Conference yukon::christian_v7

312.0. "GOVERNMENT GAMES - Joseph Sobran" by JULIET::CLABAUGH_JI () Mon Nov 08 1993 15:34

hi friends.  here's a little something of interest for preparing
your children for the reality of the day.

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Reproduced without permission from the American Family Association
Journal, September, 1993.

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.

    I thank God that The Governments of the World Will Rest on HIS
    Shoulders!!!!  See Isaiah 9:6,7.
    
    -Jack