Who is running for President in 2056?
Much has been written about the influence President Trump’s foul language and behavior is having on American children. Kids are learning about decency and humanity at school and at home, only to see the leader of their nation bully and mock people at every turn. I am not a parent, so I will leave that analysis to the moms, dad, and childhood development professionals of the world.
What I am, however, is a woman whose career has been in politics and public service. That is relevant here because I felt called to public service as a little girl. My parents required us to watch the evening news as a family, and I saw elected officials carry themselves (and treat others) with basic decency. I looked at a career in public service through a child’s eyes and saw something that was honorable.
Ronald Reagan was in the White House when I was a kid. As an adult, my politics veer far to the left of President Reagan’s, but I still credit him with drawing me to a life committed to advancing a greater good. I wasn’t old enough to understand his positions or to pick up on many of the subtleties of what he did and said, but President Reagan and so many of his contemporaries in government made a lasting impression on me all the same. They so deeply impressed upon me that politics and government were field of noble pursuit that I recall a conversation with my mother sometime in my elementary school years, telling her that I wanted to go into politics because if you wanted to help a lot of people you could do that through government.
Earlier today, the President of the United States called a female journalist a name and made fun of her looks. This, of course, is just the latest in a long line of his deeply offensive, dishonorable comments and actions. When cataloguing the President’s many low moments — objectifying women, deriding the disabled, glorifying violence, telling lie after lie — one pauses and thinks “I know I’m leaving something out, but there’s so much you just lose track after a while.”
And so I find myself wondering: if I were a kid today, would I look at this ignoble man and be drawn to public service? More importantly: are kids today — our future leaders — looking at what has become of the political stage, and seeing themselves up there? And if they are, is that a good thing?
I’m no pollyanna. Politics always has been and always will be a land of sharp elbows, and its descent into more base territory far preceded the current administration. But the vulgarity, immaturity, and dishonor of President Trump is new to the era of modern politics. His positions and behaviors are spurring young people in their teens and twenties (as well as the young at heart) to levels of activism not seen at this scale for decades. That wave of civic engagement is heartening. And yet, I worry about how the youngest Americans are reacting to this administration. Children across the country are watching him, and the landscape he has created, and one of two things is happening. Many of those kids are either writing off futures in public service because the idea of a lifetime on the playground with bullies is a turnoff, or they’re relishing the opportunity to roll up their sleeves and throw a few figurative punches. Our country is either losing out on talent that may have otherwise been drawn to lead and serve because of the despicable tone set by the White House, or is in the process of recruiting every six year old Biff Tannen to run for office down the road. That feels like a clear lose lose.
I’m a proud aunt, honorary aunt, and godmother to a gaggle of adorable little munchkins. Every day I watch their parents try to impart the virtues of kind words, nice touches, please and thank you, sharing, and a general culture of respect. And then I watch them struggle with the conflicting messages their kids get from our head of state. Three, four, five decades from now we will be electing someone who is spending this summer preparing to enter kindergarten. They aren’t learning about basic good manners from the President of the United States, let alone about the respectability and potential of public service. As we all consider what that means for society’s base-line level of civility, let’s not forget what that means for our farm team of future public servants.
