April 20, 2009
We’re not all spoiled brats.

Posted at 9:45 pm, in: Republican Party
Tags: Bid Sexy, Cynthia Yockey, Little Miss Attila, Pundit and Pundette, S.Logan, The Other McCain

S.Logan had a post today that claims our generation is full of spoiled brats and has never known the true meaning of sacrifice. I would like to leave this alone, but I am called upon to respond. And, I must share some of my personal life history, although anecdotal, in my pursuit to refute this claim and then explain why my refutation matters.

I am no spoiled brat. I know what it means to sacrifice. I am the child of a single mother who supported five children without help. We were poor kids growing up in a very rich town, next door to even richer towns. I know the kids she is talking about, but that small fraction of our generation is not an accurate picture.

I know sacrifice like most people in my social circles don’t. I had my first job when I was twelve. I was a live-in nanny in Martha’s Vineyard. I’m from Connecticut. So, I lived away from home and was a live-in nanny before I could drive, or do much else. I worked the day I turned thirteen, watching a six-year-old. They (the family) took me out to dinner, but I spent the rest of the night watching their child in their home where my only transportation out was a bicycle.

Shortly after that, I started babysitting in my neighborhood, until I turned 16. At that point, I got a job at the Genovese opening up in the new shopping center. I would ride my bike to and from work. I rode my bike the two miles there just to fill out the application. That was what necessity dictated. There was no extra money in my home. I bought my own clothes for school starting at 13.

When they experienced layoffs, I got a job at the local grocery store. This was my life. I was responsible for me. There wasn’t any allowance or “Mom, can I get $20 to go see a movie?” There was me. Whatever I wanted to do was up to how much I worked for it.

I finished off my senior year in high school with three part-time jobs, often going from one job to another. I did my first year at the local community college, before moving up to Roger Williams University (otherwise referred to as Rich White Undergrad).

There, I overloaded on classes (six per semester when the average student took four) while working two jobs, equaling approximately forty-five hours per work, while finding time to join, found, and hold leadership positions in several clubs, while authoring articles for several college newspapers. At one point, I was so desperate for tuition money that I sold my car. To say that I don’t know sacrifice is more than just an incorrect exaggeration.

There are plenty of people in my generation that are just like me. They just haven’t realized that conservative ideas better suit their path in life than the liberal ones they have probably been fed. See, people like me tend to feel a level of guilt. A guilt that spoiled brats just can’t understand. We feel guilty that we made it when so many others we know didn’t. We feel guilt for our success. And, guess what party, what ideology, those feelings naturally draw us into? Look at someone like Bill Gates. What drives him to be so liberal when liberal policies are inherently against his best interests?

I was drawn into conservatism because I got sick of it all. I got sick of the fact that I was working my butt off while the government was taking my money (through taxation) to support those who weren’t willing to sacrifice. They weren’t even willing to work. Don’t forget, I was poor. I have seen abuses of welfare. I was the friend of kids whose mothers were on welfare and used their checks to buy drugs.

I have attended CPAC for many years. I usually end up talking to a lot of people that want to hear everything I have to say, and I have always wondered why. Now I get it—it’s because they have never met anybody like me. Their backgrounds are all so similar—rich, white, taken care of—they can’t grasp the knowledge I have of the everyday person. I have the degree from Roger Williams. I’ll soon have the degree from Johns Hopkins. My resume stands up to theirs. Yet, I seem to get something no one else there gets.

I have sacrificed, more than, and less than, plenty of others in our generation. What we need to figure out is how to draw more people like me in. Pawlenty can slap a label on people. Perhaps I fit into his “Sam’s Club Republicans” group. I don’t know. But, I know this much, I find it insulting. As I’m sure most of the people he would categorize this way do.

For a party that defines itself by preserving the rights of the individual, the Republicans have certainly failed in tapping into a core constituency. We are here: people who have built their lives living on Republican principles. We just might not realize it. And, until it is brought to our attention, we will continue to support liberal policies based on guilt. Like the minority who can only contribute his success to his own hard work that promotes affirmative action, we need to be reached by the message of how personal responsibility, instead of government welfare, is the only way that all can hope to succeed.

Don’t get me wrong, I think there are plenty of people in this generation, and those coming up (with their cell phones at age 9) that are spoiled. But, there are plenty of us who are not. It’s just that our upbringing has positioned us to be more inclined with the Democrats. It’s not always about social issues. I just wish that conservatives (Republicans?) would get this.

Republicans get angry that they are always seen as the party of the rich. I don’t believe that. They are not the party of the rich. They are also not the party of the poor. Both parties ignore the poor, and both are headed and ruled by elitists. The general public gets that and that is why most people don’t vote and the ones who do are more inclined to identify as independents.

I don’t think my generation is filled with more spoiled brats than the last. But, perhaps that’s just the social circles I run. What do I know?

UPDATE: As many of you may know, other than our battle for Big Sexy, S.Logan and I have only met once. Due to the geographical distance between us, we have not had the opportunity to have a sleep over filled with painting each other’s nails, doing each other’s hair and the obligatory pillow fight (in our panties of course!). That has kept us from really getting to know each other on a personal level, and only allowed us to stumble upon our similar histories through blogging.

Perhaps, as a generation we are spoiled. We have been coddled. We have never been asked to sacrifice. But, whose fault is that? Surely it is not our own. President Bush was presented with an opportunity to present our generation with a call to arms; instead he presented us with a call to shopping. When I hear the older generations talking negatively about our generation it aggravates me. I mean, who raised us? If we’re so spoiled, who did the spoiling? But, that’s beside the point.

I have enjoyed every part of my life and wouldn’t give any of it back. What you got was a snapshot, not my life story. There are plenty of people who have had it way worse than me. A fact that I have always been aware of. Perhaps I fit into the spoiled brat category, but I know there are members of our generation who don’t.

My point was more political than personal. And that just because our generation hasn’t been asked or forced to sacrifice on a grand scale, doesn’t mean none of us know what real sacrifice is, are incapable of it, or are spoiled.

I guess I disagree with her premise that in America “excess pervades even the lowest common denominator of society.” Simply being American, born in America, does not mean that you grew up with excess. I know from personal experience that there are plenty of people in America who are barely living.

Republicans and conservatives could do a lot to attract members of our generation like me. My point is that, we are lured into the Democrat party because even though we got out of our situations through hard work and dedication, we still know so many who didn’t. We are convinced by liberals that as someone who did succeed, it is our responsibility, through government programs, to support those who didn’t. Since we’re not hearing an effective conservative message tell us otherwise, we fall into the wrong line.

Instead of labeling a whole generation spoiled, why not consider that there are many who aren’t and that those people are likely receptive to the conservative line? When people aren’t being insulted with labels (whether being labeled spoiled, Sam’s Club Republicans, etc.), they might be more receptive to our message. It has to start with the acknowledgement that not everyone has lived a life of privilege and excess.

As for our generation making sacrifices, don’t worry, our time for sacrifice will come. Just as the generations below us will be forced to sacrifice, too. At some point, the bill the politicians are running up will come due. And, it won’t be the “Greatest Generation” that pays for it. They’ll all be dead by then.

Check out what others are saying about this story as it develops: The Other McCain, Pundit and Pundette, A Conservative Lesbian, and Little Miss Attila.

UPDATE II: Apparently, I was linked with my own memeorandum thread. I’m pretty psyched about it! This is only my second time. It’s been over a month since my first.I just didn’t know the proper protocol the last time. Now, I’m on it. Will update posts in future to reflect linkage on Memeorandum.

UPDATE III: Troglopundit weighs in.