Time: Tue Apr 22 05:53:19 1997
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Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1997 05:23:19 -0700
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: [jus-dare] Teach Your Child About Politics (fwd)
<snip>
>
>Teach Your Child About Politics
>
>by Joseph Sobran
>
>Because I write about politics, people are forever asking me
>the best way to teach children how our system of government
>works. I tell them that they can give their own children a
>basic civics course right in their own homes.
>
>In my own experience as a father, I have discovered several
>simple devices that can illustrate to a child's mind the
>principles on which the modern state deals with its citizens.
>You may find them helpful, too.
>
>For example, I used to play the simple card game WAR with
>my son. After a while, when he thoroughly understood that the
>higher ranking cards beat the lower ranking ones, I created a
>new game I called GOVERNMENT. In this game, I was Government,
>and I won every trick, regardless of who had the better card.
>My boy soon lost interest in my new game, but I like to think
>it taught him a valuable lesson for later in life.
>
>When your child is a little older, you can teach him about
>our tax system in a way that is easy to grasp. Offer him, say,
>$10 to mow the lawn. When he has mowed it and asks to be paid,
>withhold $5 and explain that this is income tax. Give $1 to
>his younger brother, and tell him that this is "fair". Also,
>explain that you need the other $4 yourself to cover the
>administrative costs of dividing the money. When he cries, tell
>him he is being "selfish" and "greedy". Later in life he will
>thank you.
>
>Make as many rules as possible. Leave the reasons for them
>obscure. Enforce them arbitrarily. Accuse your child of
>breaking rules you have never told him about. Keep him anxious
>that he may be violating commands you haven't yet issued.
>Instill in him the feeling that rules are utterly irrational.
>This will prepare him for living under democratic government.
>
>When your child has matured sufficiently to understand how the
>judicial system works, set a bedtime for him and then send him
>to bed an hour early. When he tearfully accuses you of breaking
>the rules, explain that you made the rules and you can interpret them
>in any way that seems appropriate to you, according to changing
>conditions. This will prepare him for the Supreme Court's concept of
>the U.S. Constitution as a "living document".
>
>Promise often to take him to the movies or the zoo, and then,
>at the appointed hour, recline in an easy chair with a newspaper and
>tell him you have changed your plans. When he screams, "But you
>promised!", explain to him that it was a campaign promise.
>
>Every now and then, without warning, slap your child. Then
>explain that this is defense. Tell him that you must be vigilant at
>all times to stop any potential enemy before he gets big enough to
>hurt you. This, too, your child will appreciate, not right at that
>moment, maybe, but later in life.
>
>At times your child will naturally express discontent with
>your methods. He may even give voice to a petulant wish that he
>lived with another family. To forestall and minimize this
>reaction, tell him how lucky he is to be with you the most
>loving and indulgent parent in the world, and recount lurid
>stories of the cruelties of other parents. This will make him
>loyal to you and, later, receptive to schoolroom claims that
>the America of the postmodern welfare state is still the best
>and freest country on Earth.
>
>This brings me to the most important child-rearing technique
>of all: lying. Lie to your child constantly. Teach him that
>words mean nothing - or rather that the meanings of words are
>continually "evolving", and may be tomorrow the opposite of
>what they are today.
>
>Some readers may object that this is a poor way to raise a
>child. A few may even call it child abuse. But that's the whole
>point: Child abuse is the best preparation for adult life under
>our form of GOVERNMENT.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
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========================================================================
Paul Andrew, Mitchell, B.A., M.S. : Counselor at Law, federal witness
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