Today my 9th grade boys asked me who I would vote for, and we proceeded to have a brief conversation about politics, race (“Mama, I hear Republicans hate black people.” They were interested to hear that there are several African-American leaders in the Republican party), and the importance of doing research on the policies to make your own decisions. Also, my kids are awesome:

A: Mama, who was the guy that ran against Obama last time?

Me: John McCain?

A: Yeah, McCain! Man, I liked him! I would have voted for him. You know, he was in a war and killed a bunch of Japanese guys.

Me: I think he was in Vietnam War.

A: Oh yeah, Vietnam. Did you know he was captured!?! They beat him and he survived and made it out. He’s a real man!

I wish we all could engage in politics with the interest and semi-innocence of my kiddos.