Bear with me. I didn’t know what I was expecting when I clicked on an article titled “Liberals Need Parenting Lessons” from a website called Right Pundits. No, actually, I do know what I was expecting. Exactly this. The author, Suzanne Venker, asserts that liberals need parenting lessons, based on the thesis of a book titled Born Liberal, Raised Right. Children are born liberal, and it takes a super smart conservative parent to tame their self-interest:
Bradley explains that it takes a conservative upbringing to quell a child’s natural desire for self-interest — and adds that most parents today, most of whom are children of baby boomers, were not raised in socially conservative households (though some of their parents may vote Republican for financial reasons). Thus, they were not taught self-control as a virtue — and few have trained their own children to have it.
So. Many. Things. Wrong. About. That. Statement.
Venker goes on to say that liberals are raised to feel “entitled.” She writes, “[sic] They’re ‘rights’ are far more important than anything else, and personal responsibility has fallen by the wayside.” The Constitution guarantees us our rights, so we’re legally entitled to them. The personal responsibility that Venker talks about must be the one to impose your values on others.
And if you really want to read the rest, check it out at Right Pundits.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I think generalizations are generally bad, but growing up in Marin, I see where this author is coming from.
I can’t get past the typo of they’re instead of their in the first sentence, let alone read the actual piece.
Cathy, why are you snubbing your nose because of a typo. I know this here is a liberal blog but its not fair to ignore the point because the author makes a little mistake. Are you going to raise your kids to ignore something becuase of a slip on the keyboard? The author makes a good point, doesn’t matter about “they’re/their”.
I don’t think I quite understand how “self-interest” is tied to being liberal, which seems to be the main assertion of this Right Pundits article. In fact, it seems to be the opposite. The Republican party stands for most issues having to do with individual self-interest — like an emphasis on private business — whereas the Democrats often push for social reforms.
I’m not implying that one is right and one is wrong, but I think “self-interest” (and I don’t mean that in a negative way) seems to be a core conservative value.
It seems to me the problem is this….all of us see too many self entitled children (you know the ones, I don’t even have to describe them). Whether we see more or less in our generation would be an interesting discussion to have, and one the author brings up with her “baby boomer comment”. Where she runs into enormous trouble is when she ascribes self entitled children to “liberal” parenting, as if having leftist ideals somehow destines a child to self entitlement, and right ideals provides a child with more manners. Self entitled children come from both conservative as well as liberal parenting skills. It simply depends on the parents. If the parents are selfish and self entitled, so will the children be.