The American Spectator : Kid Conservatism

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Kid Conservatism

By Jeremy Lott on 3.4.09 @ 6:07AM

What ever happened to the notion of parental supervision?

In his address to the Conservative Political Action Convention this weekend, talk radio veteran Rush Limbaugh offered parents advice. "Don't be afraid to tell children that they're wrong," he said. "They don't know what you do. They simply haven't lived long enough." True, the kids will "hate you for a while." But parents should press on because "you owe them the truth about things."

Limbaugh meant this as a criticism of the broader culture, but it applied just as forcefully to CPAC itself. Early on the first day, I picked up the book Define Conservatism: For Past, Present, and Future Generations, by Jonathan Krohn, one of the speakers at the "two minute activist" panel. The cover is normal enough -- a silhouette with a picture of Congress in session in the background. It looks like something that could be published by a university press, perhaps.

Then, the trick. You turn it over and see the picture of a "13 year-old home schooled young man" who was named "Atlanta's Most Talented Child" by Inside Edition. He even "had 3 call-backs for the Broadway part of Michael Banks in Mary Poppins." The young Mr. Krohn "loves talk radio" and has "taken up golf in hopes to play with his favorite politicians."

This reviewer wishes him good luck with that and hopes that he never, ever gets the itch to write another book. Define Conservatism is terrible. It's not simply that the book is riddled with typos (though it is) or that it's shallow and awkwardly phrased that annoys so. There's also anger at the parents for allowing this book to be published at all. One of the things that good parents ought to do is keep their charges from embarrassing themselves this badly.

It would be cruel to quote this book at great length but here is the first paragraph of Krohn's second chapter: "Now that we have finished our discussion of old school conservatism and the constitution, let's move on to the next major aspect of the conservative belief system: the life issue. The life issue is near and dear to all conservatives. Does not life keep all of us alive? If it wasn't for life would we not surely be dead? Conservatives believe that life is something that everyone should have."

Yes, conservatives do generally believe in a right to life, and also in Krohn's other three pillars of conservatism: respect for the Constitution, a smaller government, and personal responsibility. But that specific answer is the sort of unrefined thought that we expect young people to throw out there for adults to respond, "Isn't he cute?" or "Well that's not quite right, son. See..."

Let's stipulate that prodigies do exist. Sometimes very young people managed to do the great and the unexpected. Define Conservatism is neither of those things. It's a mix of flawed history (Jefferson and Hamilton are said to be founders of "the conservative movement"), partisan hackery (John McCain's plan to help bail out people with distressed mortgages is given the small government Jeffersonian thumbs up), and sheer goofiness. Krohn's parents should have put their foot down and said, "Sorry kid, but it's for your own good."

About the Author

Jeremy Lott is editor of RealClearBooks.com and RealClearReligion.org and associate editor of RealClearScience.com.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (43) | Leave a comment

Dai Alanye| 3.4.09 @ 11:09AM

This article gives us too little information.

If nothing else, we need to know the publisher, since anyone can self-publish today. It would also be nice to know whether, like Obama, this inexperienced lad was offered a huge advance for his self-indulgent screed.

Tim H| 3.30.10 @ 11:13PM

To compare this kid's writing (and I've read it) to what Obama has written (and I've read that too) is like comparing dirt (to be clear; Krohn) to diamonds (Obama). I urge everyone to listen to (or read) on DVD in his own voice; 'Dreams From My Father'; It is re-assuring. It show his intelligence, wide world experience and compassion. When I read it, I started out skeptical of Obama. I had no expectations of what I would read but it realy did make me feal better about his capacity as president.

I suppose the characteristics I mention, above (intelligence, experience and compassion) might be good as the 3 'liberal' pillars.

As I read Krohn, I felt I was listening to his parents. Their son could, hardly, have fallen far from the tree and it shows, big time. I think, in fact, that his book is a good read to peer into the subconcious mind (very, very paranoid and hostile to ANY socialy responsive public policy) of the 'conservative' (interchangable, in many ways, with the 'rich').

Appleby| 3.4.09 @ 11:28AM

How do you know his parents can read? They probably think LOL is a word. That was probably his Daddy I saw on the subway yesterday, butt planted firmly in his seat while ladies stood all around him, twidding his binkie, playing Sudoko.

yo| 3.4.09 @ 2:00PM

Have you heard members of Congress, lately?

