Because older generations tend to be more conservative than younger generations, it looks like people get more conservative with age.
This is, thankfully, untrue.
People get more progressive with age.
It's just that previous generations get a little left behind. The jump between generations is bigger than the progress that happens within people, giving the illusion that older people become more conservative.
Some good news for once.
@selzero For almost my entire life (at least since I started voting), my father has told me that I'll become a conservative when I get older.
When I was 18, it was when I turn 30. When I was 30, it was when I turn 40. When I turned 40, it became a nebulous "when you're older."
1/
@selzero I'm 48 now and am actually more liberal than when I was younger. To give an example, had you asked 20 year old me about marriage equality, I'd have said "gay people can have civil unions. Marriage is between a man and a woman." Nowadays, I'm fully supportive of marriage equality.
Will I perpetually keep getting more liberal? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe that Overton paradox will claim me as well. Still, I'm not going to turn into some MAGA Trump supporter just because I can join AARP soon.