Like beans in the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant, political parties were sprouting!
The Libertarians and the Green Party were finding new strength as voters abandoned "Republicrats" in favor of unconventional politics. Political interest was at an all-time high in contemporary America. Even the whirlwind ride of 1992 when H. Ross Perot terrorized the political establishment by earning 19% of the popular vote didn't compare to what was happening in America today: Saturday, April 26, 2008!
It was on that day - her forty-fifth birthday - that an unknown mother of four from a tiny Indiana rural hamlet took a giant step forward in her life. In a press release distributed to the major media around the country, this attractive former bartender announced that she was forming a new political party dedicated to the principles of equality for children. Intensely dedicated to her own children, the poised, statuesque woman who only identified herself by her first name - Liza - proclaimed that the United States government had "long neglected the needs of its children. That can no longer continue without notice and without change. Children are the future of our world," her news release stated, "and we cannot ignore them in favor of our adult proclivities." The three-page release announced that the new "Children's Party" would "put kids first, protect them from the evils of our adult world, and prime them for future leadership". Briefly outlined, the new political party would create more money for unconventional education programs, involve children in the political process at an early age, and provide "all the encouragement, resources, and experience necessary to ensure that children enjoy a productive and healthy childhood that leads them into productive, healthy adulthood". It was an astounding damnation of the way America had overlooked its youth during these past fifty years of corporate expansion, military build-up and governmental control.
"We have a larger percentage of starving children in America than is tolerable," the release claimed. "Too many millions of our children live in abject poverty because we refuse to force employers to pay decent wages to their parents. Why is it that an employer thinks he - or she - should be able to take a hundred times out of his business what he pays his help? They, too, have families to raise, household expenses to meet, and a life to enjoy." Accompanying the news release was a press kit filled with damning evidence of how employers at large and small businesses were unfairly biased toward employees who had no children or family responsibilities. In an age when more middle-aged couples found themselves caring for their elderly parents as well as their growing children, the unfairness was far too transparent. Also included in the press kit was a video tape of Liza expressing her views, and making a profound declaration: she was grooming her youngest daughter, Briley, who had just turned ten, to run for President of the United States in the 2032 election. The little girl would turn 35 in 2033, and would be eligilbe to become President under the current Constitutional laws.
Actually, there was a slight 'glitch' that could become a fly in the ointment, Liza acknowledged: Article II, Section I, item 4 of the United States Constitution states: "No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States."
Technically, Briley wouldn't be 35 until early March of 2033. Already a bright, witty, charming, personable, gregarious, and highly intelligent young lady, her leadership skills and tenacity were distinguishable traits, even at such an early age. Her flair for the creative, the arts, and her determined drive to succeed against all odds, could hardly be overlooked. Could the constituency, a quarter-of-a-century from now, overlook this detail? Briley would be running for President when she was only 34, and - if elected - would be in office fortwo months before "attaining" the age of 35. Politicians were getting younger everyday. Pittsburg, Pennsylvania already had a twenty-something mayor due to the death of the newly-installed mayor in 2006. Hillsdale, Michigan voters elected a teen-ager as its mayor. More young people were participating in city councils and sitting on mayoral boards as representatives for youth in their respective communities.
The videotape showed a smiling, happy child with her more subdued and svelte, staunchly faithful mother at her side. Liza explained on the tape that she intentionally used only their first names because she wanted Briley to continue to have a "normal" childhood without being the focus of media attention. "That would only serve prurient interests," Liza said. "While we will do everything we can to expand Briley's education, strengthen her skills, and advance her interests, we want to avoid the media carnival that all too-often surrounds child celebrities. Naturally, as Briley matures, any decision to enter politics will be strictly her own. However, she already exhibits a keen interest in some aspects of the political scene, and we hope to encourage her along those lines without - of course - any undue influence.
The 'Children's Party' would become a grassroots organization which would invite children to become involved in the process and possibly emerge onto the political stage in future years. Meanwhile, the party's ultimate focus would be to sponsor legislation favorable to youth, and work with local groups to bring youth to the forefront of America's consciousness.
It was time, the press released noted, for the Kennedy and Bush dynasties to stop controlling American politics and give government back to its rightful owners - the people. The only way to compete with those families who groomed their children to follow their parents into politics was to groom millions of America's less fortunate children, bringing them into positions within the government wherein they could exercise "power to the people" and "power to the poor" - two segments of the population all too ignored by the wealthy, the influential, the 'connected', and the politically savvy.
America's educational system needed to reform itself so that American children could actually learn multiple languages at the most appropriate opportunity: when they were 3-5 years old and their minds were more flexible to such learning. American children needed to be indoctrinated in the ways and means of the United States government, and how its Constitution was supposed to stand for 'the people' - not the specially-selected. American youth should be taught to learn tolerance and acceptance among their peers, instead of petty jealousy, hatred, and bigotry. This was a turning point in Liza's life, and was bound to be a turning point in the course of the nation as - hopefully - its youth would grow up to be more adaptable, more giving, more compassionate, and less self-centered. "Our society has focused on the trivial of business, money, personal achievement and materialism for far too long," Liza stated in one brochure included in the press kit. "It is now time to give our children the gifts of sharing and caring. It is time for them to learn less about self-indulgence and become more responsive to the needs of the global society. We must begin now so that these ideals grow into a national creed."
To Liza's mind - and in Liza's heart - children were too important to ignore. Especially when adults put their own personal pleasures, possessions, and persuasions above the needs of the children in their lives. "Multi-tasked moms" who boasted about how they balanced their families and their careers had, perhaps, contributed more to the degradation of American children than they knew. Executive dads who could manage a mutli-million dollar merger needed to learn how to manage playing catch with their nine-year-old son. Harry Chapin's song, "Cats in the Cradle", was prophetic when it first hit the music charts in the early 1980's. Today, in 2008, it was more oracular than ever: we needed to give ourselves back to our children, and the new "Children's Party" planned to do everything it could to accomplish that lofty goal.