What do I tell my children?

[Mythsaje]

My eldest, 14, is becoming more politically aware. His mother pretty much thinks all politicians are scum (and these days it's a hard argument to win to say they're not) and I despair of teaching him that he can have a positive effect on the world by going through the motions of political action such as studying the issues and voting for candidates. It's not as though we're not being constantly handed a selection of candidates who aren't willing to climb right in bed with the nasties for a piece of the pie-in-the-sky they're offering.

So now that we see that Congress really has no intention of going after these law-breakers for whom the Constitution is as valuable as a bird-cage liner, what do we tell the kids? When mass protests are ignored and downplayed by the corporate media and most ordinary acts of activism are barely a blip on our adversaries' radar screen?

Should we tell them "it's bad right now, but it'll get better?"

Should we tell them, "we can never give up fighting for what's right?"

Should we tell them, "they'll steal us blind, but we have to just pretend we don't believe they will?"

It's a quandry.

So how many Democratic members of Congress do we have that AREN'T some kind of scum?

10%?

20%?

30%?

How many are compicit and complacent, taking our money and votes and pretending we don't have a valid voice in our own government? And what do we propose to do about it? And what's more, what do we propose to do about a corporate media that couldn't care less about us and are seeking and finding brand new ways to marginalize all of us who have a handle on the real deal?

If we want to raise our kids to be active and involved, we damn well better try to do something about those politicians who are proving my ex correct.


edited to add a missing question mark.

[mikita]

1. I'd suggest telling them to

learn as many languages as they can, and be prepared to move to a country that doesn't have an army.

Seriously.

[ColbertWatcher]

2. Tell him...

...this is what happens when good people do nothing.

Or, when people are too afraid to do what's right because it might not be popular.

[ColbertWatcher]

3. Kick. n/t

[Pierre.Suave]

8. So true

so very true.

[EbenezerMcIntosh]

4. Teach him about the Revolutionary War.

Have him study the Constitution and the theories behind the founding of our country.

And teach him how to fire a weapon and survive.

[Mythsaje]

5. Using a firearm is one skill I can't teach him right now.

I don't own one. On the other hand, I can teach him how to use just about any other weapon you could name. I guess that's a start.

[MonkeyFunk]

6. encourage him to study history

and he'll learn that these are not America's darkest times. We've survived far worse than this dumbass President.

[Mythsaje]

9. Unfortunately, this dumbass President is actually the LEAST of our worries.

I think making him a scapegoat for all the shit that's wrong right now is just about the biggest mistake we can make. The problem is systemic and he's merely the most obvious symptom.

[MonkeyFunk]

10. then tell him we're doomed

no skin off my nose.

[Mythsaje]

11. Beg Pardon?

In what way is that a meaningful response to what I said?

Then again, as an ex girlfriend of mine used to say, "if you can't say something useful, say something surreal."

[crikkett]

16. Looked like your response #9 shut him/her down.

and his reply was to say the thing about the skin on his nose.

THat's how it looks from here.

[MonkeyFunk]

19. It didn't shut me down

but he's determined to believe that things are beyond repair, so I'm not going to be able to change his mind.

Personally, I find all these "sky is falling" threads to be silly. People act like this is the darkest time in our history, and it just isn't.

[Mythsaje]

21. Have you not read any of my other posts?

I'm NOT a doomsayer by a long shot. I think the human race still has amazing potential, and that we're nowhere near the end. But this government and the culture we're steeped in is so twisted sideways by the hot air blowing from both sides that a sizeable part of the populace don't know North from South or East from West.

My son said on the phone a couple of weeks ago, when we'd gotten into a political discussion--not our first, but one of the first really in-depth ones where he shared HIS opinion of things, that one of our biggest problems was that there's too much sexism and racism in this country. I was stunned and proud.

We need to reach the younger generation and get them to stand up and take a look around and ask "what the hell is this shit?" Until they do, we're going to be like a lot of aging dogs locked in a kennel trying to let the farmer know his house is on fire by barking our fool heads off.

[1]

7. from your post you pretty much already know what to tell your children...

you might not want to tell your children that.

but if you want your children to know the truth you will tell them that.

so tell them that...

[CreekDog]

12. if black folks could vote for FDR when half the party was racist

we don't have it so bad after all.

[Mythsaje]

13. Nah, nothing at all wrong with two unwinnable wars, a crashing economy,

unelected "advisors" who keep popping up like the Evil Dead, corporate personhood, the prison-industrial complex that NO ONE seems to have the will to do anything about, a corporate media that is supplying the lube for a serious mass fucking of the American people...

Nah, we've got it pretty good.

[CreekDog]

14. ask black folks if it's better than when FDR was president

and tell me things aren't better in comparison. :eyes:

but of course, that wasn't even the point, which you completely missed, nay, intentionally missed.

the point was that under worse circumstances for one group of people, that group of people still voted for the party despite bigots, institutional racism, avowed segregationists dominating the party, etc.

and you wonder whether people with 10 times the civil rights African Americans during the depression, with 10 times the wealth, etc. etc. can really bring themselves to vote for Democrats while there are knuckleheads in the party.

well, people who had it much worse than you do did exactly that and the country is many times better because they did.

:rant:

[reprehensor]

15. Yeah.

You are not alone.

[crikkett]

17. Tell your kids about the political machines of the 1900s and then about Dennis Kucinich

Tell them about the political machines of the 1900's and the rise of the labor movement, so they see how politics can be viewed in terms of a cyclical pattern or a pendulum, whatever suits you.

And then tell them about how marvellous Dennis Kucinich is, and his adventures keeping Cincinnati Power from being privatized, and is efforts to bring Bush to impeachment, and to end the practice of selling warm gas, and the great things he managed to say to the nation in the scant time he had during the recent debates.

Then go on ahead and tell them about Al Gore, and Jimmy Carter, and Maxine Waters, and Cindy Sheehan, and John and Elizabeth Edwards, then get outside to do something to take your mind out of negativity so that you can feel good about the world and by extension, allow your kids to feel good about it too. I heard that kids pick up their parents' moods.

Remember that it was the existence of one just person in Sodom that kept God from wiping it off the face of the earth before anyone could be rescued.

[barbtries]

18. my choice:

Should we tell them, "we can never give up fighting for what's right?"

if there is hope it is in the children. let's not raise them to be apathetic. i wish i'd lived this with my two older sons, now 32 and 24. they want nothing to do with politics and i certainly never role-modeled involvement for them. with my littlest one who is 16 now, i do. history will tell if it makes a difference in how he conducts his adult life.

but definitely, never give up. NEVER give up.

[Psyop Samurai]

20. The truth, to the best of your ability...

...with the understanding that it may make them a pariah in their own society. That is a difficult and painful reality. Everyone wants the best for their kids.

This issue came up in the last couple days, and I remarked that I was mystified that it's not raised more often. I will go further and suggest that the fact that it's not front and center indicates a serious disconnect (one I have witnessed among people in my personal life), which does not acknowledge the gravity of the situation, or that its scope is inter-generational.

Once you realize what kind of game we're up against, and how it has been played over and over again, you are led to the realization that effective transmission of knowledge between generations is our only long-term hope, and that a collective, institutional response is required, beyond what conscience compels us to as individuals.

Young people do not understand the full implications of things, and there is a whole world of things to distract their attention and to reinforce the BIG LIE. I did not truly understand the implications of JFK's murder until 40 years after the fact, and the betrayal I felt was beyond shocking. Are we to inflict a similar fate on the next generation by glossing things over? We can't afford it. Humanity can't afford it. The planet can't afford it.

Thank you for raising the question.