Most of us have that one commercial, or series of commercials, that absolutely makes us swear we will never buy the advertised product or service. For me, it’s the long-running string by Progressive Insurance featuring an overaged soyboy “counselor” trying and failing to convince new homeowners that buying a home should not automatically make them fall into speech patterns and behavior patterns mimicking the parents of boomers. The implication is you should do everything possible to avoid becoming the stereotypical image of 1950s to 1970s suburban Americans.
The problem is that unless your parents, singularly or together, were either absent or abusive, there are and forever will be cherished traits handed down from them to you that you wisely refuse to discard. I’ve never met a person with perfect parents, for they were or are as stubbornly human as you and I. But they tried their best and often got it right. Mine certainly did.
From my father, I inherited a thirst for knowledge, a love of reading, and a desire to know the heavenly things that have remained in my heart since first climbing aboard the Jesus Freak bus in the mid-1970s, much to his traditional Catholic heart’s mixture of amusement and delight. I gladly carry on his sense of humor whenever permitted and his love of multiple forms of music. I’m not entirely sure what I’ve carried over from my mom, although when my remaining siblings and I discuss the matter, an ability to nag suggests itself. On a less flippant note, she had quite a sense of humor and a work ethic second to none, the latter at least occasionally rearing its head when I may be going through the motions of one task or another but always doing so at the maximum efficiency I can muster. Even though my father has been gone for 25 years and my mother for well over a decade, it still takes very little jogging of the memory to bring on the faraway stare, followed by looking away in an effort to stem the tears.
It’s interesting that Progressive runs such an ad campaign, for in its existence, it has more than lived up to its name. Even the far left-leaning “fact” checker Snopes admits its former CEO, the late Peter Lewis, donated millions to liberal causes. Recently, Progressive has received sharp criticism from shareholders for emphasizing DEI over merit in hiring decisions. Whether the ads intentionally or otherwise reflect an inherent progressive (no pun intended) bias against traditional values is a matter of conjecture, but regardless of intent, that is precisely how they come off.
With all due respect to the late William F. Buckley, conservatism does not consist of standing athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it. There is no freezing in time within conservatism. It lives and breathes, bringing those elements of the past worth preserving and pursuing into the present. One of these is the family unit and its inherent handing down of heritage and traditions from one generation to the next. Those of us blessed with loving parents gladly say what they used to say and do what they used to do, no matter how antiquated it makes us appear to our children or younger associates in life. You’re wrong, Progressive Insurance. Some of us do want to turn into our parents. We, and the world, are better for it.
