Sobering moment courtesy of a child.

[Pacifist Patriot]

I was sitting on the sofa this afternoon with my seven year old on one side and my ten year old on the other browsing through a World Atlas for Kids. We've also been discussing twentieth century American history. They think it's really weird mommy grew up in a world where two Superpowers divided the world into competing spheres of influence. Cold War mentality is lost on them.

We're looking at a map of Europe and talking about countries that used to be communist dictatorships so of course that generated a discussion about different types of government. My seven year old looked up and said, "so we're one of the democracies, right?" I opened my mouth to answer...

...and nothing came out. I honestly don't know anymore.

[gratuitous]

1. We observe many of the forms of democracy

But as far as "the will of the people" goes? In a country as large and diverse as ours, someone somewhere will always be advocating for something different. Who do our elected officials listen to? Usually the person waving the biggest bribe campaign contribution. In certain isolated instances, there are enough people who band together for some ad hoc purpose that something gets accomplished. More often, however, it's in the interest of someone with a lot of money for a decision to go one way or the other. When that happens, the person with a lot of money not only bribes the elected officials, he also makes sure that opposition doesn't coalesce against him.

Are we a democracy? By and large, no.

[ThomCat]

2. Not even a representative republic anymore.

:(

If you are white, male, middle class, then we haven't been a representative republic for decades. Probably not since Carter. If you a member of a minority group though, then it's possible we have never been a representative republic at all.

Has our government ever represented you and your interests? Or has our government mostly just criminalized people you recognize as being like you, and represented companies that wanted to turn all of you into a low-payed employee, clients or customers without any rights, and members of communities that pays for their wastes and mistakes?

The whole concept of really being a citizen, being truly represented in government, and really having rights that you can claim and use, instead of just having them exist as something written on paper somewhere that only other people get to use, this all makes for a really interesting and cynical discussion. How many of us truly feel like citizens anymore, and really believe that we have any Rights: guaranteed abilities the government will not and cannot take away?

[pnwmom]

3. We are an imperfect democracy -- better than some, worse than others --

and it's up to us to try to perfect it.

[outerSanctum]

4. Your seven year old thinks "it's really weird mommy

grew up in a world where two Superpowers divided"....

mmmmmkay...

:spray:

[Pacifist Patriot]

5. Both children thought it was a weird world view to have two countries....

exerting their influence over the rest of the world and pitting one side against the other. That's actually not a hard concept for a second grader to grasp. Now if we asked him to explain the finer points of communist dictatorships vs. western democracies? Nah, he couldn't do it. But American v. Soviet or NATO v. Warsaw Pact and we want more countries on our side than they have on theirs. That's a pretty simple concept. I'm not claiming my kid is a genius, he's most definitely normal.

[midnight]

6. Don't be so hard on yourself... Many say they don't recognize their country anymore...