Talk to any foreman on a construction site about why he would rather hire illegal Mexicans than Johnny or Jimmy fresh out of high school. The illegals want to work and are happy to do so. The American youngsters often show up late, leave early and spend all their time worry about taking breaks and getting paid.

The culmination of the really bad job of child rearing we have been doing for the last 20 years of so is a generation of lazy whiny adults who believe in magical thinking and that success should be handed to them without effort. Is it any wonder these youngsters voted in as president a man with no experience or credentials who believes that many if not most of the world's ills were caused by the United States?

If like many young people, you are completely ignorant of the truth that China and India put out more carbon than the US ever will, then how can you be patriotic? They were taught and they believe that the US commits a crime by getting up in the morning. And that breathing should be fined as an unlawful emission of CO2.

Moreover, the liberal teachers and professors of our youth have taught them that all the world's wars and political problems where caused by US greed, political machinations and religion. Who could be patriotic after that brain washing? Often children spend more time learning how to put a condom on a banana than reading and appreciating the founding documents of the nation.

One of the things that is really missing from US education is an appreciation of the redemptive qualities of American spirit. It's not that we never did wrong; rather it is that we were able to see wrongs like slavery and Jim Crow and correct them. We did free a good deal of the world in World War II and children should be taught to be proud of that.

It is not likely that children are going to become more patriotic soon. Much of the accepted wisdom promulgated by the media, liberal politicians, universities and schools is that the West in general and the US in particular is responsible for all the world's ills. Since there is not a lot of counter programming against that unless you are in the red states in the middle of the country, patriotism may not come again any time soon. Quite frankly blue states breed faster. For the moment, they have someone else to pay for whatever messes they make.

Learn more about this author, Michael Skinner.
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