There's been this cliché that's being going around a long time that states something like this
Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.
I've heard that cliché about a decade before I was 30, and now I'm 42.
So what I do think about that cliché?
Before I was 30, I didn't identify with the left-wing or the right-wing.
I still don't.
But that doesn't mean I haven't evolved in my worldview over the decades.
Before I was 20, I would make snide remarks about religious conservatives like Dan Quayle and Bob Dole for publicly criticizing films & music with explicit content.
As a 42-year old adult who has worked 15 years in the education industry, I do understand their concerns being that I have to intervene when students say something inappropriate that they heard from films or music.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to go on a censorship brigade, but I do encourage parents to have a discussion with their kids about what they see on TV & hear from SoundCloud.
And now, when I see kids playing e-sports, I cringe at some of the violence.
As a teen, I would go to friend's homes and watch adult films on VHS. But as an actual adult, I haven't watched adult films in decades.
Learn more on that issue (and similar issues) at
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2015/01/money-down-drain.html
https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2017/02/time-not-just-money-down-drain.html
And even though I grew up listening to gangsta rap & booty music, when I hear the new generation singing similar explicit lyrics, I cringe.
Yes, I am old!
I haven't been 16-years old in decades.
So in a way, I did get more conservative as I get older.
But when it comes to things like a government-funded safety net, I have become more liberal when I get older.
Back in my early college years, I was fascinated by libertarian ideas, some of which I still believe in today. I was fascinated by libertarian ideas because they focused on maximizing liberty and reducing government interference in our lives.
Some libertarian ideas did gain more popularity in this century, including the legalization of marijuana and the acceptance of LGBT rights. People are now more aware of the police abuse of power.
However, the one thing that keeps many people away from being fully libertarian is the idea that the libertarian idea that government shouldn't offer a safety net, and therefore, no government funding of social security, medicare, welfare, etc.
There was a time when I thought "maybe we could privatize those safety net programs".
But I'm not convinced that a totally privatized safety net would be sufficient.
Not to say government safety nets are perfect. Nothing is.
People can talk all day about "lift yourself by your bootstraps", "be independent", "just work hard and you'll never go hungry", yada yada yada.
But one thing people have to understand is that being able-bodied is a temporary condition!
You are just one accident or just one infection away from not being able to work.
Remember, if it happened to somebody, it could happen to you too!
Who is going to save you then?
Not every family has the resources to save less fortunate relatives.
And not everyone has the luxury of a loving family.
And it's not just being able-bodied.
It's also being able-minded!
And being able-minded is also a temporary condition!
Don't think you're immune to getting dementia, Parkinson's, or other mental conditions!
And don't think you can handle anxiety problems if you ever get them!
If it happened to somebody, it could happen to you too!
This isn't about "victimhood", it's about reality!
Hard work isn't going to save you all the time!
If you get injured on the job, don't always expect your employer to show the same loyalty they have long demanded from you! Regardless of how hard a worker you are! They'll find someone to replace you tomorrow. Or they'll get a robot to do your job.
If you get a heart attack or an anxiety attack, or even a shark attack (it happens), you are at increased risk of becoming homeless.
There's only so much "lift yourself by your bootstraps" that you can do at that point.
And before somebody screams "you're socialist", I never said "get rid of private businesses".
Capitalism, by allowing for entrepreneurship and consumer choices, has lifted millions out of poverty.
There's a reason why South Korea is much richer than North Korea. Capitalism allowed entrepreneurs to shine, giving South Koreans opportunity to shine not only in their homeland but also worldwide.
Meanwhile, socialism has devastated Venezuela in that it left the economy less flexible in the years when oil prices went down. Meanwhile, capitalist places like the United Arab Emirates and Norway still found a way to thrive during those same years when oil prices went down.
And speaking of Norway, like its neighbors, Sweden and Denmark, allows for private industry to shine, but also provides a safety net for their people.
In some ways, those countries are more capitalist than the US. Sweden doesn't charge property tax. Lower-income landowners in the US wish they were that lucky. Also, Sweden's tax forms are simpler too. Denmark doesn't have a minimum wage, but their workers are unionized.
Even with these capitalist conditions, those countries offer a safety net that's the envy of the world.
Learn more at
Socialism can take the form of government controlling or interfering with free markets, nationalizing industries, and subsidizing favored ones (green energy, anyone?). The Nordic countries don’t actually do much of those things. Yes, they offer government-paid healthcare, in some cases tuition-free university educations, and rather generous social safety nets, all financed with high taxes. However, it is possible to do these things without interfering in the private sector more than required. It is allowing businesses to be productive that produces the high corporate and personal incomes that support the tax collections making the government benefits feasible. The Nordic countries are smart enough not to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
And the following article was written by a US American living in Sweden
https://www.vox.com/2016/4/8/11380356/swedish-taxes-love
My wife and I have been dividing our time between jobs in Sweden and Wisconsin for the past dozen years, and I'm here to tell you that taxes in Sweden are not that high. To my surprise, I found that there are lots of things to love about the Swedish tax system. Swedish taxes are easy to pay, rational, and efficient. Best of all, rather than take away opportunities, Swedish taxes expand them.
and just one of many classic examples from the article
And you get far more for your taxes than you do in the US. In Sweden, college is free and students get a housing stipend. A colleague's daughter, Kerstin, just completed a five-year dental program. Her family paid nothing for her education. The Swedish government gave her $340 a month to live on when she was in school and the right to borrow $700 more a month, which she did. After five years, she graduated with a debt of $37,153.
In the US, dental students graduate with an average of $215,000 in debt from dental school alone.
Back in the US, many have become fascinated with Andrew Yang's idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI). The idea with UBI is that everyone gets a guaranteed income that they can use to survive hard times without having to fill out a bunch of forms justifying why they need additional assistance.
However, some of my libertarian friends are skeptical because UBI is taxpayer-funded, and they point out that taxation is still a form of violence.
I sure did feel a bit violated when I was informed that I owe the feds money when filling out the 2017 tax forms.
But still, unless some private entity is willing to provide a safety net for all those who need it, we'll probably have to be taxed a little while longer.
And if that's the case, then I'm willing to say that as I get older, I become more liberal as I advocate for a stronger safety net.
Understanding that some people (and that you could be those "some people" in the future) need subsidized assistance to survive - that isn't just a sign that you have a heart, it's also a sign that you have a brain.
So no, I don't believe in this cliché that says "any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains".
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PS: Check out this blog post from 2021! It's about worker rights and safety nets.
https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2021/05/its-more-about-respect-than-money.html
