Is it true? The Writers Strike may be over this week? And pint-sized politics

Oh God, would this be FANTASTIC if the writers strike were over! I cannot wait, I cannot wait. I have all these ideas for scripts I want to do.

But on the political front, yesterday we drove two 9th grade boys along with our 6th grade son to a chess tournament. The whole ride, the big boys were arguing about politics (Max quietly listened as they shouted over his head--he was sitting in the middle) and boy, was it polarized and strange.

Both boys go to a top notch private school and are really bright, by the way. Both have really smart parents. The Republican boy announced (scarily) that he wants to join the army as soon as possible, that every person should own a gun, abortion clinics should be bombed if it were possible not to harm the picketers, and he insisted that the reason why George Bush failed was because of democratic interference.

The Democrat boy debated him on every point (yeah, yeah, of course I sided with him, but outside of one, "You're a little delusional on that point," I kept my mouth shut and just listened. ) It was truly fascinating. First, because I was so happy that young people are so intensely interested in politics now, but also because I couldn't fathom how a 14-year-old could be so, rigid! He believed there absolutely were weapons of mass destruction and even if there weren't, "there could have been." Absolutely pro-war, he believes we are fighting for freedom. He believes, most frighteningly, that there is no such thing as global warming, but it is a Democratic plot and "a bunch of crap" and he knows for a fact that the footage on George Bush reading My Pet Goat for seven minutes after 9/11 was doctored, maybe even by Michael Moore, whom he insisted was the anti-christ. (He insisted this with a straight face.) Hillary was the spawn of Satan and anytime any criticized Obama, he said it was racism, so therefore you couldn't really tell where he stood and you wouldn't want "soeone like that" as a president.

More bon mots he came out with:
Jimmy Carter and Clinton were the worst presidents ever.
Bush was the best. And of course he adores Reagan.
The sixties were a time of civil war and produced nothing of value.
Democrats produce nothing of value and Clinton is responsible for the fiscal mess that we are in, and it doesn't matter that Clinton produced a surplus after the Bush bust years, and that that surplus was quickly depleted by George W. because Clinton orchestrated it that way so Republicans could get blamed.
Everyone should own a gun because it's in the Constitution.

What was also fascinating was how well these kids debated. No one got so furious they were calling names, no fists were flying, tempers were in check, and there was a real dialogue going on here, and it was great. Freedom of speech rules! It's just great to hear kids talking! A few weeks ago, we were driving Max's friend home (another 6th grader) and he started saying, "Let me tell you what I think about same sex marriage," but he had to run home before he could answer the question for us! (Later, we found out he was against it, but he didn't know why.)

It also made me now think that I may vote for Obama simply because if he's the one firing up the youth who may be Democrat, than I want to fuel that flame, too.