Or worse, Chicago Alderman?

This kid is still head and shoulders above a lot of people in the public sector.

Kasper Hauser| 3.4.09 @ 2:01PM

On the whole "Life" issue, I'm not sure I'm 1005 on board with universal application. Sure, I can handle it, but when I look around, I see a whole bunch of people who, were they denied it, well....things might be better.

Just saying the issue is more complicated than the author implies.

matt| 3.4.09 @ 2:02PM

Yikes. I can't believe someone would write this about a kid. What were you thinking?

Nancy| 3.4.09 @ 2:18PM

Until a kid is 18, hes off limits, I'm sure it wasnt a great book but its nice to see a kid making an attempt. You should no better then to do this, this is not something I would expect from this site, its not news worthy or important just really unseemly.

corrie| 3.4.09 @ 2:37PM

I guess this young man is learning early that the Libs like to tear down the entrepreneurial spirit, and those who want to excel to be a decent citizen.

Terry Heslin| 3.4.09 @ 2:40PM

Mr. Lott,
It's obvious that you are the tip of the spear on the "progressive" attact machine. Well done! This kid deserves to be destroyed before his 15th birthday. Like Palin, Jindal and Steele--he must be attacked personally and destroyed. His ideas are just too dangerous and they may gain traction. But the marketplace of ideas demands scrutiny and honesty. It is far better to attack the personality when the end justifies the means.
BTW--thanks for the link to purchase young Mr. Krohn's book. I've ordered a copy as a gift for my thirteen year old son.

Sean| 3.4.09 @ 2:40PM

Wow. If this kind of review is acceptable, is it acceptable for me to say that you should lay off the chocolate pastries?

Nic| 3.4.09 @ 2:43PM

someones upset that a 13 year old boy... can outsell him. jealous much Lott. Of course when your own book is Amazon.com Sales Rank: #850,933 ... i guess your subjected to attacking children to get it to sell?

"One of the things that good parents ought to do is keep their charges from embarrassing themselves this badly."

says the grown man whose parents should be embarrassed that they raised a douche who picks on 13 year olds.

Wes| 3.4.09 @ 2:43PM

13 year old boy publishes book on political philosophy. Bitter journalist points out flaws. Blogger thinks he just wasted five minutes.

Paul| 3.4.09 @ 2:48PM

Ok, so when I think 'prodigy' I think 'Mozart'. So, either I'm setting the bar far too high or this kid is nothing like a prodigy at all.

If he's the future of conservatism, then I'm going to begin writing the eulogy. Something to do with life is for people to have and life and is nice...

Crusader| 3.4.09 @ 2:56PM

Yeah, this kid would be much better served listening to gangsta rap with his hat on cock-eyed and playing video games. Damn kid!

Gregor| 3.4.09 @ 3:00PM

Wow. Intimidated by a 14 year -old kid? I'd absolutely LOVE to see a copy of something you wrote when you were 14. I'm quite sure it would be quite funny to pass around.

Hey! Did you know you're quite FAT? Maybe you ought to start worrying about yourself, rather than attacking a child.

Mobute| 3.4.09 @ 3:03PM

Could there be anything more pathetic and disingenuous than claiming someone's only motivation for criticizing something is jealousy? If someone serves me a hamburger with rat turds in it, I'm pretty sure the burger sucks for reasons more compelling than, "I resent that I never became a cook myself."

Further, I just loooooove the fact that this kid can't be criticized for barfing up a book full of insipid platitudes substantiated by strings of tautology because that's "beating up a kid." Conservatives can't tout that an alleged child genius is on their side and offers adult opinions on adult concerns and then cry foul when he's criticized as an adult. If they want to peddle him around adult fora and adult-related public arenas, they've established the standard by which they want him heard and judged—apparently so long as everyone agrees with him. Suddenly crying oh-won't-someone-please-think-of-the-children as soon as other people meet your ideas at the standard you've chosen and found them wanting just smacks of conservatives' taking their yen for having it both ways and moving out of the men's restroom and into the public with it.

Ash McGonigal| 3.4.09 @ 3:11PM

Honestly, this kid sounds like me at the age of thirteen, although from the phrasing of this stuff I probably was a better writer. If he stays in the public eye, though, and maybe goes to some college classes, I'm sure he'll be a powerful voice for the left in a decade or so.

