To wonder if there is some truth in becoming more right wing as you age?

[callitamay]

(And to worry I am turning into a grumpy old woman.)

I used to be very compassionate and caring. I attended church, volunteered for a charity, gave people lifts, went the extra mile in doing small things like buying batteries for a remote control for a disabled woman and listened kindly to friends’ troubles and other small examples that add up.

As I’ve got older, I’ve changed.

I’ve lost my faith for starters. I want to believe in God but I can’t. But also I feel like any ‘good deed’ attempted has backfired and hasn’t been appreciated. For example doing voluntary work has meant I’ve sacrificed my own time and lost opportunities because of that. Giving people lifts became expected and difficult and awkward if you politely tried to raise this. I was even stopped by the police once on the way back from dropping someone off - they were really nice but I don’t know.

As a result I’m cynical. I feel like I always believed the answer to a happy life was making others happy but it hasn’t really worked for me - I’m not unhappy exactly but things could be better. But I don’t know how to improve things either!

My DH and I have always generally had a more liberal outlook, despite our Telegraph reading very Tory parents . We are both high earners with DC at independents. He recently mentioned tongue in cheek but also slightly seriously, that we’re going to have to suck it up and vote Tory as we won’t be able to deal with 20% tax on top of fees if Corbyn gets in!

I’m more feminist and compassionate now. Was a complete lefty but think there’s no correct party for me now

I remember that old chestnut when I did A level sociology many moons ago. I didn’t believe it then and I don’t now.

I have always been a liberal, tolerant and atheist. Nothing has changed for me. I am possibly less naive than in my 20’s but despite some tough times, I haven’t changed. Tbh I think I am more left wing now as I see the inequality in society more clearly.

I’ve gone the opposite way. I was brought up in a quite conservative, patriarchal environment and tried to embrace it in order to make sense of it I suppose. I can even remember liking Margaret Thatcher and embracing capitalism at one point.

But then my true feminist self re-emerged and realised what a prick I’d been.

I think the world's changed, not me. This bloody austerity government makes Thatcher look kind and compassionate and I hated her policies with a passion.

I'm just as much of a feminist as I ever was but on the big issues, I don't give a shit about the demise of mansize tissues. I also get really pissed off with young women complaining about maternity leave and childcare - the first didn't exist and the second was as rare as rocking horse shit when I was a young mum. And obviously I'm a grumpy old woman!

I'm no more right wing today in my 70s than I was was when I voted Conservative when I was first eligible at 21.

I still vote Conservative and even if I wanted to change, the alternatives are risible: Labour broken in half with a leader who appears to have the mentality of a university student, having never had a proper job and counts the IRA, Hamas and Hezzbollah among his friends. Lib Dims have become an obsessive one policy party and I can only assume the person who wrote the Green Party policies had a bloody good laugh while doing so.

OP Please could you post your definition of right wing?

Well, I'm definitely more cynical and less idealistic - but having just started to be politically aware at the start of the Thatcher years and having seen what right-wing politics does to those who aren't fortunate enough to be born into relatively wealthy, stable homes, I have if anything become more left wing. I'm not a starry-eyed idealist who believes that nationalising everything will cure all ills, but I strongly believe that without checks and balances, business and the market will only ever benefit the few - and that is not acceptable.

Yes I am the same . I have become very cynical and critical of people. Like you I used to be very religious but no longer am. I used to be idealistic thinking I could change the world if I protested hard enough about things, now I just think it's all futile and why waste the energy.

However, as I have got older and I think more importantly had dc I find myself being a lot more compassionate and tolerant

Definitely true in my case; without a shadow of a doubt. And life is much better for it, too

Not me. More feminist, more left wing. Experience has led me to see how discrimination has affected me as a woman, and how good luck has affected me socioeconomically.

The older I get, the more intolerant I am of poverty and injustice even if by providing food and shelter for the rest of the world, invokes poverty and injustice on the rest of the population

Sorry but you should have added that, because that, is the way it is

I don't think it is "right wing". My boundaries have definitely gotten higher and I am no longer prepared to put up with injustices that I see in this country. Not sure what much I can do but will always vote, regularly call out my Conservative MP on her failure to do anything and also email and call out companies. in some ways I am less tolerant of bullshit from all angles but in other ways have more compassion for those in need. I've narrowed my friendship groups and don't bother giving the time of day to people who are up their own arses.

Perhaps it’s easier to be left-wing when you have less money!

I don’t see the change in me as being left-wing to right-wing as much as communitarian (sharing, working together, society) to growing individualism. An increasing realisation that only I (and my husband/children) can be depended upon. And much much less tolerance for life’s takers.

I was left wing when I barely had a pot to piss in. I'm no further to the right now that I'm comfortably off by any standards. In fact I feel quite guilty that my life is comparatively soft when others struggle, many of whom have worked a lot harder than I have.

Bluelady Why guilt? Just give a lot away...

Feck I'm an aul hesp (total tyrone phrase lol) and more socialist then i was when younger. Happily volunteer for several things. Dont believe in God. Happy to pay my taxes and regularly give thanks that i can give money/give lifts. And voted no to Brexit!!

I've become more left wing and a feminist.

Bluelady I am in the same position. I think I'm a product of the socialist and social ideals that the post-war governments worked so hard on. I have zero guilt, I feel like a success story for what we have been destroying since Thatcher. I'm bloody lucky to have got the chance at education and social mobility that I did.
So I don't feel guilty, I feel it's something really worth fighting for, I feel galvanised.