Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Prime Minister Mom

Oh my....my daugher is becoming a little me. Tonight she watched me responding to a post by one of my newer Liberal friends Dr. Sean Godfrey, and she wanted to know why I am not running for the leadership of the Liberal Party. Laughing, I explained to her that there were a number of reasons why that just wasn't possible, and she looked up at me with those quasi-innocent blue eyes and said "well, I kind of like Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff but I think you are nicer than they are, and we all know you could take on that loser Stephen Harper any day of the week".

My goodness, I had no idea that my highly partisan rantings, albeit not necessarily the most sophisticated in the political universe, were rubbing off on my kids. But apparently I demonstrate reactions of pure vitriol every time the current PM appears on my TV screen.

So, while I was writing this I paused and asked Lauren "Why do you dislike Stephen Harper so much?" Perhaps, and much to my delight, she actually pays attention to the news herself because her answer does not reflect anything I've ever said directly to her. Lauren's response was "I can't stand Stephen Harper because he spends 20 million dollars on businesses and he only cares about rich people. He doesn't care about the environment and he doesn't even believe in global warming and because of him the planet will be in danger and it will suck for my kids." Not bad for a 12 year old.

For now, while my opinion actually means something to my kids, they're all Liberal (with the possible exception of the middle guy, who keeps tossing around the Rhinos or the Marijuan party to just to try and get me riled up). I wonder how I'll feel when they get older, become educated, and form their own researched and thought out political beliefs? I should ask my dad - he's the father of a Liberal, a Green and a Conservative (who used to be an anarchist just for the heck of it and to tick Dad off).