So is the biggest part of the problem a social safety net, or is the problem more about the number of people contributing?
Conservative: A person who's received a higher education while at the same time not succumbing to left wing indoctrination. I have several in my immediate family. One who has an advanced engineering master's degree found it quite entertaining watching some students lap up the progressive bullshit, though he did indicated that the majority of students in his classes tended to be conservative.
They only appear indoctrinated to you. Had you received an education, including some psychology or philosophy, you'd know that already.
The reverse could be said. Unfortunately, too many liberals think there are no educated conservatives. They couldn't be further from the truth. Why don't you address my comment regarding great thinkers and educators like Thomas Sowell abandoning left wing philosophies after being immersed in them? He has plenty of education in philosophy.
About one type of indoctrination: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/390297/indoctrination-grievance-mongers-thomas-sowell From the article by Sowell: "There is so much knowledge and skills that need to be transmitted to the young that turning schools and colleges into indoctrination centers is a major and reckless disservice to them and to American society, which is vulnerable as all human societies have always been, especially those that are decent." Remember, he was a committed Marxist for a time.
Well, perhaps I was too harsh. At any rate, as we both apparently understand, the reverse can indeed be said. That is the chink in one's self-assurance armor. It's a big reason why liberals can seem so "wishy washy".