The Classically Abby Podcast - Ep. 9 ｜ Elisha Krauss On Feminism, Homeschooling, And The Importance of Conservatism

00:00:00.000 Chatting with Alicia Krauss all about feminism, homeschooling, and the importance of conservatism,

00:00:05.560 particularly for women.

00:00:07.460 All this and more on today's episode of the Classically Abbey podcast.

00:00:11.400 I'm so excited to have Alicia on the show.

00:00:30.860 I'm so glad you're here.

00:00:31.840 How are you doing?

00:00:33.040 Good.

00:00:33.600 Long time no see.

00:00:35.060 Yeah, it feels like it's been forever.

00:00:37.920 Actually, I don't know the last time we saw each other in person,

00:00:40.220 but I've known you for years.

00:00:42.660 Yeah, I think it might have been I was pregnant with my third and now I'm pregnant with my fourth.

00:00:47.940 Like, oh, my gosh.

00:00:49.180 Wire office with your, I think, then fiance.

00:00:52.920 Yeah, I think you're right.

00:00:54.820 I think that's exactly right.

00:00:56.880 So how is L.A. treating you?

00:00:59.060 Good.

00:00:59.720 I mean, this weird rain we're having, I told my husband the other day, I'm like,

00:01:03.640 did we just like transplant to Seattle and nobody told us?

00:01:07.760 Oh, my gosh.

00:01:11.140 I think it's been good because the aqueducts are filling up.

00:01:15.160 It's been good because it exposes government incompetence, but it's been bad because I'm sure

00:01:20.440 that you've heard in the San Bernardino Mountains, like Arrowhead, Big Bear area.

00:01:24.080 I think there's something like 11,000 residents stranded and without power.

00:01:28.860 And Gavin Newsom is sipping margaritas at a five-star resort in Baja.

00:01:32.860 So that's great.

00:01:34.200 Of course.

00:01:34.960 Of course he is.

00:01:37.180 So I'm really excited to get into it.

00:01:39.280 We're going to even talk or even going to touch on this topic on you staying in L.A.

00:01:42.600 But let's get started here because not all of my subscribers know what you do, and you

00:01:48.480 have been in the conservative movement for your entire career, kicking butt and taking

00:01:53.180 names.

00:01:53.660 But can you tell my subscribers how you got started and what your mission is?

00:01:59.360 Yeah, I've always been a political geek.

00:02:01.920 I'm a homeschool nerd from the Bible Belt whose mom ran for public office twice, who was the

00:02:06.880 chairwoman of the GOP.

00:02:08.140 She'd write a weekly op-ed in the local newspaper, tackling cultural and political issues of the

00:02:14.520 week.

00:02:15.300 So that's kind of always been my environment.

00:02:18.000 My paternal grandfather was a district judge, and I remember being interested in watching

00:02:23.200 the O.J. Simpson trial as a little kid.

00:02:25.640 I'm 37, so I'm a grandma millennial and a geriatric pregnancy, by the way, in case you

00:02:29.620 didn't know that fact.

00:02:30.840 And I just remember just being fascinated with news and politics from a very young age.

00:02:35.920 So at 18, I moved to New York City to go to college and had always had a job, so I was

00:02:41.980 bored just going to school full-time and Googled internships and got started interning at

00:02:46.980 WABC, which is the radio station that originally syndicated Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and I

00:02:53.700 believe even Rush Limbaugh, and felt like always love to talk radio.

00:02:58.540 And that, I don't know, I joke, I dug my grave, so now I have to lie in it.

00:03:02.320 That was at 18, and I haven't left the conservative media world since.

00:03:08.080 And I would say that I think my purpose has definitely shifted.

00:03:11.500 I think in the past, it's been a supporting role for other people and other talent, whether

00:03:15.920 it was Sean or your brother.

00:03:17.900 But then, weirdly, being like on-air colleagues with people as well, never anticipated that

00:03:24.760 change.

00:03:25.240 And I think now being freelance and consulting and speaking with YAF and at conferences and

00:03:32.080 stuff, I think really my mission is to speak for those who can't speak for themselves because

00:03:38.460 college campuses, specifically in the United States, are the battleground.

00:03:43.220 We're seeing all of these cultural battles that we're having to fight politically and

00:03:48.420 religiously for parental rights.

00:03:50.880 And so I really appreciate and enjoy it when I hear from women, most of my audience is 80%

00:03:58.560 women between the ages of 18 and 45.

00:04:00.880 And when I hear from them, hey, thanks for saying that thing because I took it to my mommy

00:04:05.400 and me play date, and I was able to say what you said and be like, hey, look at what this

00:04:10.540 chick said and open up a conversation with my liberal friend. 1.00

00:04:13.680 Or, hey, can you come to our campus and talk about these issues because I can't talk about

00:04:18.020 it or I could get expelled.

00:04:19.220 Um, so being a voice, I think, for the voiceless and if little of me can do that, then I think

00:04:26.760 anybody can.

00:04:28.100 That's an amazing mission.

00:04:29.780 And I think that's so inspiring.

00:04:31.620 Uh, I feel similarly in a lot of ways.

00:04:33.640 I'm actually speaking with YAF, uh, on a campus in a couple months, which I'm excited about,

00:04:38.400 but, um, it is, it's so important for us to show women, college students that there is

00:04:47.040 a place for you and that you can speak on these topics if you're brave enough, or if

00:04:53.000 you're not, if you're in a situation where, you know, even if you were brave, it would

00:04:55.960 be totally inappropriate for you to speak on it.

00:04:58.120 There are people out there who support you and who believe in what you're saying.

00:05:01.920 Yeah, there's a lot of, uh, every single time I say something like that, the mainstream

00:05:06.220 would dub as controversial, uh, like men cannot be women.

00:05:09.260 I hear from women in areas and I tell people, I'm like, listen, if you can avoid going to

00:05:14.260 politics or be a talking head, like, please go do something else.

00:05:17.360 If I were smarter, I'd be doing something else.

00:05:19.740 But if I could go back and change my name and, and not drop out of college, maybe I'd

00:05:24.540 be doing something else, but, uh, I'm doing what I'm doing and, but we need other people

00:05:28.860 to be doing what they're doing.

00:05:30.000 And I often hear from women in STEM and women in tech in the Bay area that work for social media

00:05:36.300 companies that are showrunners and executive producers of mainstream content that you and

00:05:42.160 I watch every single day, people in fashion and finance that are like, Hey, I love my job.

00:05:47.840 I believe like, this is my purpose and my passion, but thank you for speaking out on this because

00:05:53.020 it enabled me to go to HR and be like, Hey, why did you have this caveat about LGBTQ stuff

00:05:59.020 at the bottom of the email?

00:06:00.240 Or, um, Hey, I'm pregnant now.

00:06:02.660 So could you please consider covering my maternity leave and better and alternate maternity care

00:06:07.880 for me instead of encouraging me to go get an abortion and really giving those people

00:06:12.320 the tools and the freedom to be like, they are not alone and how important those aspects

00:06:17.600 of society and the economy are and not underestimating people.

00:06:22.660 Cause I think we can all, we're all guilty of just getting in our own bubble, um, and being

00:06:27.040 like, well, I need to be on Fox news or I need to run for Congress in order to make a difference.

00:06:30.960 And that is not the case at all.

00:06:32.980 Yeah.

00:06:33.280 I think that's so true.

00:06:34.800 So what makes you a proponent of conservative conservatism and traditional values?

