i think anyone who knows me personally could tell you i'm not a huge fan of the conservative movement in this country, for much the same reason i'm not a huge fan of people who eat too loud, spit on the sidewalk or are just generally totally inconsiderate of the people around them. i was raised by parents who emphasized the importance of staying the hell out of other people's business. if it's your personal issue and you don't feel like sharing it with me, i respect that. i'll be here waiting to help you anyway, if you ever need to ask. i feel like that's just a normal human consideration of other human beings' right to make their own decisions.
thus, the conservative attempts to legislate what people who are not conservative can do with their bodies or with their love offends me not just politically - it offends me morally. if we're talking morality here, people, let's consider how morally offensive it is to dare to force your personal opinions on people who don't share your viewpoint. ugh. it's hypocritical and gross and i can't deal with it.
however, i have decided that when i have children, while i will be raising them as tiny heathens who (gasp!) respect and love everyone because of their differences, i will be taking one page from a conservative handbook: namely, i will teach my children how to manage their money. i grew up in an incredibly fortunate family, where money was never an issue and i always had more than enough. that was wonderful and there is no non-disgusting way of complaining about it. unfortunately, because money was there and because it was used for things like food and clothes and sports uniforms (and not vacation houses or trips to europe), it became something that was never discussed. taken for granted, perhaps. a middle class existence was expectation, and as such, while we never felt money as a motivator (something i am very grateful for), we also never learned how to go without. because of this, i graduated from college, jobless, and continued to eat out, drive around all the time, refused to move back home to save money, etc. again, i did nothing extravagant - i just didn't know to live within my very different budget.
the terrible thing is i still do it. i still operate under the assumption that despite not living with or being supported by my parents who are twenty years more advanced in their careers than i am, i can spend money like i am.
so, conservatives, teach me how to keep my children out of debt, how to force them to start funds for college and for home ownership, how to get them to understand living within one's means.
this liberal hippy has no idea how to do it.
