TheNewGuy wrote:Having gone through a similar political transformation to what you've just described, and now almost entirely repulsed by my own "libertarian phase," I often wonder what it is that makes some of us come to the realization that apparently both you and I came to, and what, contrarily, is different for the people who continue their belief in libertarianism into their 20s and beyond. To me the growth "out" of libertarianism seemed to happen so naturally as to just seem commonsense, it felt like aging - but clearly that is not the case, as several people I know have stuck to their beliefs in spite of aging.
I think that's generally a process that happens when growing up, pretty much regardless of your actual ideology. I only became a libertarian at the age of 19 or something, and I was never so ideologically bound to it that I wouldn't have seen weaknesses at times - at least when taken to the extreme. On the contrary, much of my political beliefs I had with 14/15, when I started to be interested in politics, completely vanished, or at least transformed in significant ways.
But, as you say, it's not a necessary process, I've seen people stick with their ideologies throughout as well.
