Teaching our kids about history [View All]

[wellstone dem]

My daughter will vote in her first presidential election this year. I have no doubt that she will vote, and that she will vote for the Democrat. When Bush won his last term, I remember waking her up for school and telling her the results. She said, "Why would they do that? People will die because of that vote?"

So I don't need to teach her the importance of voting, but I want her to know what a historic vote this will be. I was amazed at the emotion I felt as I talked to her about what it will mean to vote for a black man or a white woman. I got tears in my eyes as I told her about the history of the role of women and blacks in American politics. When I was in college working for the Equal Rights Amendment and when I took classes about the history of the ability of blacks to vote in this country, I honestly never thought I'd get to vote for either. And here, my daughter gets to do so in her very first election. I hope she pauses before she submits that vote to think about what she gets to do. I know I will.