Out of the Mouths of Tweens: The Good News About the Campaigns and the Country

In this presidential campaign, we're constantly being told how bad things are, and how dark and grim the future of our country is. But I disagree.

How do I know? I was in the car today with my 13 year-old son and his friend. And the whole time they were talking about politics. Not just about the candidates, but about the issues -- about immigration, energy policy, ISIS.

And it made me think that whatever our opinions of the candidates -- whatever we think of Trump or Cruz or Sanders -- whatever we think is wrong about our political system, we should all at least feel good that there is very little apathy in this campaign, and that it's bringing even young adolescents into the political conversation. And their engagement isn't coming just in class when it's the assigned topic of conversation, but when they can choose to talk about anything they want. Instead of talking about video games and sports, they're talking about immigration and energy policy.

And that's very good news -- not just about the campaigns but about our country and about our future. It's a great countervailing truth to the conventional wisdom that everything about our country is wrong right now. Because 13-year-olds talking about politics and talking about issues is f*cking great.