Your politics is your psychology

[Lamplighter]

In the OP, UT took a very personal view of the way psychology influences a person's politics.
For some, maybe they can identify the personal influences
(or lack thereof) that lead to their current politics.

But I can't. I had a very calm, nondescript childhood.
There were no family catastrophes, no extreme poverty or wealth,
just run-of-the-mill working parents.
So, why am I a flaming, bleeding-heart, liberal ?

I think it's because of phenomena described in a book titled "Generations"
by W.Strauss and N.Howe, published back in 1991.
It's subtitle is "The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069"

In it, a generation is about 22 years, and the authors identify and name 20 periods
of American history, starting with the "Puritan " generation born between 1584-1614.
The authors describe four life periods as Childhood, Rising, Midlife, and Elder
for ages up to 21, 43, 61 and 87, respectively.
When the generations are plotted graphed against time as they move
through the four life periods, the authors refer to it as "generational diagonals".

So far, nothing unusual...
We frequently use "Babyboomer", "Gen X" and "Millennial" to describe our present generations,
and easily recognize natural periods of youth, adult, midlife, and elderly.

What makes Generations unique are three new concepts of what
might be called a cohort psychology.
First, the authors classified all 20 generations into one of 4 types,
named "Idealist", "Reactive", "Civic", and "Adaptive".
Second, and what is remarkable, is these 4 types fall into a chronological cycle,
that has been repeated 5 times through American history.
Third, and most important, the authors describe the interactions between
the living generations as they move through their generational diagonal.

My age group was named the "Silent" generation.
I followed the "G.I." generation and lead the "Boomers" through all phases of my life.
The factors that influenced this SILENT cohort are quite accurately described (p 279-294).
- the vigor and civic activities of the WWII vets (FHA, GI bill, labor unions, etc.)
- the improvements of incomes as farm families become suburban homeowners
- the advancements of science, such as from life-threatening asthma to healthy adulthood
- the "pill" and the subsequent sexual revolution, and decline in the control by religions
- the politics, faith, and desires to improve society through better government
- the civil rights movement and the rejection of the biases of our parents

I do think these are what contributed to me becoming a proud and flaming liberal.