Just the other day, this old quote suddenly sprung to mind for no apparent reason: "If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative at 40, you have no brain."
Granted, given how old this quote is, the original author may not believe it fully applies today since the definitions of the terms liberal and conservative have changed through the years. However, after thinking about it, if it did, I'd probably alter the quote to this: "If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart. If you're not a liberal at 40, you have no heart and no memory."
Even with many modern-day conservatives, I often hear the rhetoric, "Well, when you're in college, still depending on mom and dad, and not making much money, yeah, it's easy to be a liberal. However, when you become a conservative, that's when you know you'll have grown up and become an actual adult."
Yes, when we're young, in college, feeling free, discovering ourselves, opening ourselves up to new experiences, and having a great deal of fun, it's probably quite common to label ourselves as liberal or progressive, especially when it comes to social issues. When it comes to economic issues, we probably haven't come to fully understand what they all entail, so we choose not to think about them a great deal. So I can understand the first part of the original quote: "If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart." However, in this day and age, I'm having trouble understanding the latter portion of the quote: "If you're not a conservative at 40, you have no brain."
The reason many conservatives feel this way is due to finances - whether it be income, bills, or especially taxes. However, the reason why I'd alter the latter half of the quote to, "If you're not a liberal at 40, you have no heart and no memory," is because it seems as though many of these conservatives forgot how they got to where they are. It reminds me of President Obama's "you didn't build that" quote being taken out of context and the entire Republican National Convention centering around people who told their stories about how they built their businesses with no help of any kind. Sure, it's perfectly fine to be proud of one's business and success, but it'd be pure denial to think we found success in adulthood without any help along the way. Sadly, though, that seems to be the mindset of many conservatives. Now that they've found success, they want to keep all of their hard-earned money for themselves and provide as little in taxes for the country and its citizens as humanly possible. Sure, on one hand, that's perfectly understandable; it however showcases a lack of heart, memory, and appreciation of everything they took for granted which helped pave the way to their success. When they were growing up, who helped fund the schools which provided them education? The taxpayers. When they were growing up, who helped keep their streets safe by paying the police and firefighters? The taxpayers. Who helped to continually progress society in providing a growing number of people even greater opportunities than in years past? The taxpayers.
When I was in school or in the library as a kid, I never once thought about how the school was built, who paid for it, or anything like that. I sadly took it for granted. I never wondered why there weren't ever any robberies or muggings around the area in which my family and I lived. I sadly took it for granted. I never wondered who was in charge of fixing up the roads and how they were paid. I sadly took it for granted. Once adulthood struck me, though, that's when I could reflect back on everything I took for granted growing up, finally come to fully appreciate all the people and events which helped pave the way to where I am now, and that's when I knew I was a liberal. Without my parents, my teachers, and taxpayers I had never even met, I wouldn't have been afforded the opportunities I had growing up, and it'd feel extremely selfish and childish on my part to not want to help provide those same opportunities to the kids of today, tomorrow, and years from now.
It's like I said at the outset, the quote should no longer read, "If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative at 40, you have no brain;" it should instead read, "If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart. If you're not a liberal at 40, you have no heart and no memory."
Granted, given how old this quote is, the original author may not believe it fully applies today since the definitions of the terms liberal and conservative have changed through the years. However, after thinking about it, if it did, I'd probably alter the quote to this: "If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart. If you're not a liberal at 40, you have no heart and no memory."
Even with many modern-day conservatives, I often hear the rhetoric, "Well, when you're in college, still depending on mom and dad, and not making much money, yeah, it's easy to be a liberal. However, when you become a conservative, that's when you know you'll have grown up and become an actual adult."
Yes, when we're young, in college, feeling free, discovering ourselves, opening ourselves up to new experiences, and having a great deal of fun, it's probably quite common to label ourselves as liberal or progressive, especially when it comes to social issues. When it comes to economic issues, we probably haven't come to fully understand what they all entail, so we choose not to think about them a great deal. So I can understand the first part of the original quote: "If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart." However, in this day and age, I'm having trouble understanding the latter portion of the quote: "If you're not a conservative at 40, you have no brain."
The reason many conservatives feel this way is due to finances - whether it be income, bills, or especially taxes. However, the reason why I'd alter the latter half of the quote to, "If you're not a liberal at 40, you have no heart and no memory," is because it seems as though many of these conservatives forgot how they got to where they are. It reminds me of President Obama's "you didn't build that" quote being taken out of context and the entire Republican National Convention centering around people who told their stories about how they built their businesses with no help of any kind. Sure, it's perfectly fine to be proud of one's business and success, but it'd be pure denial to think we found success in adulthood without any help along the way. Sadly, though, that seems to be the mindset of many conservatives. Now that they've found success, they want to keep all of their hard-earned money for themselves and provide as little in taxes for the country and its citizens as humanly possible. Sure, on one hand, that's perfectly understandable; it however showcases a lack of heart, memory, and appreciation of everything they took for granted which helped pave the way to their success. When they were growing up, who helped fund the schools which provided them education? The taxpayers. When they were growing up, who helped keep their streets safe by paying the police and firefighters? The taxpayers. Who helped to continually progress society in providing a growing number of people even greater opportunities than in years past? The taxpayers.
When I was in school or in the library as a kid, I never once thought about how the school was built, who paid for it, or anything like that. I sadly took it for granted. I never wondered why there weren't ever any robberies or muggings around the area in which my family and I lived. I sadly took it for granted. I never wondered who was in charge of fixing up the roads and how they were paid. I sadly took it for granted. Once adulthood struck me, though, that's when I could reflect back on everything I took for granted growing up, finally come to fully appreciate all the people and events which helped pave the way to where I am now, and that's when I knew I was a liberal. Without my parents, my teachers, and taxpayers I had never even met, I wouldn't have been afforded the opportunities I had growing up, and it'd feel extremely selfish and childish on my part to not want to help provide those same opportunities to the kids of today, tomorrow, and years from now.
It's like I said at the outset, the quote should no longer read, "If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative at 40, you have no brain;" it should instead read, "If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart. If you're not a liberal at 40, you have no heart and no memory."
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