00:06:42.800 What do you think makes these things important and gives women in particular a better shot 0.99

00:06:47.880 at happiness and fulfillment through these traditional values that we're both, I think,

00:06:52.440 big proponents of?

00:06:53.340 Yeah, I think, um, the ability to be created and treated as equals, um, is something that

00:07:01.320 I believe personally and professionally.

00:07:04.000 Um, and then the reason specifically with conservatism that comes in is, and I think there's a faith

00:07:09.180 component to this as well is how everyone is unique.

00:07:13.340 Uh, inserting the faith is like designed in the image of God, but even aside from faith,

00:07:18.220 no two DNAs are the same, right?

00:07:20.660 Scientifically, if you're looking at it, you and I are both female, but we are both incredibly

00:07:25.360 different in our genetics makeup.

00:07:27.200 So it's actually kind of not fair because your parents are way smarter than mine.

00:07:30.360 So I think about that genetically.

00:07:31.740 I've talked with my mom about this before.

00:07:33.620 Like every Shapiro is so smart.

00:07:35.740 Um, so, um, but I think that from the political perspective, it's understanding the beauty of

00:07:44.220 that individualism and that, um, independence and wanting everyone to have the right to make

00:07:51.300 decisions for themselves and their own autonomy and then their own core family.

00:07:56.300 And that as a society, when men and women get married, they tend to be more economically

00:08:01.260 successful.

00:08:01.980 They tend to be happier.

00:08:04.180 They tend to, um, take care of not only their selves and their families, but the community

00:08:10.280 around them because of how it affects their family unit.

00:08:13.300 And that culturally is, is a bonus.

00:08:16.100 And it's a bigger bonus when the government gets out of the way and allows people to do

00:08:19.780 that.

00:08:20.620 Absolutely.

00:08:21.460 Yes.

00:08:22.140 I, I have nothing to add to that.

00:08:24.060 I agree.

00:08:25.800 So let's talk feminism for a second, because I feel like anybody we're in a 1.00

00:08:31.960 time where it's as if feminism is supposed to be recognized as obvious, as obvious truth 1.00

00:08:38.000 by any woman.

00:08:39.200 And if you're not explicitly, I'm totally feminist, right?

00:08:43.360 Then you must be anti-woman.

00:08:45.160 So what are your thoughts on feminism? 1.00

00:08:47.500 Do you think feminist ideology helps or hurts women? 0.56

00:08:50.740 And I use the word feminism broadly here, but obviously if you want to like define it a 1.00

00:08:55.720 little differently, because there are so many different uses of that term, go for it.

00:09:00.080 Yeah.

00:09:00.320 I think it's fascinating to me that, uh, this semester with my AF speeches, I've been talking

00:09:05.740 about feminism the most in the past.

00:09:07.960 It's been about why women need guns or school choice or pro-life issues, but it's, it's interesting

00:09:14.480 because it's circling back around.

00:09:16.020 And I've seen even influencers and commentators and friends on the left that have identified

00:09:21.900 as very left-leaning feminists really taking issue with the movement as a whole. 0.99

00:09:27.620 And I love to start my speeches when I talk about feminism with the dictionary definition, 1.00

00:09:32.740 although dictionary definitions do change occasionally nowadays.

00:09:35.460 So I've screen grabbed it and saved it just in case.

00:09:37.880 Um, I, if, if, if we are looking at the dictionary definition of feminism would talk, which talks 0.99

00:09:44.600 about the equality of the sexes, sign me up.

00:09:47.700 I'm on board.

00:09:48.960 I'm 100% of feminist. 1.00

00:09:50.740 The problem is when you have planned parenthood and Nancy Pelosi and the AOCs of the world and

00:09:58.480 Michelle Williams and the women's March identifying what they think and mainstreaming their leftist

00:10:05.440 agenda of feminism, then I think that people left, right, and center view that as feminism. 1.00

00:10:11.740 And then everyone tells you, well, unless you are this, you cannot identify as a feminist. 1.00

00:10:15.780 So I know I disagree.

00:10:17.120 I think with you and even my girlfriend, Liz Wheeler, who are like, no, we're not feminists.

00:10:21.260 I actually think like, yeah, much like I want to take over and, and rebuild California.

00:10:26.600 I think we need to take over and rebuild feminism because based on the definition of feminism, 1.00

00:10:32.060 I would argue that I'm a feminist and that you are a feminist and that I'm raising feminist 1.00

00:10:36.880 daughters.

00:10:37.260 And I love to see people on the left, like, Ooh, when I say that.

00:10:41.280 Um, but I think that it actually sometimes, and it has more, more so recently opened up

00:10:47.440 constructive dialogue and debate with women on the other side of the aisle, because we

00:10:52.480 can find areas in which we agree.

00:10:54.440 And then we can, um, in a friendly way, agree to disagree on other issues because I'm not

00:11:00.440 going to budge on abortion and there may not either, but we can agree on the equality.

00:11:05.600 We can agree on things that need to change culturally.

00:11:08.620 We can agree on some things even that need to change politically.

00:11:11.660 And so when we're just like feminism bad without defining what we are against, I think that that's

00:11:17.740 a problem.

00:11:18.180 I actually agree with you.

00:11:20.400 I have been kind of, I've been trying to nail down how to approach this topic because I've

00:11:27.000 always said, or initially I said, you know, feminism is something I agree with when it 1.00

00:11:32.320 comes to the equality, right?

00:11:33.700 We have equal rights under the law, a hundred percent.

00:11:37.140 We are equal people.

00:11:38.500 I mean, we have the same worth, but men and women are different.

00:11:41.720 Now, when we move into the Christina Hoff Summers definition, I mean, that was the book that

00:11:45.660 really like clarified things for me, her book on, on feminism, um, when she started talking

00:11:50.560 about gender feminism and how there's a Marxist ideology underlying modern feminism, which says

00:11:56.700 that women are always victims and men are always oppressors.

00:11:59.820 Now we can't agree on that.

00:12:01.400 I can't agree that women are better than men.

00:12:04.500 I can't agree that men are going to always be winning.

00:12:07.580 Even when we have, you know, Taylor Swift making 300 worth $320 million.

00:12:11.660 I, I think that women should have equal rights, right?

00:12:16.840 I think that Selena Gomez has as many followers on Instagram as Cristiano Ronaldo, right?

00:12:21.600 Or I could argue that women are better at some things like, hello, having and making babies. 1.00

00:12:26.500 Men can never do that because they can't even handle a minor cold, but they also go into

00:12:30.780 battle and they spend six months on an oil rig.

00:12:33.220 That's not a job I want to sign up for.

00:12:34.880 I don't think that's a job that you want to sign up for.

00:12:37.260 Yes, exactly.

00:12:38.160 And so I think that, and that's what I talk about in my feminism speech is celebrating 0.99

00:12:42.360 the beauty and the differences and how, when we see each other as cohesive partners and

00:12:48.380 teammates, um, I mean, I feel like I'm almost talking about marriage, right?

00:12:52.620 But it's like, if men and women in society could treat each other, like you kind of have

00:12:57.020 to in a marriage, then professionally, it's going to be better.

00:13:00.080 And professionally, we want women in the workplace because men stereotypically tend to not be

00:13:05.560 very communicative or emotional creatures and women are men and women report being happier

00:13:11.400 and more successful at their jobs when they have a female boss. 1.00

00:13:14.520 Why?

00:13:15.040 Because a female boss will check in and be like, how are you doing today, John? 0.93

00:13:18.560 Everything okay at home?

