hilzoy

RT @[email protected]

Just tossing this out here as an hypothesis:

Millennials probably are getting more conservative as they age, in the sense that they place a higher value on stability. But in the United States, Democrats are the party of normal and Republicans are the party of erratic con men. https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1608746369505976323

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/1608846299411140613

John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch) on X

NEW: conservatives have a Millennials problem. In both UK & US, it’s not just that Millennials aren’t voting conservative because they’re young. Every previous generation grew more conservative with age, but Millennials are not playing ball. My column: https://t.co/MyIKv5sZ4o

X (formerly Twitter)
Dec 30, 2022 at 3:45pmMastodon Twitter Crossposter
Show threadhilzoyDec 30, 2022

Absolutely.

"Conservative" in the sense of being cautious and concerned with preserving and improving existing institutions rather than setting it all on fire, has long since parted company with "conservative" in the sense of right-wing.

Show threadhilzoyDec 30, 2022
I am temperamentally quite conservative, and politically quite liberal. This has never been nearly as much of a stretch as it was made out to be, but since the GOP was taken over by radicals, it's no stretch at all.
Show threadhilzoyDec 30, 2022
ProTip: the key to being temperamentally conservative but politically liberal is to realize that you cannot preserve institutions by standing athwart history yelling STOP.
Show threadhilzoyDec 30, 2022
Sometimes, institutions are unjust, and will change; trying to prevent this just ups the odds that the change will be violent and angry as opposed to slow and gradual; and that the institutions you're hoping to protect will be seen as reactionary rather than willing to listen.
Show threadhilzoyDec 30, 2022
The Romanovs tried to preserve autocracy by (except for Alexander II, sometimes) just saying NO. Queen Victoria tried to preserve the monarchy by different means. I do not myself regard monarchy as an institution worth preserving, but there's a moral in this.
Show thread1RAOKADAYDec 30, 2022

@hilzoy

I agree as well.

I'd add that broadly speaking the tendency to just say stop to history has also disincentivized conservative forward thinking and idea making. Because I have kids I care deeply about the future and making that future better REQUIRES those traits.

Show threadDoubleChinnerDec 30, 2022
@hilzoy You could argue, for example, that, for Millenials and Gen Z, the constitutional right to an abortion WAS the institutional, accepted norm, overthrown by reactionary radicals. The conservative position would have been to NOT overturn Roe and Casey.