boys' state blues During the summer of 1984, I attended Boys' State, an annual week-long camp organized by the American Legion to instill democratic ideals in select high school juniors (Girls' State is held elsewhere). The week is spent hearing political speakers and campaigning for positions that range from governor to county party chief. The Legion hopes its hands-on civics lesson, which includes rising for taps at 7 a.m. and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance twice a day, churns out loyal citizens.
The 1984 Boy's State was held at Michigan State University and attended by 200 young leaders. I was there too. (The Legion holds similar camps in every state.) By the end of the week, I was soured on both democracy and large, officious gatherings of conservative prep school boys. I was particularly irked because:

• I lost all bids for elected office and had to beg for an appointment as assistant to the country clerk's assistant
• The other participant from my high school skipped out on Wednesday after telling the directors his grandmother had died
• The Legionnaires' democratic ideals don't include freedom of speech.

I discovered the freedom of speech thing after volunteering for the staff of Whirligig, the camp's daily, mimeographed newspaper. A typical issue included chirpy profiles of the boys who had won elected posts, dopey word searches and man-on-the-street interviews with inane questions such as "What do you think Whirligig means?"
Increasingly bitter about my campaign losses, I talked to the Whirligig advisor, an MSU journalism student, about writing a commentary for the paper's final, Friday afternoon edition. He agreed.
Hours after completing the column, but before the sympathetic advisor could get it to print, I was sitting across the table from the big enchilada, Boys' State Chairman Ernest C. Browne. He angrily waved the manuscript in my face, announcing that there was no way in hell any democracy of his was going to allow this kind of crap (I'm paraphrasing). He grilled me on my political beliefs and practically accused me of treason. The space reserved for my column had to be filled quickly—and it was, with a hyperbole-laden "Note of Thanks" to the Legionnaires, written by some yes-boy.
It made me ill, and I can no longer be silent about this painful episode. Now annotated with reflections of my political and emotional growth, here is the dangerous column THE AMERICAN LEGION DOESN'T WANT YOU TO READ:

There aren't many professed communists at Boys' State, but perhaps there should be.

That opening line fired Browne up. "Do you know what communism is?" he asked me. The 17-year-old, smart-assed, pimply rebel that I was replied, "I sure ain't gonna find out here."

The program in its present form doesn't truly represent democracy. The American Legion feels democracy is the greatest form of government, yet its members have faced death for the system. We need a chance now to decide for ourselves whether it's worth dying for, instead of being told that we'll eat it and like it.
The Legion insists Boys' State "will be free from propaganda," but apparently the Legion gave itself an exclusion. Take, for instance, the propaganda each boy received prior to his arrival. National Commander Keith Kreul wrote to remind us that democracy is "a government that is unsurpassed in the history of mankind and unparalleled in modern times." Same quote could be had from the Soviets.

Okay, that was a stretch.

Kreul advises we take democracy and "strongly embrace it, work to protect it. America has been described, and aptly so, as mankind's last best hope." So has Russia, so has France.

So has your underpants.

After we arrived, the Legion told us that the program would be non-partisan. Then, almost immediately, we were presented with a staged Republican / Democratic "debate."

The debate consisted of two county commissioners presenting stump speeches. The Democrat got booed; the Republican brought to the crowd to its feet in a frenzy.

Boys' State needs to lose the pep talks. The most important duty of citizenship is to vote with your head, not your emotions. As for the "principles of democratic government," where were the Communists, the Libertarians and the independents this week? Aren't they part of our democracy too?
It does say a lot for Boys' State that some boys recognized its idealistic presentation. The program encouraged many of us to take a closer look at the concepts of "freedom" and "justice" instead of just accepting them with the belly button we were born with.

Clever, eh?

If the Legion wants to instill the appreciation for democracy that its members feel, then show us democracy's merits via contrast with other systems. You can't have a taste test with one beer....

OK, that's enough teenage rebellion.