00:13:19.960 Not in a nosy or inappropriate way, but making sure that if he needs to get off at three o'clock

00:13:24.660 to go to his son's basketball game, that's a possibility.

00:13:27.380 A male boss ain't going to do that or isn't going to have the same level of caring or interest 0.76

00:13:32.780 in that person like a woman is.

00:13:34.900 And I think that that's an example of like, Hey, if it's good for men and it's good for 0.81

00:13:39.900 women, it's good for the economy. 1.00

00:13:41.560 It's good for the cultural environment.

00:13:44.020 Why would we separate them?

00:13:46.140 Um, and so I think left, right, and center, there's definitely moves that can and should

00:13:52.080 be made, but thank God we're in the United States because women here are a heck of a lot 1.00

00:13:57.020 better off than in any other nation in the world.

00:14:00.080 Absolutely.

00:14:00.940 Yes.

00:14:01.760 So you're a mama to three girls with another baby on the way.

00:14:06.240 I don't know the, I don't know the gender of your baby yet, but we'll have to wait and

00:14:10.000 see.

00:14:10.220 I haven't announced yet.

00:14:11.120 It's going to be lots of fun.

00:14:13.840 You're constantly working in the movement, including travel for speeches around the country

00:14:18.720 with Young America's foundation, as we talked about.

00:14:21.000 So how do you balance all of your responsibilities as a wife, mother, and conservative commentator? 0.96

00:14:27.200 I think that's like the top question that I get from my subscribers when they listen to

00:14:31.780 my podcast.

00:14:32.720 They, I'm talking to all of these incredible women who are doing these incredible things 1.00

00:14:36.520 who are also mothers.

00:14:37.720 And they're kind of like, how do you do all of it?

00:14:40.680 Um, you don't do it all.

00:14:42.420 Uh, I'm in my mostly completely renovated kitchen.

00:14:46.780 That's taken a year and a half to do.

00:14:49.100 Um, my husband helped me with the tech setup because I'm not tech savvy, uh, but he would

00:14:54.460 never want to be on camera.

00:14:55.400 I said last week, and I'll say again, this week at a YAP speech that I could not be on

00:15:00.640 the road if it weren't from my husband being an engaged father at home.

00:15:04.800 Uh, right.

00:15:05.560 I have the freedom to do that because we're a team.

00:15:10.240 Uh, he, unlike the stereotype, I'm currently barefoot, pregnant in the kitchen.

00:15:15.560 He's a much better cook than me.

00:15:17.260 Like if ask our girls any night of the week, they prefer daddy's food over mommy's food. 1.00

00:15:22.140 Um, but it takes teamwork.

00:15:25.000 Uh, I feel for incredible single mothers. 1.00

00:15:28.160 And I think in that case, it really takes a village.

00:15:31.040 And in, I mean, even in circumstances where I think it's amazing when religious organizations

00:15:37.540 or churches or friend groups get together to help those single moms in those scenarios. 1.00

00:15:43.220 So they can work and they can engage with their kids and they can pursue their dreams because

00:15:47.100 I think it's really important for kids, boys and girls to see their mom and dad, um, not

00:15:55.280 struggling per se, but really sacrificing for one another and sacrificing for the family.

00:16:00.680 To showing them like what it takes and that one day they can and should do the same for

00:16:06.180 their family.

00:16:06.860 I loved what Rihanna said, um, when people were like, Oh, are you sure you want to like

00:16:11.220 do the Superbowl halftime show?

00:16:12.800 Like right after having a baby, cause her baby wasn't even a year old.

00:16:16.640 And of course she knew she was pregnant.

00:16:18.360 Nobody else knew she was pregnant.

00:16:19.480 She was like, no, that's exactly what I want to be doing.

00:16:21.520 Cause I want my son to see that even after becoming a mother, it actually empowers me to do

00:16:27.040 more and I'm impassioned to do more.

00:16:30.120 And so I would just encourage those women. 1.00

00:16:32.380 It sometimes the laundry has to wait because you have to go do something.

00:16:37.160 And then sometimes you need to like really learn to prioritize your time.

00:16:41.740 And I've been married for almost 14 years and we have number four on the way.

00:16:45.260 And I still feel like it's something I'm learning.

00:16:46.960 So it's giving yourself some grace.

00:16:49.460 My girlfriend, Mary Catherine Ham says this so well, she says, give yourself grace, but

00:16:53.420 don't make excuses.

00:16:55.280 And I think when you kind of take that through life day in and day out, especially as a woman,

00:17:01.480 because we are different and we have like mom guilt and bog ourselves down.

00:17:06.320 There's also this element.

00:17:07.580 And I used to say this on our lady brains podcast when we had it of like, when you're at home,

00:17:12.480 sometimes like struggling to feel like you should be working.

00:17:15.000 And then when you're in work mode, struggling and feeling like, should I be at home?

00:17:19.320 And I think that feeling, I don't know if it ever goes away, but I've learned how to

00:17:25.660 process it and kind of self-diagnose it and be confident and like letting my yes be yes

00:17:32.040 and my no be no and not wasting the time that I have in both of those spaces.

00:17:37.740 Yeah.

00:17:38.100 I think that that's been something I'm learning with only one, one little baby that it's just

00:17:43.000 all about prioritizing time management and trying to be, find those people that you're

00:17:50.020 like, you know what, if my baby can't be with me today, at least he's with his grandma

00:17:54.800 or he's with his dad.

00:17:56.440 And that's for me, I'm like, you know what?

00:17:58.660 It's actually a good thing though.

00:18:01.080 Not that I'm, you know, I generally am home, but for me, like right now, my mom put down my

00:18:06.820 son for his nap.

00:18:08.300 And for me, it's like, you know what?

00:18:09.760 That's not a bad thing.

00:18:10.940 It's good for him to create a relationship with people outside of his mom.

00:18:16.000 And even though he knows that he has a secure attachment with me, because I'll always be

00:18:19.960 there at the same time, it's not just me.

00:18:22.600 And that's a really beautiful thing for him is that he has a whole group of people who

00:18:27.400 love him and care about him and want to take care of him.

00:18:30.140 Well, and my kids are kind of social like me, go figure, but each of them is different

00:18:36.920 in how they interact with people or how they get to know people and how they engage.

00:18:40.460 And I think that as a parent too, it is incredible to see from the moment that they're born, the

00:18:45.380 differences of those personalities where my oldest, I could hand her to a stranger on

00:18:50.340 the corner and she would be like, Hey, what's up?

00:18:52.140 And smiling at six weeks old.

00:18:53.600 But my middle like hated strangers for the first year of her life.

00:18:57.820 And if you were a man without a beard, because my husband has a beard, it's like, do not

00:19:01.180 even look at her or she'd scream in your face. 1.00

00:19:04.780 And she did that to Michael Knowles once.

00:19:06.380 I felt kind of bad.

00:19:07.840 But, and so, but, but now she like runs her little class and, and the teacher's like,

00:19:13.280 Oh, she is such a leader.

00:19:14.460 And like, everybody loves her.

00:19:16.020 Um, and that you, so the scenario that you're surrounded saying with your mom is like when

00:19:21.240 kids have a healthy home life and they can see the confidence and comfort that their parents

00:19:26.620 are displaying, um, around other people, whether that's an auntie or a neighbor or a Sunday school

00:19:33.520 teacher or grandparent, then it creates a safe environment for them to understand.

00:19:39.180 Okay.

00:19:39.420 Here's my mom and dad.

00:19:40.400 This is the hierarchy, but these other people are trustworthy as well.

