United Liberty

Even though my most recent article for the conservative magazine Parcbench could understandably lead you to think otherwise, I am not a fan of abstinence campaigns. Abstinence campaigns are more obsessed with saving it for marriage, a legal contract that has little to do with love (I know people that have had decade long relationships without getting married and others that got married and then divorced months later), as opposed to the person who makes you feel comfortable. This was greatly satirized in an episode of King of the Hill in which Luanne marries a guy she just met because her and the guy really want to sleep together.

That’s partly why I’m rolling my eyes at Bristol Palin’s current campaign for abstinence. Beyond the fact that she obviously didn’t follow what she’s now preaching, there’s something really uncomfortable about someone publically regretting their sexual past while holding a living, breathing baby in their hands. That baby is going to grow up and possibly watch the video of their mother preaching abstinence. How are they going to feel about their parent publically regretting their creation? The thought that using children as public relations props may be a little tacky probably never crossed the mind of Bristol, whose mother last year at the Republican National Convention passed around her own children on stage like a joint at a Grateful Dead concert.

I’m also rolling my eyes because I can’t help but wonder why Bristol Palin is famous. She’s no more than the daughter of a woman who failed to become Vice President of the United States. She hasn’t done anything exceptional besides get pregnant, which, as Matt Lauer notes on the Today Show, doesn’t seem to be very exceptional for girls her age. I personally have tired greatly of seeing the sons, daughters and wives of famous people acquire fame for no other reason than genetic and marital association. Some people actually work for recognition.