Reply #85: For authoritarian types, it's not a question of belief,

[JDPriestly]

it's a question of power. Democrats used to be the most powerful party. When the guys who switched to become conservative later in life were growing up, they perceived that the authority, the power was with the Democrats, so they allied themselves with the Democrats.

They don't "believe" things the way the rest of us do. They derive pleasure from being authoritarian, from having and exercising power over others in a certain way that makes them feel somehow in control. So, they think they believe this idea or that idea, but really, it's about power and control and establishing a structure of rules and all the things that go along with an authoritarian personality.