00:19:44.180 And my husband and I talk about this all the time, especially as our kids are getting older,

00:19:47.240 because we have an almost 10 year old now.

00:19:48.660 And I'm like, before we know it, she's going to be like a preteen.

00:19:51.620 And then she's going to be a teenager.

00:19:53.540 And we need to have people in our lives that we trust that she can trust because even the

00:20:00.200 good kids like reach a point where they don't want to talk to their parents about everything.

00:20:03.820 Right.

00:20:04.180 And so you need to have those people in your community and in your life that you can lean

00:20:10.620 on as a parent, but that your kids can eventually lean on as well.

00:20:14.160 Yeah.

00:20:15.120 I think that's definitely true.

00:20:17.500 So I wanted to talk about homeschooling a little bit with you because I am, as my son

00:20:23.780 is growing up and getting older, I'm getting more interested in the possibility of homeschooling

00:20:28.600 as an option.

00:20:29.260 And I know you grew up in Oklahoma, you were homeschooled.

00:20:32.740 So what was your experience with it?

00:20:35.540 Did you like it?

00:20:36.320 Did you not?

00:20:37.160 And what do you think are the benefits or maybe not the benefits?

00:20:41.600 Do you have any tips or anything like that?

00:20:43.940 Any thoughts you could share?

00:20:45.640 Yeah, I am.

00:20:47.060 And the older I get and the more children I have, the more I think that there is no one

00:20:52.340 size fits all for a family when it comes to education.

00:20:56.660 Our two oldest are currently in the same school.

00:20:59.580 And I'm like, this is amazing.

00:21:00.940 It's easy.

00:21:01.520 They seem to be doing well, but I've kind of seriously joked that this is a test year

00:21:06.240 because I homeschooled our oldest and our niece for two years during COVID.

00:21:11.080 And so it was a, my oldest, like I said, she's such a people person.

00:21:17.440 She's missed congeniality.

00:21:18.520 She could run for president one day.

00:21:19.860 She has the ability to remember names and details like everybody says Bill Clinton did.

00:21:23.520 Like she's incredible at that.

00:21:27.240 And she gets good grades.

00:21:28.400 So she's my kid that I've been able to see now through third grade of being like, oh,

00:21:32.840 maybe she's kind of the child that was made for the classroom.

00:21:35.520 We did fine homeschooling, but I don't know how much longer based upon her learning ability

00:21:41.680 and my teaching ability that I could have taught her maybe past like fifth or sixth grade.

00:21:45.640 Cause I just taught my niece up to that level. 0.99

00:21:47.560 And after that, I'm like, this gets a little more difficult and I'm not great at the math.

00:21:51.580 Um, my middle, our youngest will have to wait and see, um, they're all summer babies too.

00:21:59.360 So I've held them back, but my personal experience with homeschooling, I absolutely loved it.

00:22:04.040 Uh, of the three girls, I'm the only one that my mom homeschooled all 12 years.

00:22:09.160 It worked for us because we were in a rural area with really crappy schools at the time.

00:22:13.500 My dad was a commercial airline pilot.

00:22:15.740 So he had really weird hours where we'd take family vacation in November and he'd be home.

00:22:21.580 Sunday through Wednesday, and then gone the rest of the week because of his travel and flight

00:22:25.520 schedule. And so it really enabled me to have the freedom at 14 to get a job.

00:22:31.280 And I always loved working and making my own money and taught me a lot of like time management

00:22:37.920 skills, but I think then helped me when I went to college and entered a professional career

00:22:42.680 because it kind of forced me to self-start and it forced me to time manage and instead of just

00:22:48.640 being like told what to do. Uh, and so I think that those are huge benefits that it had. And

00:22:54.980 because it gave me the freedom of time to travel with my parents, to be on the campaign trail with

00:23:01.700 my mom, to not be stuck in a school room, to excel in English and history and literature and be held

00:23:09.260 back a little bit. Cause I wasn't great at algebra, right. Um, that you don't typically get in a school

00:23:14.320 environment. And so I think I just tell any parent good for you start with preschool. Like you can get

00:23:21.760 a little curriculum for when he turns three, three and a half, four, understand that he's a boy. So

00:23:27.120 he's going to be different than if you had a little girl who will sit there and like color and trace and 0.62

00:23:30.820 be all excited. Like my three and a half year old does. Right. Um, and kind of just see how it goes.

00:23:36.460 See if you are both thriving, um, because you want and need to be thriving and know that when you

00:23:42.680 homeschool, there's going to be really awesome days where you're like, yeah, we did it. We checked all

00:23:47.040 the boxes. We did all the subjects and we did the extra science project. Um, and then there will be

00:23:52.120 other days that you're like, you know, this site word, why are you not saying it when I hold up the

00:23:56.760 card? Um, they are human too. And just like you and I have good days and bad days or good night's

00:24:05.020 sleep and bad night's sleep. So will they, and that affects their performance and their demeanor

00:24:09.500 and how they learn. Um, but I think, and I think that it's so important based off what you're saying.

00:24:15.780 I really like the idea just, and it's true of parenting generally of just going off of your

00:24:20.760 child, understanding your child's personality, what they need. Some kids, like you said, thrive in a

00:24:26.900 school environment and other kids really don't. And don't, I know a few people who, whose parents

00:24:33.080 took them out of school to homeschool them because they found that they had lost a love

00:24:37.120 of learning. And so I think it really just depends on the kid and that's important to

00:24:42.460 keep in mind. Not everything is just going to be okay. Here's your path because this is

00:24:46.340 the path everybody says, and we're done. Like no, you reevaluate and you go off the kid's

00:24:51.780 personality. Yeah. And I think this is why I'm such an advocate for school choice because

00:24:56.620 I don't think even in one family, if you have three kids, every kid is going to need the same

00:25:02.340 level of education or attention or environment to learn. And I think that for some kids, it's

00:25:09.360 a competitive nature, right? For some kids like my oldest, it's a congenial nature. It

00:25:14.500 could be for some kids, they just like learn very well between these specific times and

00:25:19.600 checking the box of their projects where other kids might need more ebb and flow and need to

00:25:23.720 go into the woods to do science versus just reading about it in a textbook. I often think,

00:25:29.460 and, and I don't know, cause we don't have boys, but I look at boy moms that I know and

00:25:33.620 I'm like, somebody needs to start like a wilderness school for little boys, because I don't think

00:25:38.300 that a kid under the age of like seven or eight years old, like a boy, like you have belong

00:25:43.440 in a classroom because it just is not a very conducive environment to just their personalities

00:25:50.600 at that. And they're the way that they like need to touch and feel and play and, and wrestle and

00:25:55.800 learn. Um, I totally agree with you. And I think it's really sad that in American society, we strictly

00:26:03.540 determine, uh, a child's educational future, which will then turn into and positively or negatively

00:26:11.100 affect their future financial success based on where their parents can afford to live.

00:26:16.360 And I don't see that as a partisan issue. I think that that's an issue that every mother in

00:26:22.940 the country should be able to agree on. And I've often said if the California GOP wanted to start

00:26:27.260 winning, this is an issue that they would run on because, uh, data shows that over 70% of even

00:26:33.260 liberal minority mothers in the state of California are pro school choice. 0.92

00:26:36.900 I believe it. I totally believe it. And it's like, for me, I just think to myself, and again,

00:26:43.100 I don't know the stats on this, but just the number of boys who are told they have ADD, ADHD,

00:26:49.580 it may be accurate, but it seems high based off of kids just not being able to sit in a classroom

00:26:55.720 because they're boys and they want to move. Like, I just, I don't want to ever put, you know,

00:27:01.300 that, that situation that worries me for my son is that he would be in a situation where people are

00:27:07.580 thinking, Oh, he has some sort of attention deficit disorder when it's really just, he's a boy and he's

00:27:12.580 a kid and he wants to move.

