Overheard on the way to soccer practice.
“Are you a Democrat or a Republican?” one boy asked over the chatter of Minecraft and Percy Jackson. In the driver’s seat I cringed a little. It’s bad enough hearing adults argue about politics. I didn’t want to referee the third-grade version in rush-hour traffic. But my son and the other boy piped up. “Democrat!” “I’m a Democrat!” The first boy said, “I’m a Democrat too.” “Yeah!” “Definitely!” (Whew.)
“but do you know what it means?” the first boy said. “What it means, being a Democrat?”
“Yeah,” my son answered. “It means you’re on Barack Obama’s side!” I couldn’t see him but I knew he was probably doing a little victory dance in his seat. My kids love them some Barack Obama. The chatter continued but the first boy’s voice cut through the hubbub from the back seat. “No really. Do you know what it means?”
A beat or two of thought. “What?” a kid finally said.
“It means that, well, if you’re a Republican you’re for rich people. You want to make rich people pay less taxes.”
“You want to take money from poor people and give it to the rich!” my son guessed.
“Weeell, I don’t know if that’s it exactly. But they – they only care about rich people. They want to do things to make rich people’s lives better.”
The third boy spoke up. “But Democrats, they want to help make things better for all kinds of people!”
I sneaked a look in the rearview to see them all nodding vigorously. And thought, it really is that simple, isn’t it? A country of the people, for the people, where we pull together to make things better for all: 100%, dammit, of the people. Listen up, Mitt - these kids have your number. And it really is that simple.
my first diary - thank you for reading!
