I'm 45 years old. From the time I became “politically aware” at the age of 16 until just a few months ago, I identified as “right wing”.
Over the last year I've experienced multiple traumas, not the least of which is an ever-present fear of homelessness due to a 30% rent increase and no new rentals in sight. This has caused an existential crisis and a reevaluation of many things I though I knew.
As I look at the motives of people on the left and the right, what I see is this: the motive behind the policies of the left (many of which I still don't agree with) seems to boil down to the desire to help other people. The motive behind the policies of the right boils down to helping oneself. Further, if in helping oneself you get to hurt others, that's even better.
Once you see this, you can't unsee it. I never thought at 45 years old I'd be reading Marx and thinking, “I kind of agree with that”. The ranks of the prolitariate grow every day. Maybe it's not such a bad thing in the long run.