Roger Nix, President at Six

“America is still a government of the naive, for the naive, and by the naive. He who does not know this, nor relish it, has no inkling of the nature of his country.” 

~Christopher Morley, American journalist

A great many opportunities have been seized and lost in America's history.  We've built great monuments to our successes, and our failures have been monuments unto themselves, manifesting themselves in our lives as poverty and greed, racism and sexism.  As a nation and a people we've proven time and again that we are capable of both the great and the terrible and can approach either with equal passion, efficiency, and courage.  But that's just our history and our style--these things do not describe who we are.  

Who we are is the question we must all answer if the American Experiment is to continue.  It's also the question we are rapidly becoming less and less equipped to approach.

When was the last time someone asked you, "What does it mean to be an American?"  If someone did ask you that question, might you respond along the lines of, "Apple Pie, Fourth of July, Bruce Springsteen, and Corn on the cob"?

Probably.  

But those are just the trappings of what it means to be an American.  What it really means is that you've been granted a massive number of rights and protections attached to a small number of obligations.  To be an American citizen is the greatest achievement unlock in the history of the world, and unless you've been naturalized (Welcome!) all you had to do was not a damn thing. 

In fact, you didn't have to do ANYTHING until your kindergarten teacher taught you the Pledge of Allegiance, and even then you could absolutely mangle it and no one arrested you and threw you in prison.  They probably even smiled when you tried to pronounce "indivisible."

So here we are, a nation of citizens who don't have a clue and can't be bothered to figure out just how and why this government exists in the first place.  Not only that, but we have the cajones to be cynical about a system the vast majority of us do not understand in the least.  Want to have some fun?  Ask the next person you see to explain the Electoral College.  Then ask them why it exists.  Hilarity.

Here is the big problem: "Our children is not learning."  

We hide politics and government from children.  We hide it in the classroom because our teachers would face controversy, we hide it in public policy because, let's face it, six year olds can't vote, and we hide it at home because Daddy and Uncle Tom will throw salad forks at Thanksgiving dinner.  So no one makes American children aware that they are members of something big, great, and in constant need of care.  This unforced ignorance seems to stick with most of us until our first High School civics class, and sadly far beyond, resulting in adults who are primed to see the government and its political parties as foreign entities to be mistrusted and gaurded against, rather than a part of the lives they've made for themselves.

Which is why I personally can't wait to read Roger Nix, President at Six.  A book for children about running for President.  I've personally pledged to buy at least two copies.  One for my own personal collection and one for the next kid that looks at me like they've just swallowed a bug when I ask them who their favorite author of the Declaration of Independence is.   And I'll probably buy about a dozen copies for the kid who responds, "Jefferson, duh!"

But here's the thing.  Roger Nix, President at Six doesn't have any big corporate sponsors, nor does it have any federal subsidies behind it.  It gets made on the merits of its potential and our desire to live in a world where everybody has a sense of what their citizenry might really mean.  So if you have such a desire, or a small child that could use a little book learnin', I implore you to support this Kickstarter effort and get Roger Nix's campaign off the ground.  

In the interest of full disclosure, it should be made evident that the author of this book and I attended Loyola High School together and have conspired on any number of Biology and History assignments in the past.  You might say he's my Bill Ayers or I'm his Jeremiah Wright.  Or something like that.  The truth is, he's a brilliant mind and I'm unashamed to be so blatantly cajoling you, dear reader, on his behalf.