Oh, wait, homeschooled. Probably not. Probably won't ever progress beyond where he is now.

Mobutes Father| 3.4.09 @ 3:12PM

The hamburger with rat turds analogy is poor. That would be a customer complaining. A proper analogy here would be a struggling chef that can't crack the top 800K list of chef's in the world, complaining about a child chef that serves "rat turd burgers" and has millions of people standing in line for it. This is a "journalist" who cant crack the top 400K sales mark bitching about a 13 year old who's already sold more. pathetic.

Jimmie| 3.4.09 @ 3:21PM

Hey, the kid's writing a book being marketed to adults, not kids. There's nothing at all wrong with saying that the book stinks as an adult book. We shouldn't always pat our precious moppets on the head if the choked out something bad.

And the kid's editor deserves some ridicule, too, for letting that "life" bit make it to the book. Someone should have had a little ehart to heart with the kid and his parents and told them that he's not quite ready for prime time. Perhaps if we told our kids a bit more that they're nto as smart nor as ready for the world as we thingk they are, we'd end up in a few years with more strong, responsible adults.

Mobute| 3.4.09 @ 3:23PM

Thanks a bunch, dad. I don't know when you suffered blunt force trauma to the skull or started drinking anti-freeze, because when I called you just a few days ago for your birthday, you sure didn't seem like the sort of person who had to have rubber balls stuck on the end of his fork to keep from stabbing himself in the face. Regardless, really, totally appreciate the post. Frankly, that first time... well, I don't know how I missed your inanely ginning up and imputing jealous motives to a writer to delegitimize his comments in service of whatever fantasy discourse you want to live in. But, please, by all means keep nitpicking my analogy to throw up more obfuscatory verbal chaff to take the focus away from the fact that your whole vision of the author and the entirety of your critique of his comments relies on something completely imaginary.

RegularJoe| 3.4.09 @ 3:48PM

If the quoted segment is remotely exemplary of the rest of the book, then I (as one three feet to the right of Limbaugh) agree with the reviewer that someone should have stopped it from being published. But there were three alternatives: ignore the book totally, and not review it; review it, but be gentle and constructive with criticism, and suggest that even bright 14-year-olds lack the life experience to write informatively on these topics; or tear the kid's guts out and suggest that even with additional age, education and experience he should "never, ever" attempt another book.

I've always heard that critics tend to be self-important, petty, cruel bastards, so I should have known which to expect.

hellpig| 3.4.09 @ 4:15PM

Wow !! @ 14 he is already more productive and accomplished then any marxist/communist posing as liberal in America

di butler| 3.4.09 @ 4:30PM

Actually, this "kid" is someone I happen to know. He self -published the book, with donations, his parents are very intelligent, as is he, and he wasn't 14 when he wrote the book! He was 11 1/2!!! He didn't "market" the book to any particular audience, and it shows great entreprenural sprirt. So what if it's riddled with some typos and poor grammatical phrasing? Lefties sure did love Bill Ayers self-published POS "Prairie Fire" that was written by himself, Bernadine Dohrn and that Mark guy, all who were ivy league educated. What's their excuse for the errors in spelling and grammar riddling that mess? Yikes, attack a child, now who's immature? BTW, Jonathan has scored very highly on his pre-SATs.

Rod| 3.4.09 @ 4:44PM

A kid might have written the book (saw it on the tables at CPAC), but I don't buy the "principles, not policy" crap he's been spewing. Without policy that is compatible and implemented with conservative principles, all conservative politics is worthless. Btw, if he wants to put his thoughts out there in the marketplace of ideas, anyone should be free to attack his ideas and point to how they are flawed.

Interloper| 3.4.09 @ 5:05PM

The book sounds like something many of the adult participants at the American Spectator might have written. Suffice it to say the boy is not even bright.

Still, the child should not have been exploited.

Bailey| 3.4.09 @ 5:21PM

I agree with you Rod. If this kid smart and talented enough to write a book then why can't criticize his work again? Is it going to bruise his ego? Or should we write about how cute it is that a 14 year old (or however old he was when he wrote the book) wrote a book. Come on. You don't think the kid is mature enough to take some criticism. How he is ever going to get better as a writer if no one ever criticizes his work. But most of you seem to think that we should just leave the book alone and not talk about it at all. Don't hurt the kids feelings or your going to hell. Grow up!

