One of those things which I said long ago a few times and I always consider to be part of the undercurrent, but has not been explicit here for years.
The journey out of liberalism is a personal one, and a difficult one, as it involves giving up your picture of yourself as one of the Good People. People cannot release that until they have somewhere else to jump, and the carrot or the stick must be great.
Note that this is not the same thing as becoming conservative. People leaving liberalism become unattached, or libertarians, or apolitical, or religiously-focused, or some variety of communitarian or left-radical. Sometimes they become conservative, but those are all separate matters.
People do not usually leave conservatism out of determination, but because of drift. How people become conservative or liberal is varied, with good motives and bad. I speak here only of the leaving.
My early political ideology may have been of a liberal bent, during my foray into adulthood. Carter was President and I was in the military. After the economic malaise of the Carter years, I voted for Reagan, leaving social liberalism behind. Amazing what having kids will do to one's political outlook.
ReplyDelete