A couple of months ago I came across “Help! Mom! There are liberals under my bed!” This book seeks to explain to children in simple terms why liberals are evil wicked people who want to steal all your money, and features thinly veiled caricatures of Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton.
I liked to think that this was just another example of quite how bonkers the American Right has become. Unfortunately, it would appear that elements of the US Left are dedicated to doing the same thing. “Why Mommy Is A Democrat” is presumably not a joke, but nevertheless hard to take seriously. It appears to be aimed at the under-4s and is full of blandishments like “Democrats make sure we are always safe, just like Mommy does” (cue picture of elephant – symbol of the Republicans. Subtle, eh?) and features creatures that I think are meant to look like squirrels but with their mad starey eyes they look like the recent recruits to a new religious movement on acid.
What does this achieve exactly? It is the sort of thing that makes me uncomfortable about organised religion with all that “Give me a child until he is seven, and I will give you the man” guff. It is why I get so irritated with people who persist in joining their children up to the Lib Dems at birth.
Liberalism at its most basic is rationality and non-conformism: denying children the opportunity to make up their own minds is the very opposite of what we stand for. It’s what the Other Side do. Indeed, this book seems to have more in common with the worst excesses of Fabian-style socialism and as such seems to live up to the very caricature that “Help! Mom!” is portraying.
The author, Jeremy Zilber, signs of his website biography with this:
I currently live in Madison, Wisconsin, with my partner Julia, her daughter Isabella (age six), and our cat Zachary — all lifelong Democrats.
Poor kid will probably be scarred for life! Here’s hoping this trend doesn’t continue.