I'll never forget the reason one boomer told me. They used to be a "leftist" hippy, but is now your typical conservative sucker. When I asked what happened to cause that change, I got the answer, "Just stopped caring about others." That's exaxtly the attitude you're describing.

Yeah, when boomers were getting into their thirties, the free-loving sixties were being replaced by the threat of AIDs and nuclear war. I guess I can get why those things might make people "conservative". Not that that word means what it meant then anymore.