I overheard a young man at a picnic talking fervently about politics to his friends. There was a young boy about three years old racing around and rolling in the grass. At one point, the young man grabbed the boy by the arm stopping him dead in his tracks, put his face an inch from his nose and loudly proclaimed, “Never trust the government, boy!” He repeated this a few more times and then let him go with a laugh.

If you ever wondered why we hold the beliefs of our families and communities, this is part of the reason why. Political beliefs are dearly held and passed along, or indoctrinated, into the next generation. What is the difference between teaching and indoctrinating, you ask? If a person is just giving their opinion, is that indoctrination?

The example at the beginning of this post is closer to indoctrination than not. It’s putting ideas in the mind of a child without any context or ability of the child to understand. It becomes a belief the child adopts without knowing why.

Teaching is where you explain your political beliefs and why you believe your ideas to be true. It’s done with a person who is developmentally ready to hear what you have to offer. If your beliefs can’t stand up to question and scrutiny, are they as strong as you think they are? Is it possible you were told to believe and do so without question?

How did you learn your political beliefs? How often do you challenge those beliefs by looking at ideas and facts from the “other side”? Can the government be trusted? Not at all ever? Sometimes? How do you decide? Since we must have a government, how would you keep the government in check? The Founders put in checks and balances with three arms of the government. Do you demand your Congresspeople keep those check and balances functioning?

Do you demand transparency? What would transparency look like from the government? How would the government balance national security with transparency?

If you have a belief the government cannot be trusted, be able to state why clearly with facts you can support. Come up with solutions on how to improve government reliability and reduce corruption. Talk with those who are mature enough to have the discussion and enact solutions.

Yelling at kids won’t solve the problem. Thoughtful action will.