00:27:13.980 And then the bigger problem of that is, is then they want to drug him or they want to punish him

00:27:19.360 or they want to delay him or put him in a special needs class because maybe they're getting an additional

00:27:24.900 government grant for every seat. And that special needs class that's filled. My mom is ADD. My older

00:27:31.100 sister has ADD. Um, they've coped with it and lived with it for a very long time. And I mean,

00:27:36.620 it gets on my nerves because she likes it's there and like taps her fingers while you're talking and

00:27:40.120 she's, but she can be extremely focused and extremely successful as a politician and small 1.00

00:27:46.740 business owner. Uh, when she's like geared toward doing something that she is interested in,

00:27:52.300 she's incredible and can do numbers in her head that I cannot do and remember stats that I cannot 0.97

00:27:57.480 remember. Uh, and it's really honing that. And she always tells young moms that come to her,

00:28:02.740 whether their kids are homeschooled or in public school. And they're like, what should I do? My

00:28:06.580 seven-year-old, the teacher says he's a problem child and he won't ever want to do his homework.

00:28:11.120 And she's like, cut out the sugar, make sure they're getting enough sleep at night and make 1.00

00:28:16.560 them run around the yard for like 30 minutes before you sit them down to do like school that they have

00:28:21.060 to be physically kind of like get through that energy before they can tune into that, like mental

00:28:26.880 part of their brain because the physical at that age is just so it's normal. And it's really sad that

00:28:32.700 our education system in this country is so geared towards that perfect little five-year-old girl 0.99

00:28:36.560 that's going to sit there in her uniform and, you know, do her, her ABCs, like trace them just fine. 0.99

00:28:42.600 Not every kid is like that, but we especially see a difference there between boys and girls.

00:28:46.860 Absolutely. So I am so glad we got to do this interview. So now let's move into our faith talk.

00:28:54.660 This week's Torah portion is Titzaveh, which means command. The Torah portion also is the

00:29:01.200 Parsha in Hebrew. So in this week's Parsha, Chabad.org says, God tells Moses to receive from the children

00:29:08.480 of Israel pure olive oil to feed the everlasting flame of the menorah, which Aaron is to kindle each day

00:29:14.220 from evening till morning. Now here's where we get into the meat of the Torah portion. We're talking

00:29:19.800 about the priestly garments and everything that the priests wear in the tabernacle. So the priestly

00:29:26.780 garments to be worn by the Kohanim, that's the priests, while serving in the sanctuary are described.

00:29:34.200 Al Kohanim wore the katonet, which is a full-length linen tunic, linen breeches, a linen turban,

00:29:40.700 a long sash wound above the waist. In addition, he also wore an apron-like garment made of blue,

00:29:46.960 purple, and red-dyed wool, linen, and gold thread, a breastplate containing 12 precious stones inscribed

00:29:52.580 with the names of the 12 tribes of Israel, a cloak of blue wool with gold bells and decorative

00:29:57.600 pomegranates on its hem, and a golden plate worn on the forehead bearing the inscription,

00:30:02.560 Holy to God. There's also a section including the detailed instructions for the seven-day initiation

00:30:09.140 of Aaron and his four sons into the priesthood and for the making of the golden altar on which

00:30:14.140 the incense was burned. So this is the portion of the Torah. We're kind of going through a couple

00:30:20.580 sections in Exodus that are much more law-focused and a little bit less story-focused. So my question

00:30:27.760 is, why is there an entire Torah portion dedicated to what the high priest wears? Why are his clothes

00:30:34.940 important? Who cares? Like, why? Why did it even matter? Because it did matter. If he didn't wear

00:30:41.320 the right clothing in the holy temple, he could be killed when he entered the holy of holies. Like,

00:30:46.240 it was possible that God would be like, okay, you're done. So why is that? So this to me relates a lot to

00:30:53.360 what I talk about on my channel regarding modesty. Our bodies are not entirely separate from our souls.

00:30:59.700 Sometimes people think that our bodies hold us back or that the physical world inhibits our

00:31:05.640 holy ascendance and closeness to God. But the truth is, is that our bodies are the gateway to

00:31:11.500 being able to experience God's presence. By dressing in the holiest of garments when working in the

00:31:17.440 tabernacle, as close to God as any person could be, the high priest is elevating his soul through what

00:31:24.100 he wears. So what can we learn from this? What we wear matters. Wearing clothing that glorifies the

00:31:31.480 body as separate from our souls or focuses on the sexuality of our body rather than its beauty as

00:31:37.280 gifted by God takes us further from God's presence. When we dress modestly and beautifully, we are

00:31:44.080 glorifying God's name. We are using our physical presence on earth to bring us closer to God. And that's

00:31:49.940 a huge blessing. But I'm interested to hear your thoughts because modesty is a little bit of a

00:31:55.040 touchy subject nowadays. And I also am very clear on my, on my, you know, channel, on my podcast,

00:32:02.040 that modesty for me, what it looks like for me as an Orthodox Jew is very different than what I expect

00:32:07.860 from like the average person. I'm just like, if you can cover your cleavage, covered the bottom of

00:32:13.180 your butt cheeks and cover your midriff, we're good. Like you're doing good. But I'd love to hear 0.99

00:32:18.380 your thoughts on modesty. And I mean, if it relates to faith for you.

00:32:24.520 Yeah, I think there's a, the, much like my political views, there could be the religious

00:32:29.240 perspective and then like the scientific, like cultural perspective. And I think culturally

00:32:33.920 for young women specifically, uh, and there's this mom that I follow, uh, on Instagram. She had this

00:32:40.440 whole thing about, cause her son like went to an eighth grade, like homecoming dance. And she's like

00:32:44.660 the way that some of these girls were dressed and then how the mothers are like, oh, you know, 0.99

00:32:48.640 well, everybody's doing it. So how do I tell her no? And she, so then she started posting like all

00:32:54.100 these pictures of like Chippendales type people. And she's like, is this who you want to roll up and 0.86

00:32:58.820 be like, well, you know, my son's in a thong because everybody's doing it. And like, if boys were doing

00:33:03.640 the same thing, how would people react? Right. They'd be like, oh, they're so creepy. They're so

00:33:09.020 predatory, but like when young women do it, it's like supposedly no big deal. Um, when we over 0.99

00:33:13.900 sexualize them. Um, so I think that secularly and culturally, we have studies that show that women 0.99

00:33:22.020 who are promiscuous, that women that dress a certain way, um, net have negative experiences with 0.67

00:33:28.140 their own self-esteem, their own self-worth, their self-consciousness, like so many things,

00:33:33.580 depression, anxiety, they tend to be more promiscuous. They tend to have then more

00:33:38.760 physical and emotional ailments from, from that like activity and secular studies showing like

00:33:45.360 that is not good for women. Um, and I love that, even though I would take it from the Christian 1.00

00:33:50.620 perspective of, um, being complete in Jesus and our body being a temple and my mother, like

00:33:57.680 kind of hounding that into me as a kid of like, it's not just your outward appearance that, that

00:34:03.360 you're exuding and representing, you know, your faith and your family, but it's like what you

00:34:08.400 choose to put in and do with your body as well. Like, um, whether that be destroying your lungs

00:34:14.300 through smoking or using recreational drugs or overusing alcohol or choosing to be morbidly

00:34:20.740 obese, one of the seven deadly sins, right. Um, of how we are supposed to take care of our temple.

