That’s the more common path according to popular conventional wisdom…especially within conservative/establishment circles.
A reason why I found it surprising when several HS classmates who were staunch outspoken conservatives/Ayn Rand Libertarians during out HS years moved far to the left as adults after several years in the military/workforce.
Especially considering they didn’t start the conversion process until years after their last day in undergrad/grad/professional school in college and some served in the military and participated in OIF/Afghanistan. So the college/university wasn’t a very large direct factor in their dramatic political conversion.
I just wanted to add a counter-example. I don’t know how things break overall. About your OIF example, I can definitely see how someone who has been in a real war can be strongly opposed to war afterwards (actually, either way). I went to BAMC with my father several times at the end and got to see the results of war first hand.
IME, most people do tend to get more conservative as they age. However, this really depends on the individual and his/her personality.
While economics may be a motivating factor, it is not necessarily in ways one may think.
For instance, nearly all the HS friends who went from being staunch vocal conservatives/Ayn Rand Libertarians to being staunch progressive Democrats or Socialists(Probably would be considered equivalent to left-leaning Social Democrats in Europe) have become much more well off and are in tax brackets which conventional wisdom assumes tend to lean more Conservative/Libertarian if their main focus was on economic self-interest.
Am shocked most of them currently would fit in far better in the campus culture of my undergrad(Oberlin) when I attended(mid-late '90s) than I did.
Indeed.
In my old former working-class NYC neighborhood, the Vietnam Veterans were evenly split on the rightfulness of the war or the use of military force. Half denounced the anti-Vietnam War protests or any voiced opposition…half joined the protests and continue to voice their anti-Vietnam War views. Made for very interesting heated arguments in the neighborhood and local Veterans center while I was a kid growing up.
Liberal arts means being open minded. That’s all that liberal means. So the two (a liberal arts education and being a liberal) are inextricably linked. The original article was is so twisted, as the writer sets aside reality to support an illiberal world view 100% at odds with his or her education. And, oh god, “echo chamber” is the most trite way to criticize liberals.