Reading from Left to Right

Now that we’ve emerged from our national fantasy of bipartisanship—and what a splendid two weeks it was—a strong dose of reality seems in order. And where better to begin that reality check not with Washington, where we conveniently lay the blame for all our partisan woes, but somewhere closer to home—not with our neighbors, not even with ourselves. Think back even further to the inception of your political beliefs, and you’ll find an even more welcome culprit: your parents.

In the age of the internet, when most kids would rather watch SpongeBob rap on Youtube than read a book, one practice stands as a bulwark against the advancing forces of pop culture: story-time. Endearingly quaint, unbearably wholesome, those 20 minutes before bed remain sacred (if not for children, then for their well-meaning parents). What could possibly be wrong with that?

Enter the political children’s book. In the form of such subtle offerings as Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed! and Mama Voted for Obama, we find not only a grave threat to the innocence we accord our treasured story-time, but also a deep expression of the partisan faultlines that have defined the past eight years. These books raise questions that pierce the very bases of our political values. While even breathing one’s politics in the classroom can spell career suicide for a teacher, few of us have such qualms about the political education children receive outside of school, least of all in their homes. Through a social sleight of hand, we have convinced ourselves that these different aspects of our lives—the school desk and the kitchen table, the state and the home, the public and the private—can be cordoned off from one another. But we need to face up to the uncomfortable reality that politics infiltrates all these spheres. Our political lives can begin as early as “once upon a time.”