I do love it when liberals stick their proverbial foot in their mouth in an attempt to cry unfairness and racism. Take Brooklyn-based, The Guardian and Marie Claire writer, Jessica Valenti, for example. (I know, Brooklyn, The Guardian and Marie Claire…it doesn’t get more cliche than that, folks!)

Yesterday, Valenti responded to a New York Times opinion piece written by Senator Ben Sasse suggesting parents “put their kids to work” over the summer:

So yeah, work ethic is good. But when Republicans say young people need to work harder, I think we know which young people they mean

— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) July 29, 2017

I think we know which young people they mean?

From Sasse’s column:

“We’re parenting too much, too long. Our efforts to protect our kids from hurt feelings, tedious chores, money worries and the like are well intentioned. But many of us, perhaps especially middle-class parents, are unwittingly enabling many of our kids to not grow up.”-Ben Sasse

Soooo raaaaaaacist, I’d say!

Give me a moment, please, as I break down Valenti’s logic. Valenti has made a living on writing about the double standards that exist between men and women.Feministing founder, Valenti, argued for partial-birth abortion after giving birth to her 28 week-old preemie daughter and having a “life-threatening illness where the only cure was delivery of the baby”. (On a side-note, I believe I had the same life-threatening illness but my philosophy differs. To each, their own.) Her other arguments for being pro-abortion include having a “sh*tty boyfriend”, from her memoir, Sex Object and that an abortion is just like “donating a kidney”. So, obviously, in her brain, a Republican senator suggesting parents put their adolescents to work over the summer logically equates to perpetuating racism!

As an adult who manages high school-aged young men and women over the summers on a technology team for schools, I have experienced the gamut of kids. Last year, I had two high-schoolers who wanted for nothing. One spent a great deal of his time on YouTube (even after I spoke to them both about cell phone usage) and the other wanted to take off every other week and go to camp, go running with her friends or whatever in the middle of the day. They both drove nicer cars than my old 13 year-old Honda (which we eventually replaced with a sweet ride). They had nothing to motivate them and actually wanted their last day of employment to be a week before the cutoff because they did not want to run to the office to fill out a time sheet for only the first few days of September the following week! They did not need the money because whatever they did not make, Mom and Dad covered for them. I dreaded going into leading another summer this year but in contrast, this year has been completely different. In fact, over the past week, I have seen the three 16 year-olds placed on my team literally transform and make great strides. In the month they have taken on this summer job they have gone from playing on their phones, grunting at me in sheer reluctance to asking me, “what needs to be done next?” They still moan and groan if it is a task they do not like but now, we all laugh and they do it. One of these young men works two jobs. When I asked him why he chooses to work two jobs, he simply answered, “because I like money”. For all of them, this is their first job. When I told them on Friday that they got paid, they checked their bank accounts online immediately for their deposit and were so excited to have money. I saw the smiles on their faces. One is saving to travel to Japan to see a cousin. The other two are saving to buy some new gadgets for their computers. Their expressions when they received their pay were not that of oppression but of pride and freedom and confidence. I have developed a great amount of respect for these kids. I smiled to myself and remembered that feeling as a 16 year-old girl baking donuts in a local supermarket bakery. I had car insurance money, I had gas money, I had money for that new outfit…I had freedom! I was not shackled to the bakery counter and told that I had to stay there indefinitely.

I worked all the way through college because, like Valenti, I had to. My parents did not have the financial means of supporting me to solely focus on my studies. While that would have been nice and I did apply for grants and scholarships, I was (and still am) a white girl with a middle-class background and my parents made “too much” for me to qualify for such programs. But, still, according to the logic of Jessica Valenti, I perpetuated racism (and I guess she did, too) by working through my college career! Would it have been nice to not have to work and focus on my studies? Sure. But those opportunities were given to those of different racial and economic backgrounds. And still some of those opportunities were afforded to young white kids like me who just happened to have parents financially able to take care of everything. Let it be noted that some of the latter (not all) could not get themselves out of a paper bag if they tried upon graduating college.

But by all means, liberal feminists, because a Republican MAN put it out there in the universe that it might be a good idea for parents to put kids to work over the summer, it is a sexist and racist notion and it must be stopped! Just give them a chance to “focus on their studies”. See? It landed Chelsea Clinton a half-a-million-dollar salary her first year out of college, right? She didn’t dig in no corn fields and would you look at her?! According to this logic, we should let our kids sit around all summer and “focus on their studies” because I am sure that is exactly what the kids who are not working are doing all day! Parents, you fork over all for gas money, a new car for each kid because brother and sister couldn’t possibly share, all the car insurance bills and you make sure to make dinner, wash the dishes, clean the toilets, take out the trash and vacuum when you get home after a hard day at the office, too because working hard and earning your own keep is the symbol of RACISM and all that is wrong with this country! Then, these kids can turn around and cry “racism” when they get denied a job (because of no work experience) when they “grow up”. Or, when they get laid off of their current jobs because they demanded higher minimum wages despite their work experience (or lack thereof) and their employers can’t afford to pay them and they go on government assistance, they can cry “racism” again. Excuse me whilst I bang my head against my desk right now. Make it stop, please!