Side note: Don't discount the very real brain function changes that happen in people over 50, and continue to diminish at an accelerating rate until death. Ossification and the inability to take in new information is well documented, and everyone in senior leadership in any part of the government is at the very tail end of this decline. Cognitive abilities collapse by 70. Nobody over 65 should even be allowed to run for office, much less hold a senior policymaking position."One of the quandaries I ruminate over is "what makes a liberal/what makes a conservative." I've tried on a number of ideas and haven't rejected any of them; however, my current favorite hypothesis is that youth tend to be liberals because a liberal/progressive/permissive social structure tends to favor innovation and innovation favors the young. We grow conservative as we age, however, because we've accumulated wealth and resources and wish to retain them for future generations."