>Teach Your Child About Politics
>by Joseph Sobran, Universal Press Syndicate
>
>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.
>
>