Our kids were raised in a very conservative household. One of them remains a conservative while the other has gone over to the other side. FOR NOW. I think he just tries to hold contrarian views because he knows he can get under our skin.
we raise them to THINK about things and what the two sides of an issue are and why we think the way we do. i am sorry, i used to be a liberal until i was taught how to think. my husband and i are both lawyers, and we live in northern VA. they go to private schools in DC. we live in a highly politicized environment, my husband used to work on the Hill. they cut their teeth on political discussions in our house. even my husband and i don’t see eye to eye on everything, though we are both conservatives. and on some things my kids are MORE conservative than i am.
maybe your son is just needling you with the contrarian stand, but i honestly believe that if you discuss issues and political philosophy in depth, the odds are that the kids will learn to THINK like a conservative, and not just be a brainwashed sponge. My oldest attends the U of Dallas, a private Catholic conservative university. she loves finally being around like-minded students and professors. My son will be attending Syracuse university in the fall, in their Information Sciences school. My husband is an alum, so we know what a leftwing bastion it is, and i am not concerned that my son will go to the dark side, because his HS was Jesuit and had plenty of leftists, he can handle it.