American Government, Lithuanian Style

My young adult son who is in college even though he has not actually graduated high school yet, is taking a Government class at the local community college. His Prof is Lithuanian. Seriously, with the accent and everything. Did I mention this is an American Government class? I’m assuming she’s an American citizen. I don’t know whether to be concerned or impressed. I mean, I’ve only ever lived in America. I went to American public schools all my life and I’m pretty darn sure I could not teach a Government class.

The interesting thing is Will’s reaction. He’s totally into it. He got his voter registration card in the mail yesterday and was positively gleeful (you know, as much as an 18 year old boy can be gleeful).

He’s started watching the BBC World news nightly and Glen Beck. (Hello dichotomy!) He’s always pausing the TV and yelling at me. “MOM! Did you hear that??? Did you HEAR that?” He’s incensed over the whole Obama health care thing. He is outraged that Obama is trying to get artists to create propaganda for him. He’s furious that Van Jones, the man appointed as “green jobs czar” is a self proclaimed communists.

Seriously, Will knows things that are going on in the Government right now that I don’t even care to know. He’s infuriated. Good for him. He’s young and new to all of this…the rest of us have moved from infuriated to exhausted. It really is like watching a train wreck. At first you can’t take your eyes off of it. You know what is going to happen, but you just can’t look away. But then, the wreck happens and there are all the flashing lights and chaos and they start pulling all the bloody, mangled bodies out of the wreckage and you move from not being able to look away to not being able to watch anymore.

Personally, I think that’s where most conservative Americans are right now. We simply can’t watch the massacre of our Government anymore. We’re covering our eyes and saying “tell me when it’s over”.

It was kinda refreshing to see the outrage of someone new and young and not yet jaded. He’s ready to pick up the fight while the rest of us are cowering in the corner with our fingers in our ears going “la la la la la” and waiting for the next election.