WhatADouche| 3.4.09 @ 5:43PM

I haven't read the kid's prose, but if it was half as boring as The Warm Bucket Brigade the kid deserves all of the abuse Lott wants to throw at him.

Still, Lott would be better served going to the gym and laying off the pie than attacking a juvenile attempt at defining Conservatism.

CH| 3.5.09 @ 2:06AM

I think Lott has a point about the spelling errors. That was embarrassing.

Justin| 3.5.09 @ 2:03PM

Well, I was a junior in high school at 13, and had been given college acceptance offers at 11, so although I am 26 now, so I feel that I have paid the dues to criticize this kid. He is an idiot. There.

bobomcfadden| 3.6.09 @ 10:01AM

Home schooling...

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA

Mike T| 3.6.09 @ 12:31PM

He'd be perfectly justified in wondering what the hell is wrong with people if they ate those turdburgers, knew what their main ingredient was, and came back for seconds.

DBN| 3.6.09 @ 9:38PM

This is a tempest in a teacup. A 11-13 year old writes a political book that appears to be at about the level of someone a half decade or so older, then self publishes it.

It doesn't mean much. Preteens get their political opinions from their parents, and on the level of literary precocity, he doesn't read like Montaigne. He seems to me like a typical home-schooled kid - bright, but a bit sheltered. Overall, it sounds like the book is to political scholarship what "Heartsongs" is to poetry, and certainly not worth fighting over.

Frosty| 3.7.09 @ 8:07PM

Something's fishy, though. Home Schooled kids are usually great spellers. I don't get it. I don't know what Jeremy Lott's weight has to do with anything, either.

Mustang3| 3.8.09 @ 12:18PM

What a great demonstration of the "marketplace of ideas." A teen has written a book...on politics! Some like it and some don't and so the debate begins. It will not help to shield him from criticism no matter how acerbic: what doesn't kill you...you know the rest. It will be interesting to see how this discussion affects his next work.

ice9| 3.8.09 @ 7:22PM

Is it my imagination, or are conservatives usually opposed to giving people credit for a good try?

As for the "entrepreneurial spirit" notion...just publishing a book doesn't make you an entrepreneur, especially if you take donations to do it. You're an entrepreneur if you make a go of it. Little kids who sell overpriced chocolate chip cookie dough to help their band go to Disneyworld don't succeed because they have the best cookie dough at the best price. They succeed out of pity, because in our culture we reward children for saying and doing what we want them to say and do. Thankfully, most kids are rebellious and original, so an 11-year-old who writes a book full of prechewed far-right tripe is properly perceived as a little odd, perhaps exactly what you would expect of a home schooled kid. Just as a 12-year-old girl who wears makeup and a bikini and shakes her butt in a beauty contest might be considered a victim of abuse.

ssri| 3.16.09 @ 1:30AM

First... most people who have written thoughts against the review...I think they have not listened to this kid live. The thing is people, he is just what he is: A KID. When he speaks, I pity the people who gave him a chance to speak. He is no prodigy, rather, he seems like a vociferous, ill-taught kid, who thinks he is doing people a favor by speaking. The book... is just a kid's gibberish. Even after the Sarah Palin debacle, Republicans haven't learned a thing.

Michael| 4.15.09 @ 3:06PM

I for one, was a little inspired when I heard about this story. Was it a great book? No, from what we can tell, however that was simply a fraction of the book, only a paragraph, not enough evidence. I'm 16, and I love writing. I plan to be a sport's commentator, so this story was just something that happened to be a little eye-catching and fascinating. I doubt seriously the book was all that good, but did you accomplish something like that when you were 13? I am also homeschooled, but spent many years in a reg. school and in homeschooling, you're not just exposed to information, but your teacher can focus on you, and they're arn't nearly as many distractions. I write articles on bleacherreport, a sport's writing website, (just throwing that out there), a way of advertising if you will. lol So, just a message to all who critisize people, esp. someone at that age for going for what they want to do, just needs to stop being so negative. Be positive. I hope this was something that was positive, and not just another way of saying "oh teens have no expierience" or whatever. I'm into politics as well, I listen to Glenn Beck, so one who doesn't just speak to you intellectually, but speaks to your heart, or "gut" in some cases. Ron Paul '12. I get my knowledge from my parents, among others, and not cocky or to immature to not take advice from others, and am open-minded. Thankyou

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