00:34:27.500 And that includes like what we're putting out in the world. And I think that I like to look nice.

00:34:33.800 I want to look like sexy for my husband and pretty on camera, but there's like a lot in between in

00:34:39.700 there that it's possible to be feminine and attractive and classy and not dress like,

00:34:49.060 you know, people that you see on OnlyFans.

00:34:52.860 Right. Exactly. And it's so sad because it's like Instagram and OnlyFans in many ways are

00:34:58.020 indistinguishable except one is free and one is not. Yeah. I mean, if, if you look at like,

00:35:03.980 when I remember like reading about the description of OnlyFans and what people wouldn't, would not be

00:35:08.180 doing over there and like Bella Thorne and some other people were like, well, I'm going to go over

00:35:11.760 there. Cause at least I can make money. And I'm like, how is that any different than like what their

00:35:15.580 car, car Jenners do? I mean, how is it any different than, you know, what a lot of celebrities are

00:35:20.980 posting on their Instagram. And by the way, they're still making money for it because

00:35:24.960 as Chris Rock said in his latest special, that's the number one way to make money is show your

00:35:30.240 yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. No, it's funny. I have a friend on Instagram who has talked to me. We've

00:35:38.200 talked to each other about this because we're both more like traditional. We both are modest on our

00:35:43.020 Instagram posts. And we've said, you know, if we just did this, if we just exposed one area of our

00:35:50.020 bodies, we would go up 200,000 followers the next day, like, but we would never do it because to us,

00:35:56.720 it's not, it's a hundred percent not worth it, obviously. But even more than that, it's just not,

00:36:01.480 it's not good for you as a person and people who, you know, look, I am very used to being sexualized

00:36:09.440 on the internet at this point. It really doesn't matter what I post, but at the end of the day,

00:36:13.240 yeah, it doesn't matter what I post. It doesn't matter how covered I am. It doesn't matter.

00:36:17.760 But at the end of the day, the people who are going to sexualize me, who are choosing to

00:36:22.580 sexualize me, the trolls would sexualize me no matter what. But that doesn't mean that I have

00:36:27.760 to then lean into it and give them an opportunity to see things that are to me, precious and to my

00:36:34.060 husband, precious. And private. Yeah. And private. And it means that that's what I don't get about the

00:36:39.880 Emily Ratajowskis or, um, you know, even like the Lena Dunham's of the world. They're like, well,

00:36:45.520 it's my body. And I, if I control what's out there, then I have control. And, and it's like,

00:36:52.320 but then why are you revealing that intimate part of yourself? Like why it's just like revealing

00:36:57.100 intimate information. Right. Um, and another thing that, you know, Chris Rock said in his special,

00:37:02.440 it's like, well, I can do this in like this, uh, sex act on somebody and not have not never call her 0.96

00:37:08.360 back. I mean, it's crap, but it's funny because it's true. But he's like, I remember how many women 1.00

00:37:13.580 whose hands I've held. Right. And it's almost like if I were a public school teacher teaching

00:37:19.520 sex ed, I would just like clip that and be like, so yeah, maybe you should be careful of who you're

00:37:24.900 engaging with and who you're showing your body to and who you're giving yourself to, because no

00:37:30.380 offense to men, they really don't care and have one track minds and they will remember whose hand

00:37:35.980 they held or who they told they loved for the first time. Um, but they're not going to remember

00:37:40.660 for you for the hot bikini shot, other than it being a brief moment of like sexual pleasure for

00:37:46.300 them. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that right there is exactly it. And the thing that we should all

00:37:52.860 keep in mind moving forward. So now let's move into my premium subscriber questions. If you are

00:38:00.420 interested in becoming a premium subscriber to my sub stack, make sure to head over to

00:38:04.320 classicallyabby.substack.com where you'll get access to a ton of exclusive content, including my book

00:38:09.820 club, as well as weekly exclusive articles and being able to submit questions for podcasts just

00:38:15.900 like this. So let's head into question number one, which is, it seems like women are being erased. 1.00

00:38:22.320 What are the best ways to fight back? Um, I would say my daily motto of, of what we tell our girls to

00:38:30.920 be is strong, sweet, and smart. And when you are a strong, sweet, and smart woman, you cannot be erased

00:38:36.900 even as much as society tries to tell us that men transitioning to women are better at being women

00:38:41.740 than we are, which I find really personally insulting for women everywhere. Uh, and, and I think 0.99

00:38:48.100 really just being confident, a part of that inner strength is being confident in like your purpose

00:38:53.400 and, and your calling. And like that helps you move through every single day. It helps you move

00:38:58.980 through every moment, uh, whether it's good, bad, or ugly, it helps you move through a week. It helps you

00:39:04.160 move through a month and like plan for the future. And when you have a trajectory that you are confident,

00:39:09.380 um, in pursuing and know that you're on the right path, people can try to tamp you down and can try to

00:39:16.540 erase you and try to highlight masculinity over femininity or men trying to be feminine and culture

00:39:24.680 currently lauding that. But I don't know. I think that that's going to crumble and it already is

00:39:30.020 crumbling. And this too shall pass when it comes because when even feminists on the left are like, 1.00

00:39:35.440 Hey, this isn't what I signed up for. You know, the, the left has a problem in this battle that

00:39:40.920 they've so chosen. Yeah. I think that really, it starts with being brave enough, which is a ridiculous

00:39:48.160 thing to say, but it's being brave enough to say, yes, men and women are different. Men cannot become

00:39:53.920 women. That's it. Let's start there. And if we can just say, men are not women, they are not the same, 0.95

00:40:01.280 then you can be confident in you as a woman and what being a woman means because it means so much.

00:40:08.580 Yeah. And, and I think that it's important. I sometimes women on the left criticize me of like, 0.52

00:40:13.420 Oh, well you only value womanhood if that means making babies. And I'm like, no, it doesn't because 0.80

00:40:18.280 I have many friends who literally cannot bear their own children. I have many friends who are

00:40:23.780 single by choice or childless by choice. And the individual freedom part of me is like, Hey,

00:40:29.680 being a mother was like the greatest blessing that I've happened upon. And, and I would, and I hope

00:40:35.000 that others want to pursue that as well. I think it's good for them individually and as society,

00:40:38.720 but I don't have a problem with women who choose not to, or cannot to follow that same like 0.97

00:40:45.040 path for a family and what a family may or may not look like to them. There are so many other

00:40:50.700 intricacies of who women are other than just being these childbearing things. And it's so funny that 1.00

00:40:56.740 women specifically, and even men on the left. Sorry, we have a crying baby. Quick interruption 0.94

00:41:05.340 for my baby who just woke up from his nap, very angry that I wasn't the one to pick him up, but his

00:41:11.240 grandma picked him up. So he's okay. So go ahead and continue from where we left off.

00:41:15.640 My three-year-old's probably currently getting hangry while she hangs out with her Mimi.

