Perhaps the most insightful analysis I’ve heard about the upcoming presidential election came from some lesser known political analysts living in my home.
“It doesn’t matter who wins or not. It’s just politics,” my 15-year-old daughter astutely observed.
My 9-year-old girl added with pinpoint precision, “They lie. Both of them lie.”
Ah, from the mouths of babes. But their answers surprised me a bit, as we’ve tried to keep the presidential race out of our home as much as possible. Apparently you can’t escape it, even in the ignorance of youth.
Of course, a copy of The Lima News is usually available in my home. Still, I try not to talk about politics there because I get to hear so much of it at the newspaper’s office. We don’t watch television news in our house during the political season.
Apparently our efforts to protect them from the fray didn’t matter. They hear about it while watching television. They read about it at school. Campaign ads play before their favorite YouTube videos. They see the signs promoting one candidate over another on the side of the road.
Most of all, they hear the nastiness.
“Trump is not going to start World War III,” my 8-year-old daughter observed. “Everyone says he is, but he’s not. No one can start World War III with just one person.”
From our straw poll, it sounds like we had one likely Clinton voter, one likely Trump voter and one girl likely to write herself in.
We teach our children to respectfully listen to people they disagree with. You can stand your ground without tearing down someone else’s position. You don’t have to yell over someone or completely dismiss their point of view just because you see things differently.
“They shouldn’t be saying such mean things about each other and tell so many lies about each other,” my 8-year-old said.
To phrase it in a more religious context, love the sinner; hate the sin.
Most of all hate the lying.
“It’s just not right to lie about people,” my 15-year-old said. “It’s just not right to lie about people.”
I know I’d like to hear more about what candidates stand for than what they stand against.
Then again, maybe sometimes my own politics – libertarian with a heavy dose of cynicism – does slip into my children.
“It’s Hillary versus Trump,” my 15-year-old analyst said. “One of them is going to be president. It really doesn’t matter which one.”
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
