|
I (and my partner, and soon my siblings) am in my 50s, my mother is (and my father was) in her 70s. We vote(d) NDP. Every one of us. Well, the Mtl brother voted PQ once or twice, but now I think he probably doesn't vote in that respect.
Yup, a lot of my mum's neighbours in the senior cits' apt building north of Toronto (approximately Stronach territory) will vote Tory til the day they die, even though there are no Tories left to vote for. And I suspect even some of the blue- and pink-collar workers in my old subdivision in East London Ont. (like my mum's best friend's husband, a retired auto worker) don't vote NDP -- although they've elected NDPers in that area a few times.
But let's not forget -- when they were your age, there weren't any nasty loony right-wing parties really, either. They could vote for Bill Davis, or Diefenbaker, and not exactly be voting for the destruction of all things Canadian and the trampling of the downtrodden. The Liberals (for whatever reason) brought us universal health care; Diefenbaker made the first efforts toward establishing the CPP. Uncle Bill was running the show here in Ontario when I was a footloose undergraduate, and I had student loans, and summer job projects -- and health care -- and prospects. I mean, I never actually voted for him, but life wasn't that bad.
The life-long Conservatives and Liberals mostly didn't vote against anybody else having anything, back when they themselves had more than they have now, and then turn around and whine when they are the ones in need.
Or, as I think you're saying, deliberately turn around and try to take away from everyone else what they had when they needed it. It's the parties that have changed, not the old people, for the most part, I'd say. And sometimes it's just difficult to learn new tricks at an age when you really shouldn't have to be worrying about politics. ;)
|