I think the only reason for the general trajectory of getting more right wing (or to put it another way, becoming less prepared to challenge established thinking and established order) as we get older is that we get more bought off and compromised by the system (mortgages, loans, trying to start businesses and become mini-me capitalists). We therefore seek to intellectually rationalise and justify the inevitable. But you know what? It’s all crap, an illusory pack of cards which collapses whenever the economy catches a cold.
So the moral of the tale? Stay alert, bullshit detector (thanks, Joe Strummer) in hand. Those with money power and status want us to stay docile and subscribe to their injustices, here in the UK and worldwide (hello Egypt – show us the way!) Don’t – fight the power (thanks, Public Enemy) and stay critical leftists. I’m 59 and it works for me – infact I don’t think I have any alternative.