00:41:21.080 I think it's fascinating though, that that argument tends, even though the left likes to label like

00:41:26.120 rich white Republican men as the ones that want us to be the baby bearers that, you know, live in this

00:41:31.980 society, like handmaid's tale. It tends to be the people on the left that are arguing with me as a

00:41:39.960 working wife and mom and kind of doing it all right. And I say doing it all in quotations because

00:41:45.120 can't ever do it all or have it all that they're attacking me for my life choices, doing what I want

00:41:53.040 with my body using an argument that they say the other, the bad guys use. So I just always find that

00:41:59.000 laughable. Yeah. And I think fair enough. I mean, my take on, on womanhood is that womanhood is more 0.99

00:42:08.280 is in our nature and then whether or not we can have children, you know, that is still going to

00:42:16.040 be expressed in ways that we don't necessarily expect. Right. So being nurturing is so inherent

00:42:22.120 to womanhood that even if you don't have children, you're going to end up being nurturing in other ways 1.00

00:42:27.340 that are really important. Feminine strength is so beautiful and it's not only shown through 0.96

00:42:32.300 motherhood, it's just exemplified in motherhood. Yeah, I would agree. And there's areas in which

00:42:38.640 like if you even look statistically at the types of jobs that women tend to go into and excel at 0.99

00:42:45.040 compared to the types of jobs that men go into and excel at, that is a perfect example of how it

00:42:51.540 speaks to our nature, uh, and our innate abilities and skills and differences that I think are a

00:42:58.400 beautiful thing. Yeah. Yeah. So question number two is I've seen on your Instagram, you talk about

00:43:05.860 being a doula and a big proponent of home births. Can you talk more about that? Yeah, this will be my

00:43:11.840 fourth home birth, uh, with my midwife who's amazing. And if you're in LA, DM me and I'll send you

00:43:18.260 her info. Uh, and I just have like doula for a handful of friends and taken an online course and,

00:43:27.260 uh, really just kind of happen where friends are like, can you be there to support me? Most special

00:43:31.680 is probably being there for my little sister for the birth of my first nephew. She just had her

00:43:35.540 second nephew and they're just so cute. Um, and I think that it is such a beautiful thing because

00:43:41.680 it really, I always joke, like I am not a sports person when everybody compared, uh, labor and

00:43:47.860 delivery to running a marathon. I was like, but I hate running. Um, and I always tell people,

00:43:53.960 I'm like, I'm the biggest wimp on the face of the planet. And if I can do it, anyone can do it.

00:43:58.140 Uh, but this has really, I think this experience and then other health experiences that I've had in

00:44:03.340 the last year or two have really opened my eyes to the lack of informed consent when it comes to

00:44:09.000 women's health in the country, uh, whether it's birth control or the COVID vaccine or abortion

00:44:14.440 or a whole bunch of other issues. Uh, I really just want women to be completely informed and to

00:44:21.260 be their own advocates. And we have to be our own advocates when it comes to our full mental,

00:44:27.080 physical, emotional health, because the medical community as a whole in the United States,

00:44:31.420 ain't good at representing our best interests. I mean, even up until what, like 70 years ago,

00:44:37.700 they were just doing studies on men and thought like the male liver and the women's liver,

00:44:42.060 like we're totally the same or the brain, our brains were totally the same. Like turns out

00:44:46.980 they're not, and our hormones are not. And we got other parts that they don't, um, hence why they

00:44:51.600 can't become us. And so I also give this example and had some leftists in a recent speech actually

00:44:58.300 be like, Oh, we agree with you on that point. Because I was like, if the left truly cared about women,

00:45:02.980 uh, then they would be advocating for as many studies to be done about pregnancy challenges,

00:45:08.800 specifically when it comes to minority groups in the country that are really mistreated by the

00:45:14.160 medical community and not listened to and not advocated for. Um, and they would be spending,

00:45:19.140 uh, I don't know, maybe more than $10 million a year looking at pre-menopausal menopausal issues

00:45:25.000 that affect every single woman in the world compared to the $90 billion that they choose to spend on 1.00

00:45:30.460 erectile dysfunction medication and studies. Um, so I, it's where my, I kind of become like a hippie.

00:45:37.540 Um, and anti I'm not anti doctors. I'm not anti like science. God bless them. It's needed. It's

00:45:45.100 necessary. I'm just pro women being their own advocate and becoming informed and choosing a

00:45:51.120 practitioner, whether that's birth center hospital or home that is going to serve them and their

00:45:58.520 medical needs. And while they enter into like one of the most challenging and beautiful days of their

00:46:03.740 lives. I love that because I feel like it is, I feel like I'm not always, uh, one of many when I'm

00:46:14.620 like taking a huge interest in the process of birth, pregnancy, labor, all of that, because I think it is

00:46:22.160 fascinating. And so I think it's really important for women, as you say, no one is going to be a better 0.58

00:46:27.640 advocate for you than you. Your doctor is not always going to be the best at making a tailor-made plan

00:46:33.800 for you, as opposed to just the patients he sees. And that doesn't mean he's a bad doctor. It just means

00:46:39.460 that if you don't know enough to ask the right questions, you may not get the care you wanted. And if

00:46:47.000 you want to have a great birth experience, then being more informed can only help. It can't hurt.

00:46:53.740 Yeah. And any doctor or midwife or nurse, midwife or nurse or anybody who questions you,

00:47:01.320 that's your sign to get out the door. I think that's a good piece of advice.

00:47:07.980 So as a mom of three daughters, what are some lessons you want to teach them about navigating

00:47:14.220 the modern world? Oof, uh, try to keep them off a cell phone as long as possible.

00:47:20.540 Oh my gosh. Yes. That's like something I'm going to teach them about the modern world.

00:47:25.220 Um, I think it's so interesting. Like every age has its different questions and challenges. And

00:47:31.260 even from the time that they were like one asking why, you know, your son's going to start that soon.

00:47:36.520 It's like mama, dada, and why are like the, oh, and no, um, words that they tend to like spew first.

00:47:43.380 I would be like, no, ask a complete question or ask a complete sentence. And it's amazing and fun to see

00:47:49.020 the things that they observe in the world. And then the questions that they come up with.

00:47:53.780 So I feel inadequate 90% of the time to answer those questions, but really, uh, thinking about

00:48:01.160 how I answer them and answering them in an age appropriate, but detailed way. So they're never

00:48:06.860 doubtful of me or their dad having the answers to like what's happening in the world and life's

00:48:12.680 problems. And, you know, living in Los Angeles, you see homeless people on the street. Well,

00:48:17.560 why is that person, you know, asking for money? Why, why do we give that person fruit? Like,

00:48:22.640 why does he, his sign say he's hungry? Um, why do so-and-so and such-and-such have a baby and

00:48:28.140 they're not married? That's just, those questions are just going to naturally come up when you're a

00:48:33.080 parent. And sometimes you like can mentally prepare for them and sometimes you can't. And,

00:48:38.540 and so I think that my biggest thing though, is obviously we're instilling in them Judeo-Christian

00:48:44.320 values, but I don't talk to them about politics. I don't, um, really, they know that mommy's on TV

00:48:51.760 sometimes and travels for speeches, but I don't even know if they know what they're about. And I

00:48:57.140 would love it if I could keep it that way for as long as possible. And for them to come to their

00:49:01.820 own independent conclusions on like what their core beliefs are just based on how

00:49:07.360 they see their father and I operate in our everyday lives. That's beautiful answers the question.

