My granddaughter had her first birthday today. I therefore wrote for her an instructional on all things economic, which I have titled Economics for Infants. There will be a new one every year and one for all siblings and cousins as they arrive. But so far, she is the only one. Although really quick on the uptake, I didn’t wish to make it too complicated. But while she will never hear from me on the existence or otherwise of Santa, this is part of what I wrote since it is never too young to find these things out.
Most importantly, you must never think of the government as the same as your parents.
The government is not there to give you things although they might pretend that they do.
You cannot look to the government to feed you, to give you clothes, to keep you warm, to give you presents.
The government doesn’t even care about you, not even a tiny bit.
It may be a bit early to say to someone who cannot even walk that a satisfying life comes only if you are able to stand on your own two feet.
My son thought that I should have written something more story-like, along the lines of Animal Farm. And so I shall, but not until she is two when she will be more able to follow the analogy and see the ironies of life. In the meantime, I thought I would set the early scene for more to come.