. I've no
footnotes or endnotes or references in this post. It's all commentary.
I awoke this morning from a dream. And in this dream, I was visiting a dear
friend of mine, whom in real life is in a committed relationship with a really
smart and fun woman. The couple came to my wedding in the Florida Keys, and we
love them both. Anyway, in my dream, I was at a party, I think, and my friend
was there. We were all laughing and having a good time, and in a private moment
he asked me if I would marry him for a day.
Marry him for a day? What does that mean? What happens when you marry
someone for a day? And anyway, he knows I'm already married! And he's...
essentially married... both of us are married to women... what did he mean?
I awoke feeling a bit disturbed and confused, because in my dream I was
confronted with a strange concept. Awkwardness aside — I refused him and he
was disappointed, and so I brought with me into the waking state the feeling that
I'd upset a good friend — I sat up to sort of review the imaginary event. And
that's when I recalled seeing a cartoon on social media that mentioned the term
"gender-fluid." What does that mean? It's not a term that was used when we were
growing up and learning how to operate in the world. It wasn't... it wasn't part
of our world.
It wasn't part of our world.
(By the way, I've been having some weird dreams lately. The night before
last, I had dreamed about seeing a teeny snake made from different organisms
and had minute copper wires visible beneath its eggy white exterior. But I
digress.)
Last night I went with my family to a music store. I mostly drooled over
the drum sets and the guitars. Kiddo, who is 12, was all over the... I'll
call them drum machines, but that's not really what they are. The name of
the product is "Launchpad." It's an electronic device that can be used to
make different sounds and arrange them using special software and a laptop
computer. It doesn't have keys like a piano. It has a grid of white squares.
It appears to possess nothing that would clue you into its purpose of music
production -— it resembles a game board more than any kind of instrument.
My wife was doing her best to try to keep up with kiddo as she strived to
explain it, and she (my wife) was using a kind of verbal symbolism to represent
the concepts. Once again, because it wasn't part of our world.
Weirdly, perhaps I've found the esssence of conservativism here. I've
given you examples of things — imaginary or real — that I simply can't
parse, at least in the context of my life experiences.
Have you wondered why young people are typically considered liberal and
older people are typically conservative? Have you thought about why it was
that the UK's infamous "Brexit" was a fight between younger and older
Britons?
What it is that changes a person's political attitudes as one ages?
I've had front row seats to the absolute shitshow that is state politics in
Texas this year. And I've written about how I've felt about the state senate
race in particular, though I've seen advertising for several races. I found
the incumbent Lt. Governor's ads particularly... insightful, because everything
he's trying to push — including the fear — is being done against a background
of good old... oldness. He's driving a restored 1940's pickup truck. He's in
a rocking chair on a porch with a dog at his side. He might as well be wearing
a straw hat while saying, "Do you remember when Texas was founded on we-do-what-
we-want-because-we're-Texas principles? Pepperidge Farm remembers." The ad is a
giant appeal to older people — people who can relate to that 1940's pickup
truck. That old truck says very clearly that he's not about change. He's about
the old times, the old ways. He's the choice of the people who gave up.
Weirdly, I get it. The aging population has had to put up with a lot of
shit over their lifetimes. Specifically my parents' generation. Look how
different everything is now — they've had to figure out how to live in the
computer age — and evolve with mobile technology. Some have, others have not.
My mother is almost 80 and she's had an iPhone for several years. She knows
how to do maybe two things with that phone, and that's IT. I know others
her age who have embraced the technology and use it to their advantage. People
get tired. I'm nearly 50 and I don't know what the fuck "gender fluid" means
(Do I add it to my car to make it more masculine?) just like I didn't
recognize that thing in the music store last night as an instrument. So I
can see the attraction to an ad that features an old tractor in the background
and driving a 1940's Chevrolet. That ad is not about issues. It's about tugging
at the heartstrings of people who miss their old trucks — made back when life
wasn't as complicated as it is today. That desire is the dividing line. That's
what separates the young and old. Religious beliefs aside, progress — rather,
peoples' capacity to tolerate it — is what makes the difference.
And so this is why we have the cycle we have. We will always have liberals
and conservatives in some form, using some label, because as a society we
have youth, we have adults, we have elderly. And all of us have a definite
tolerance for change. The youth have a greater appetite for it than do the
elderly. Mapped out, people on and near university campuses and urban areas tend
to be younger and to vote more liberal; rural area populations tend to be older
and vote more conservatively — those people also remember what their party once
stood for. The campaign ads are trying to appeal to certain people in between.