6 Ways To Raise A Patriot, by
Rachel Campos-Duffy, 7/4/20, Federalist.
What’s
the most patriotic thing you can do right now? Raise a patriot!
One
silver lining of recent political and cultural upheaval is that parents are
finally waking up to the indoctrination of their children. I’ve always known my
kids’ schools were liberal, but it wasn’t until COVID-19 homeschooling began that
I discovered my son’s high school curriculum included Chinese communist propaganda videos.
I
sat at my kitchen counter with my jaw open as we watched an assigned video
justifying and promoting the Chinese Communist Party’s inhumane population
control policies with zero counterpoint materials or critical
thinking required. When my son offered an opposing point of view on Google
Classroom for his fellow students to consider, his teacher removed the comment.
When that’s happening in
small town Wausau, Wisconsin, why should we be surprised by how easily Black
Lives Matter (BLM) hijacked the public’s righteous anger over George Floyd’s
murder, becoming the most powerful and potent force in American politics
overnight? For decades, Marxist organizations, including BLM, have been tilling the soil while parents slept.
Watching
statues of George Washington topple and
hearing talk of blowing up Mount Rushmore,
parents rightfully wonder if it’s too late to turn the tide on all the
victimhood interpretations of American history our children have been silently
absorbing like carbon monoxide. I’m truly an eternal optimist
about renewing and restoring America’s well-deserved national pride, but I
implore you not to lose hope either.
Consciously
use your influence - You are your child’s first and most important
teacher. You can have more influence over your child than any celebrity,
rock-star-status congresswoman, or social media influencer. If you talk about
politics, history, and your love of country, your kids are listening and
absorbing, and they trust you more than people they’ve never met.
Tell
your child over and over again that he is not a victim
This is especially
important if you are a minority. Our culture and an entire racial grievance
cottage industry depends on your child thinking they are not self-sufficient or
capable of personal responsibility.
Know
and tell and retell your family’s American Dream story
Every
American family has one! Mine was captured in a video five years ago, but even before that, my
kids always heard stories about their grandfather being a shoeshine boy at the
age of 9, starting a piñata business by age 12, and going to night school to
earn his degree while raising a family. We tell them all the time that
this kind of extraordinary upward mobility only happens in America and that we
are blessed to be Americans.
One
of the most effective tools of the anti-American left is to make us believe
that the American Dream, no matter how hard you work, is rigged or dead. Why?
Because if it is, then we need them. When your child knows your
family’s American Dream story, they won’t fall for the lies that everyone
from AOC to
First Lady Michelle Obama tell
about America being racist or systemically rigged against minorities. It’s not
true!
Start
young - The dirty little secret is that indoctrination doesn’t start in
college. Even baby board books are
full of victimology, anti-American messages, and storylines that denigrate
competition and free-market capitalism.
Our
culture’s obsession with “diversity” has dangerously diminished the number of
books and stories our children hear about all the beautiful things we have in
common as Americans — our history, our love of freedom, and our pursuit of the American
Dream. It’s why I wrote my first children’s book, “Paloma Wants to Be Lady
Freedom.”
Books
are formative. From board books to young-adult literature, make sure your kids
are reading about all the good America has done and continues to do. America is
exceptional, and its flaws and historical sins do not diminish that fact.
Understand
that radical liberals have taken over your child’s education system - While
we were sleeping, the left took over teaching colleges, filling boards that
approve textbooks, and are providing “free” supplemental
curriculum and training to teachers through groups like the
25,000-member-strong American Educational
Research Association. AERA hired Bill Ayers,
a radical, unrepentant domestic terrorist who publicly stated his goal is to
dismantle capitalism, as its vice president of curriculum studies. That means
you need to check your child’s textbooks and supplemental curriculum.
Much
of the ideologically driven interpretations of American history in our schools
can be traced to one book: “The People’s History of the United States,” written
by an avowed Marxist named Howard Zinn.
Long considered fringe material, it is now mainstream and being introduced to
younger and younger audiences.
Some teachers, like this one
who posted a TikTok video bragging about it, only teach from Zinn’s book,
which views every event in America history exclusively through the prism of
oppression, class, and race struggles. In Zinn’s world, America is not
exceptional, our founders were villains, their motives were never noble, and
their contributions to liberty were always overstated.
Show,
don’t tell - Actions really do speak louder than words. Fly
a flag in front of your house and behind your boat. Teach your kids to respect
the proper way to dispose of a tattered American flag. Online videos demonstrate
how to make a little ceremony of it at home. Your kids and grandkids will
remember these moments forever.
Teach
them to thank our military and law enforcement for their service and to stand
and take their hat off for our national anthem. Lead by example. Our country,
and yes, our kids, are craving a time when these things were part of our
cultural fabric, which explains why this video of
a World War II veteran quietly saluting the flag on his morning walk went
viral.
This
Independence Day, find time to tell your kids the story of our inspirational
revolution and daring independence from England. Fly your American flag
proudly, and let the kids see you cry when you hear the “The Star-Spangled
Banner” play during fireworks.
In
1776, our nation’s future depended on young reinforcements. The same is true
today. What’s the most patriotic thing you can do right now? Raise a
patriot!
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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