Why conservative parents raise progressive children

There is a WND columnist named Dennis Prager whose writing is, I believe, outstanding. Last week and this week, he wrote a two-part column that absolutely nails why conservative parents often end up with adult children who are progressive, and who reject all the values with which they were raised.

The first column is entitled Conservative Parents, Left-Wing Children.

The follow-up column is entitled If You Want a Conservative Child.

Some quotes to highlight:

• "As a father, my purpose is not to pass on my seed, but to pass on my values." [Pride in our children comes not just with achievement, but with character. As Dr. Laura once said, the world is full of smart kids. What we need are more good kids.]

• "But the village – i.e., American society – has radically changed... Virtually every institution outside the home has been captured by people with left-wing values: specifically the media (television and movies) and the schools (first the universities and now high schools)." [Which is why I'm SO thankful we have no television reception and have homeschooled our girls.]

• "[I]t is best that your child not go to college immediately after high school. One reason colleges are able to indoctrinate students is that students enter college young and unworldly. It is very rare that adult students are convinced to abandon their values and become left-wing. Why? Because they have lived life and are much less naive. For example, someone with life experience is far more likely than a kid just out of high school to understand that the best formula for avoiding poverty is to take personal responsibility – get a job, get married and then have children – not government help.

• "Teenagers who spend a year before going to college working – in a restaurant, for a moving company, at an office – will mature far more than they would after a year at college. And maturity is an inoculation against leftism." [The inference -- that progressive values are a sign of immaturity -- is a whole different subject.]

• "The more your child knows, lives and adheres to the principles of [Judeo-Christian religions], the less likely he or she will convert to leftism, which has been the most dynamic religion of the last hundred years. For example, it is a fundamental belief of each of these Judeo-Christian religions that the root of evil is within the evildoer. But it is a fundamental belief of leftism that people murder, steal and rape overwhelmingly because of outside influences such as poverty and racism. The moment your child understands that people who commit evil are responsible -- not poverty or racism -– they cannot be a leftist."

• "[D]on’t be preoccupied with instilling high self-esteem in your child. It is the left that believes that self-esteem is a child’s right, something that parents and society owe children. Conservatives believe that everyone, including children, must earn self-esteem. Indeed, the belief in earning –- rather than in being given –- is conservative."

• "It is not all that hard to produce a son or daughter able to withstand left-wing indoctrination. You just have to understand that it doesn’t happen automatically."

A recent email I received accused me of being full of pride. He's correct in one regard: I am very very proud of our girls. They are carrying on the conservative values Don and I hold dear.

Views from a liberal

In response to this weekend's WorldNetDaily colum (Have a Selfish Thanksgiving), I got a lengthy email from my favorite liberal reader, Robert. This gentleman routinely (but politely) takes me to task for just about any opinion I express. I guess he can never accept the idea that we disagree on almost everything (except a mutual love for classical music). Contrary to his claim, this fellow is about as deep a Progressive as you could ever define.

So here's his latest email to me. One common theme in his missives (besides the evils of homeschooling) is that because conservatives are less inclined to unquestioningly hand out money in the form of welfare, we are therefore a cold heartless lot who want to see poor people die on the street, yadda yadda yadda.

Anyway, decide for yourself.
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Hello Patrice! I don't agree with you here. Yes, communism proved to be the worst economic system ever. It was horribly inefficient and unproductive.

But you have to realize that its polar opposite, pure laissez-faire capitalism, where it's dog eat dog and every man for himself, and if you're down on your luck, tough noogies, is no better. I'm no socialist, Marxist or communist, even though a lot of right-wingers have accused me of this on the internet just because I don't share their economic and social views, but there HAS to be a safety net.

Without it, too many innocent people will be helpless and fall through the cracks. I believe in capitalism, yes. But not the kind where we're all on our own, and if misfortune strikes, too bad. Unfortunately, too many right-wing Americans mistake the existence of a safety net for socialism.

They aren't the same thing at all. And many say that private charities should be that safety net, and that the government has no business helping any one. Wrong. Don't get me wrong; I'm all for private charities. But it's a mistake think that they can provide for every one in need. In fact,they can't even come remotely close.

You said in your last post that you don't want to live in America if "socialism" come here. It hasn't and won't. If anything, the danger is right-wing extremists who want to destroy our already inadequate one, which would be catastrophic.

Look. The vast majority of Americans, and people everywhere, aren't lazy bums who want the government to support them in style for life so they can live an easy life with no work to do. They want to work and earn a decent or better living and to be secure along with their families for life.

But you forget that social and economic conditions in America make this extremely difficult if not impossible for so many people.

It's not easy in America to get a good education past high school and get and keep a secure job with good benefits. Working hard is important and people should do this. But it's absolutely no guarantee of prosperity or security.

But unfortunately, the lame ducks in congress are about to be replaced by a lot of Republican lame brains who tell gullible people all they want to hear about lowering taxes, "limited" government, "smaller" government and all that, and restoring "freedom."

But beware. They aren't going to increase prosperity if they get power, but only make things much worse. Lame ducks to lame brains. Just what we need.

All the best,
Robert

No really! Everything's fine!

In response to my WND column A House Divided in which I argue that the differences between Progressives and Conservatives are so deep and profound that the only solution may be to divide this nation in two, a Progressive reader sent the following.
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Dear Ms. Lewis,

 

There are no places in America so liberal, such as New York City and San Francisco and Chicago, as not to have conservatives there as well.  There are no places in America so conservative, such as Houston and Oklahoma City and Salt Lake City, as not to have liberals there as well.

 

It would be impossible to divide the country into a progressive and a conservative entity.  Furthermore, it would destroy the very concept of America as a nation that encourages diversity.  We fought a war to settle the issue of dividing our nation into two regions with entirely different concepts of the value of humanity.

 

As a progressive, I believe that we need the give and take of liberal versus conservative, for that only makes us stronger.  America is fine - and the conservatives have 2010 and 2012 to put their candidates into office.  If they can do it, that would be the way to change America to their ways.  In the meanwhile, I'll be working to keep our country on the track that it's on.

_____________________________

 

Color me stupid, but somehow I don't see this as a solution.  This reader's "track" is profoundly hostile to my values.  My "ways" are, presumably, the same to this reader's.  Nothing will be solved or resolved because the Progressives and Conservatives will continue to be at each others' throats.  And meanwhile, our country continues to depart farther and farther from (a) the limitations on governmental interference set forth in the Founding documents; and (b) the standards of morals, values, and behaviors that Conservatives believe are divinely inspired.