For generations liberals have said the conservatives will die off-- Why hasn't their prophecy come to fruition?
"If you are not a liberal when you are young, you don't have a heart. But if you are not a conservative when you are older, then you don't have a brain" --Winston Churchill. Mighty smart guy, that Churchill.
Are Millennials getting more Liberal or more Conservative as they get older?
Millennials are bifurcating in much the same way as previous generations. Some Millennials are enthralled with the new Republican administration and Republican Congress, precisely because those branches of government are more conservative than ever.Where there is a migration to the so-called liberal side is in the embrace of people of diverse ethnicities, races, and gender identities. Many Millennials have treasured friends from high school who are different from them, demographically. Even though our schools remain segregated in many ways, there is still more appreciation (in many regions, but certainly not all) that people who are demographically different are not people who deserve discriminatory treatment. Perhaps the most obvious instance is that of gender identity. Millennials had friends in high school who were gay or lesbian or transgender or bisexual… and many know for sure that these are “normal” people with a particular gender identity.This has nothing to do with aging. It has to do with coming of age at the beginning of the 21st century.
What are politically liberal values?
This varies so greatly by country that it's almost impossible to answer. In Europe, liberalism often refers to classical liberalism, which means free markets and market-based mechanisms for governance (as opposed to conservatism which meant monarchy and its intellectual heirs). In America, proud liberals define themselves as tough-minded progressives who believe that government can play a role in making society more just and prosperous. Their enemies view them as promoting policies based on instinctive (and soft-headed) first principles without thought to dynamic consequences. Liberals say that they promote freedom from intrusive government (e.g., in the bedroom), while their enemies say that they promote intrusive government (e.g., on-campus political correctness, government prohibitions on consensual relationships in the marketplace). The best of liberalism across all of these definitions is an embrace of the Enlightenment's proper enunciation of human beings as worthy by virtue of their humanity. Liberalism believes that humanity can improve through self-will and self-government and rational actions.
Do liberals inevitably win? I mean, most liberal are young and the conservatives old, they die and the liberals becomes conservatives when the next generation comes.
It depends on what you mean by liberal. These days the label is used to refer to Democrats in general, but democrats vary from liberal to progressive to downright communist, and varying overlap between groups, just as conservatives are not a monolithic group. The U.S. government and system is founded on true classical liberal values, which is primarily what most conservatives are interested in conserving. If we go full socialist for instance, and 30 years from now the “conservatives” are the ones attempting to preserve that scenario while others call for change, it would be hard to say liberals “won”. Politics is often like a pendulum, which swings both ways at different times. Ultimately, it's not about “winning” beyond the short term, it's about results and the impacts on our lives.But being the most successful experimentation in classical liberal values such as freedom and equality throughout the entire world, it's difficult for me to ever agree that it is time to be more like other nations; to the contrary, other nations need to be more like us. Those that look to European systems as an aspiration overlook the economic repercussions of the deals created by the cold war, and the way current and past NATO funding is/was achieved and who pays what. Without our significant contribution, most European nations would be destitute enacting such policies, poor decisions regarding mass migration aside. They also often overlook how those electoral systems are geared to dilute voter's voices while empowering the elite, despite being more direct voting systems. When entire ideas and concepts are outlawed, voting means little, and when it is illegal to legitimately criticize detrimental policies, it's hard to view such a system as democratic in any way, shape or form.
Why are young people under 18/ Generation Z more conservative/Republican.?
Is diversity growing in schools? Seems to me division is growing. I think you are mistaken. Liberals and their identity politics purposely dividing people is catching up with them. My gen Z kid has a bunch of criticism for the current road. Brand new to society how could someone accept what is not working as their path. Liberals once advocated for the bill of rights, today they seek to destroy it. It's a team that has gone off the rails. Being a liberal does not mean actually being liberal. My daughter pledges allegiance to neither team. She is willing to embrace or discard a traditional value or progress based on it's value rather than team spirit. Not being on the team means you are on the other by default to create division. Her and her other race boyfriend mock racism. They threaten to destroy a powerful tool of division by not giving power to it. True progressive to me coming from seemingly conservative kids. Nothing is wrong with these kids; our scale is broken.
What exactly is liberalism? Do you think its definition changes every few generation?
Question: “What exactly is liberalism? Do you think its definition changes every few generation?”It’s not so much that the definition changes. More like the goal posts keep moving.Liberalism is in opposition to conservatism. It’s the loosening of society, of mores. Changing the old, stifling ways for something better. It’s about freedom and liberties and making society safe for everyone.Throughout human society, for the past 9,000 years of settled civilization, there have been two classes in society: the top elite and the masses they rule. The top being Kings, Emperors, aristocracy, Priests, warlords, generals and the like. The masses, the 99%, were the workers, peasants, serfs, slaves, soldiers and the like. The elite have always manipulated things so they remain standing on top, or try to. With rare exceptions the common folk remained on the bottom and suffered the poverty of life.Only in the past 500 years or so has a middle class emerged. A class made of specialists and traders, people who earned money without being a member of the top 1%. With that, changes to society occurred. The aristocrats took power away from the Kings, the commoners took power away from the aristocrats and the Church. The elite tried to conserve their power and wealth, the common folk tried to liberalize society and acquire more money and power.A thousand years ago a “liberal” might be someone who defied the power of the King or the Catholic Church. 500 years ago a “liberal” was someone who defied the power of the nobility/aristocrats and the conservatism of the Priests (Catholic or Protestant.) 160 years ago a “liberal” was someone who defied the power of the plantation slave masters, an abolitionist. 120 years ago a “liberal” was someone who defied the power of the Robber Barons. 100 years ago a “liberal” was someone who wanted women to vote and the repeal of Jim Crow laws. 50 years ago a “liberal” was someone who protested the Vietnam war or who wanted anti-pollution laws or who wanted pot to be legalized. 20 years ago a “liberal” wanted an end to discrimination. 10 years ago a “liberal” wanted the troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq and a stable economy. 2 years ago a “liberal” wanted a woman President and Trump and his “alt-right” supporters tossed into the garbage heap of history.Same definition, different goals.