And I love it.
I myself do not identify with a political party per say. I generally try to vote for what I believe, and vote against what I do not believe. Sometimes, it means voting for one person. Sometimes it means diligently voting against a person. It all depends on political stance, and not on skin color, gender, religion, or party.
However, a lot of what this blog says though, is true for me. Not the part about the drinking or drugs... but the core essence of what its like to be a hardworking person. This generation of women (and men) signed our lives away to banks and to the government when we were 18 in search of a quality education. We spent four years waiting for the economy to"get better" only, that wait brought higher living expenses and higher tuition. We graduate, and some of us continue that wait; increasing that debt, spending more time in graduate programs, and graduating to an economy with no jobs. We do what our parents never had the option to do: we live back at our childhood homes with our parents. If we aren't living at home, we aren't making our loan payments. The country and culture that told us "You can have it all," is proving just the opposite. We cannot have "it all." I live at home so I can pay the government back for the degree that is hanging uselessly on my wall. I work for minimum wage and make my government and private loan payments every month. A friend of mine did indeed get a job in her degree field right out of college. It requires her to live away from home. She has had do declare forbearance on her loans and hasn't been able to make a payment yet because of her living expenses are too great.
We cannot have it all.
The stereotype of conservative vs. liberal women is harsh. The "liberal" woman's stereotype is more updated and forgiving. "An independent woman," they call her. "A culturally well rounded person," they say on her pro-gay marriage and pro-abortion stance. With those statements shapes the conservative woman to be more akin to a 1950's housewife: unmoving, unknowing, uneducated.
Times have changed.
The Conservative woman has gay friends. The conservative woman is okay with the concept of equal rights marriages. "Why can't everyone be happy?" says the conservative woman. The conservative woman is working too, just like the liberal woman, except the conservative woman has a hard time working for everything to be given away. The conservative woman wants to save her charity work for when she can donate her time, not just her money. The conservative woman wants to pick the people she chooses to help, instead of the government picking for her and forcing her to pay for their free phones and welfare. The conservative woman knows people of every race, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. The MODERN conservative woman is not the stiff, Laura Bush-esque woman you are making her out to be. She has eschewed the pencil skirt and blazer outfit for skinny jeans and a Kohl's top she got with her 30% off coupon. She works 2 or more jobs to pay her bills and fund her government mandated health care. That is what makes her "conservative." That is what makes people call her a "Republican." She wants to work hard, play hard, and keep most of what she earns. She wants to be able to "have it all" by working for it, not by having it given to her.
Maybe we should stop treating political parties like exclusive entities. "You either believe in all of it or none of it," seems to be the current mindset. In this country where a person can be born a male, yet identify as female, it appears that not even nature's work is permanent. If we can change our gender through our mindset and identify differently, can't our political views be just as murky and available for change and fluctuation?