There are so many actions liberals take which set me off, that it’s hard to pick number one. Certainly, near the top, is using children to promote a personal political agenda. I don’t know of any conservatives who have exploited children to promote a right-wing agenda, but if I see it happen, I would condemn them the same.
What caught my attention was Representative Katie Porter using a statement from her nine year old daughter to argue for action on climate change. According to Porter, her daughter is so frightened over the coming climate apocalypse that she told her mother “we’re all going to die soon.”
Now where in the world would a child that age get an idea like that? Let’s give the benefit of doubt to the Congresswoman. After all, we have to assume that no mother would want to put such a frightening idea into the mind of her innocent child. Presumably she is too young for social media, so that kind of leaves school or television. Rather than using the incident for political gain, Porter – who is in a position to be heard – should be tracking down the responsible party and taking out her concerns with them. As the father of five children, I would be outraged at anyone who put such a devastating thought into the mind of my child.
Perhaps inspired by the Democrat’s promotion of a Swedish teenager to lecture America on climate control, she chose to use the child’s fear to promote her political agenda. I certainly don’t know anything about her relationship with her daughter or even if she knows that mom quoted her, but I do know that the fleeting innocence of a child is precious and should be protected at all cost. The little girl will have enough years to worry about adult matters when she is old enough to reason for herself.
Having attended hundreds of fishery hearings in the past forty years, I have seen children used a number of times to promote stricter regulations on commercial fishing. With every species solidly protected by quotas, licensing, and area closures, fishery regulation today is reduced to micro-management driven by environmental politics. Though many people become emotional when science is ignored and politics prevails, I have never witnessed a commercial fisherman using children to support his argument.
Several years ago however, a publc hearing to restrict fishermen from using undersize lobsters as attractants in traps, provided the most egregious incident. At the meeting in Tavernier, three busloads of proponents arrived, each wearing a t-shirt that said “Save the Baby Lobsters.” OK so far. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and in the commercial industry we are used to lots of opposition from environmental organizations.
What sickened me and many others in the room, was when they set up a folding chair behind the podium, and brought out a young girl to stand on it. She appeared to be nine or ten years old, and proceeded with a well-rehearsed couple of lines. ‘Please save the baby lobsters. I want there to still be some when I am old enough to catch them.’
Her parents and cheering entourage were obviously very proud, but every commercial fisherman cringed, as did anyone else with the least sense of conscience. Nevertheless, using children as a tactic is very effective. Most fishermen left the room rather than bring a little girl into the debate, and having already spoken on behalf of those at my fish house, I left as well.
Of course, I don’t expect the left to stop using the tactic. To them, everything seems fair in fighting the dastardly conservatives, and children are much more effective than illegal aliens, inner city minorities, or senior citizens. So, here’s another issue where liberals claim the high ground by using children, and conservatives are left uttering one of the common ‘me too’ lines, ‘But I love children too!’
