This is a combination politics / education post.

I found this post on Pandagon. It’s about a book, Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!. Here’s the write up on it:

The story of two boys who dream about opening a lemonade stand when a strange thing happens…

Their dream gets stuck in Liberaland!

“Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed! A Small Lesson in Conservatism” is a wonderful way to teach young children the valuable lessons of conservatism. In simple text, parents and children follow Tommy and Lou on their quest to earn money for a swing set their parents cannot afford. As their dream gets stuck in Liberaland, Tommy and Lou’s lemonade stand is hit with many obstacles.

Liberals keep appearing from behind their lemon tree, taking half of their money in taxes, forbidding them to hang a picture of Jesus atop their stand, and making them give broccoli with each glass sold.

Law after law instituted by the press-hungry liberals finally results in the liberals taking over Tommy and Lou’s stand and offering sour lemonade at astronomical prices to the customers.

What scares me so much is that there are people who feel the need to read this to children. Are conservatives who would by this book so afraid that their children will have — gasp — liberal values that they have to read them books like this?

This doesn’t teach political dialogue, it teaches indocrination. I really believe that if I raise my son to be a kind, caring person who has an understanding that he is one person among many in the world, then he will have “liberal” values. I don’t need to read him books demonizing the right to do it.

And we wonder why it seems the political dialogue just sounds more and more like two sides yelling at each other these days. What will the kids who are raised to buy into this world-view be like when they are adults? Where do they go from here? Or will they revolt against cynical attempts to influence them like this and dare to think for themselves.

Me — I’m betting on the kids.