Townhall.com
Derek Hunter
February 22, 2018

Remember the Whitney Houston song “The Greatest Love Of All”? The sappy 80s cover of the 70s George Benson hit starts:



I believe the children are our are future

Teach them well and let them lead the way

Show them all the beauty they possess inside

Give them a sense of pride to make it easier

Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be

It was cheesy and typical of pop songs at the time, as most of the music that came out of the 80s was. Now it’s the basis for how liberals view unalienable rights explicitly protected in the Constitution.

The idea that we should “listen to the children” is a variation on a popular liberal mantra that whatever big government program they’re pushing is “for the children!” History is littered with the shards of the liberty we used to enjoy that were chipped away in the name of “the children.”

But now the left has gone a step further and are insisting absolute moral authority be instilled in children and legislative action be taken to limit, yet again, the Second Amendment rights of innocent Americans because a monster did something awful at a school in Florida. It’s insane, but not surprising.

It’s an emotional play by the left (pretty much every left-wing activist group and media outlet is involved now) to prevent people from thinking logically about why anyone but the guilty should be punished for the actions of someone not them. People overwhelmed by emotions rarely, if ever, think or act logically.

It’s to be expected from children, their whole lives have been spent being insulated from the need to think rationally and haven’t developed the skills yet to do so. But they’re saying the “correct” things, which means they’re saying the liberal things, so their voices are being amplified to drown out the other students at the same school, who went through the same trauma, who have spoken out against gun control. They get a fraction of the face time on CNN or MSNBC, if any, because what they say does not match the dreams of the activists with media credentials who decide what the narrative should be.

This column, for deadline purposes, is being written before one of the most disgusting cases of child exploitation in recent memory – the CNN town hall featuring students from the Parkville school where this evil occurred. Since it hasn’t happened yet (though it would have happened last night by the time you read this), I can only go off CNN’s past and assume the audience was carefully screened and participants chosen based on what they’ll say. There will likely be one or two opposing speakers, for a quick minute, and no challenging of the anti-Second Amendment orthodoxy prevalent among Democrats.

And, if it’s like similar town halls in the past, breaks will be taken and ads will be sold. CNN gets to be seen “caring” and make a tidy profit to boot.

CNN claims they were approached to do this by “members of the community.” Who they were we can only guess, but it doesn’t really matter. They knew to approach CNN because it’s CNN. They’re on board, they’re in.

I don’t know (and can’t, right now) what was said there, but I don’t care. I’m sure there was crying and recountings of those horrible minutes last week, which is not what I’m talking about when I say I don’t care. What I don’t care about is what will be pushed as the “answer” to future acts of evil.

I don’t care not just because it’s the typical left-wing gun-grabbing talking points, I don’t care because it’s coming from children who are traumatized and acting out of emotion. It’s understandable they’d be that way, they just went through hell. But going through hell does not give anyone insight into a complex issue, nor does it imbue someone with the right to be above criticism or to infringe upon the rights of people who had nothing to do with the hell they went through.

They’re kids; they’re angry, they’re scared – all of which is understandable – but they’re still just kids. I’m glad they’re talking, they should be talking, but to professional therapists not liberal reporters. And they certainly should not be taken seriously when it comes to anyone else’s fundamental freedoms.

Yet we have adults singing their praises as if the horror they went through gave them clairvoyance on how to prevent what they survived. No such moral authority was granted the families of people murdered by illegal aliens, they aren’t getting dedicated town halls on cable networks or having their wishes for immigration reform or border security championed by the media; they’re barely mentioned. How is their hell any different?

Now liberals are calling for “action” based on the emotions of teenagers and some have even called for the voting age to be lowered to 16 because of it. Liberals will exploit anything – if they can’t win elections with the current crop of American voters they’ll push to legalize millions of illegal aliens to get their votes. It’s shameless.

Someone should, at the appropriate time, educate these kids, and all kids, about the concept of fundamental, unalienable rights and the fact that the Constitution does not grant rights, it protects rights with which we were born from government infringement. That we punish individuals for their actions, not everyone else because someone did something evil. That government has very specific powers, not rights, that rights are reserved for individuals. If it were otherwise, any right they do like could be taken away by people like the very politicians they now wrongfully blame for the horrors they went through.

These children have every right to speak, and they should, but the exploitation that always accompanies liberalism is already circling them. Left-wing activists are not their friends and journalists will only care about them as long as they’re deemed useful (see how they dropped Cindy Sheehan and the anti-war movement like a bad habit once Obama was elected). Just because adults with microphones and cameras are telling them their every word should be treated as gospel does not mean it will, or that it should. And they should be educated as to why.

Yes, I believe that children are our future…but it’s now, not the future.

Link

Children should be seen and not heard. While that seems dismissive, it is meant to illustrate that they are as yet incomplete people. They have limited understanding, shallow perspectives, simplistic solutions, unbridled passions and primitive discipline; all driven by few life experiences. This is easily seen early on when they are in diapers and drink through a nipple or sippy cup. Later though, when they are approaching full adulthood, their childishness is more nuanced and requires an adult with uncompromised discernment to distinguish childish ideas from adult perspicacity. Therein lies the problem for many. They are too compromised to distinguish appropriately. We see this in pedophiles as well as politicians, employers as well as other adults not paying close enough attention. More insidious though are those who recognize the inherent vulnerability of youthful understanding coupled with mercurial emotion and use it to manipulate the culture nefariously. That is what Leftists and Progressive malcontents have done for generations.

You want to avoid more bloodshed? Fix this culture beginning with the children. Teach them morality and let them lead the way. This, of course, is the one solution liberals won't consider because it would destroy Leftism/Progressivism/Liberalism and in doing so refine evil out of the hearts of mankind. No, better to feign concern for the children to lend fig leaf credibility to the use of them to drive further control over the population and captivate an entire society.

Children should be seen and not heard....in the interest of self preservation, individual liberty, peace and prosperity.

What caught my eye to share this essay was the claim, hopefully true, that Hunter wrote it BEFORE the CNN Townhall he described so accurately described.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
What caught my eye to share this essay was the claim, hopefully true, that Hunter wrote it BEFORE the CNN Townhall he described so accurately described.

Indeed there is nothing new under the sun. Leftist tactics rarely change. Past is prologue. Only the target changes from time to time based on opportunity and expediency. Thank you for posting this article.

Trump-induced rage has driven lefties to new lows on a near constant basis.

This exploitation of children who just suffered a severe trauma is perhaps the most disgusting example yet, but I am sure the lefties will out-do themselves in short order.

What is the most consistent ploy of the God Damned Commies?

Victims! It is critical to be a Victim. Victims are sympathetic, beyond criticism, persuasive, compelling.

Children, women, particularly mothers, minorities of one sort or another.

SEALs say, “It pays to be winner!”

God Damned Commies say, “It pays to be a victim!”

Exploiting the victims you create to create more victims and blame it all on the innocent. Son of the morning, that's insidious!

@ darthfuster:



Exactamundo. Very, VERY well said.

Hmmmm who else used children effectively, the Nazi's were pretty good at it, the khmer rouge...yup, but Mao really excelled at it.

Call me when they start berating and beating people with their little red books.

They're children, I was once one myself, I would not have listened to young.me ......

Was explaining to my kids a couple days ago when they asked why some of these things were happening.

Outrage culture, and victim-hood for all. Liberal agenda.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
@ darthfuster:



Exactamundo. Very, VERY well said.

I'll second that!

the 18 yr olds are letting their rights being taken away if you can fight in war you should be able to drink smoke buy a gun. or we should make the age of majority 21 for all of it