00:49:14.740 You know what? I like it. And then to me that that's exactly what it should be is, you know,

00:49:20.880 I think often we see people kind of inculcating values in their children without giving them

00:49:26.580 necessarily the basis or understanding for why they have those values. They're just like,

00:49:31.760 this is what it is and this is what's right. And it's, it's a dangerous game to play when they get

00:49:38.340 to college and all of a sudden they're being faced with something that's entirely different than what

00:49:42.280 they grew up with. And they don't know necessarily why they're believing what they believe as opposed

00:49:46.640 to, Oh, I saw everything around me. I asked questions. I learned about where I stand. And that

00:49:54.300 is why I believe what I believe. Yeah. And I think that there are things that,

00:50:00.880 and my parents did a really good job of that. And even though I was in this like Bible belt bubble,

00:50:05.560 we still traveled. We still knew people that thought and lived their lives differently than us.

00:50:11.460 And my parents did engage me and it wasn't often that they were like, because I said so sometimes as a

00:50:16.560 parent, you do have to say that. Um, but why don't we jump on the couch? Because I said so,

00:50:21.620 but, but I think it is so important. And even at 18, I joke that I've spent all of my adult life in

00:50:29.520 liberal Meccas, but I think that it's like much like conservative students on college campuses

00:50:33.800 today. It really hones you and challenges you in those personal beliefs and can build on what your

00:50:40.260 parents taught you or, um, or an example of to you. And it doesn't mean that it'll be easier to come

00:50:46.900 to those conclusions. It doesn't mean that it'll be easier to live your life in that way.

00:50:50.900 Uh, with those core principles and morals, but I think it helps you have a better foundation for

00:50:57.780 that future and for those struggles and those questions that you'll be asked, not just asking

00:51:02.220 yourself, but complete strangers asking you as well. Yeah. I think that's, that's definitely true

00:51:08.140 and accurate. So the last question that we've got here is, uh, we kind of touched on it at the very

00:51:15.900 beginning. So now we're round, we're coming all the way back, which is you've been vocal about

00:51:21.300 staying in Los Angeles and fighting the good fight. What makes you think you should stay as the state is,

00:51:27.220 it feels like is turning bluer and bluer. Yeah. And my husband and I've been here for 10 years now,

00:51:33.240 which is crazy to think about. Um, we, uh, have like a small community of people. There's all,

00:51:40.780 once again, like most of my answers, there's like the mainstream kind of like secular scientific answer

00:51:45.880 and then political answer. And then there's like the faith answer. So my first answer would be the

00:51:50.180 more political one, which is, as our, uh, four time infamous former governor, Jerry Brown often said,

00:51:56.840 as goes California, so goes the nation. Um, whether there's a Republican in the white house and holding

00:52:02.540 the house in the Senate, or whether that's, uh, held by Democrats, you see the leaders of California

00:52:08.660 become the leaders of the left and the leaders of think tanks and the leaders of, uh, PACs and

00:52:14.120 democratic party at all different levels of bureaucracy and government on the federal level.

00:52:18.660 And you see the bad ideas that were implemented here trickling down to even the reddest of states like 0.88

00:52:25.080 Texas, Tennessee, and Florida. Um, and some of those states, you guys have better ability to fight

00:52:30.900 it, but it's still happening. Um, additionally, I think the culture war from a political perspective

00:52:37.500 is important and it's really been interesting since COVID and since, uh, friends, like I teased Dave and

00:52:45.300 Dave Rubin for abandoning us and, you know, doing the New York Jewish thing and like relocating to South 0.76

00:52:50.160 Florida, like what New York, you doesn't do that. Right. Um, but, and your brother and others,

00:52:56.060 but, um, I, I, on a serious note, it's been really interesting to see libertarian, independent

00:53:03.400 thinking, even like classical liberal minded people come out of the woodwork and I meet them at events

00:53:08.440 or functions that are not like FOA conservative type gatherings, right? They're not like flat waving

00:53:14.440 anti-vax, um, rallies, uh, cocktail parties and screenings and, uh, you know, lunches out, uh,

00:53:22.620 in Beverly Hills where people were like, thank you for not leaving. Thank you for fighting. Cause I felt

00:53:27.100 so abandoned and I'm finding more people like me in the industry that work for Apple TV, that work at

00:53:33.920 Netflix, that work at Google that are kind of like open to having a discussion and we're not okay with

00:53:40.880 the wokeism that's happening. And we know that if it happens at these corporations here, and if we

00:53:45.040 don't put a stop to it here, it's going to be affecting like the small businesses and other

00:53:49.780 corporations all over the country. So that's like my political answer to that. My religious answer is,

00:53:56.020 um, you know, when in the old Testament, God is talking about, uh, like when he's dialoguing and I

00:54:02.940 just went blank, it's not Joshua, but, um, you know, Sodom and Gomorrah, like God, how many people will it

00:54:08.460 take? And, and how many people will it take to save a city? And I am a not perfect person.

00:54:16.520 You're one of the 10?

00:54:17.920 Yeah, I was at the 10. And I wouldn't even say, I would not be vain enough or self-righteous enough

00:54:23.260 to say that I'm one of the 10. But I guess my question from a religious perspective is like,

00:54:27.100 who are we to say there's no one left here to save? Um, and that's not my position to say that.

00:54:33.600 And it's not my position. I don't think to abandon the people that are here that need to be saved.

00:54:39.660 And, uh, we have friends on the mission field in other countries, and we have friends that are on

00:54:44.720 the mission field here and we cannot forget the mission field here. And my husband and I, for

00:54:50.240 the 10 years that we've lived here every year, every few months are like, we good, we going to stay,

00:54:55.520 how we doing, what are we supposed to do? And during COVID, when everyone was leaving and

00:55:00.660 there are post-apocalyptic skies because of fires and helicopters because of the riots,

00:55:06.060 I remember having a kind of like internal freak out moment of like, is this like, should we like

00:55:10.380 pack up and go to a cabin in the woods? Like what the heck? And he was like, we're not going to flee

00:55:14.340 in fear, but we're not going to stay because of pride. And so for us, I think that's where we try

00:55:20.260 to step in day in and day out of like, we're not going to stay because of pride, but we're not going

00:55:25.400 to flee in fear. And like, what's our individual purpose? And then what's our family purpose? And until we

00:55:29.720 have a different answer from God of what that is, we're staying.

00:55:36.080 Well, I'm glad that you are. I'm glad that we've got somebody back there

00:55:39.560 fighting the good fight. It's important. Well, thank you so much for coming on my podcast.

00:55:46.040 Thank you for having me. It's been a lot of fun.

00:55:48.400 Tell us where we can find you, where we can follow you, all the places.

00:55:52.700 Well, just on social media, your brother once told me I have a Jewish dude's name. So it's

00:55:56.940 T-L-I-S-H-A-K-R-A-U-S-S. And that's where I am on Instagram, Twitter, my website. Yeah. So

00:56:05.020 if my Instagram stories are like my brain, I actually find that Instagram is my favorite

00:56:09.660 platform. I'm like, nah, on Twitter, even before Elon bought it. So, but you can find all my thoughts

00:56:16.480 there. And I usually post all of my interviews like this there as well.

00:56:20.100 Perfect. So everyone give Alicia a follow and we will, I will see you in the next episode. Bye.

00:56:50.100 Bye.

00:56:50.600 Bye.

00:57:20.100 Bye.

00:57:21.100 Bye.

00:57:22.880 Bye.

00:57:46.820 Bye.

00:57:47.320 Bye.

00:57:49.580 Bye.

00:57:50.100 Thank you.

00:58:20.100 Thank you.

00:58:50.100 Thank you.

00:59:20.100 Thank you.

00:59:50.100 Thank you.

The Classically Abby Podcast - March 08, 2023

Ep. 9 ｜ Elisha Krauss On Feminism, Homeschooling, And The Importance of Conservatism

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