Last night I had the privilege of taking my four daughters (three of my own and my exchange student) to dinner. Looking for a topic of conversation, I asked them if the US government should help out US automakers by loaning them money in their time of need. Below is a summary of their thoughts.

Madison is my 8 year old third grader. She is a social butterfly and she thrives on relationships. She thought that the US government ought to loan GM, Ford, and Chrysler some money because it was a nice thing to do. She also thought it would help out those who worked for the companies.

My 14 year old 9th grader, Elizabeth, had the opposite opinion. As the oldest of the bunch, she is a rule follower and very much into justice and accountability. She argued that Chrysler, Ford and GM should have been more careful to begin with and that there is no reason to believe, given their track record, that they would use the money wisely. Furthermore, she wanted to know why these large companies with millions of dollars at their disposal did not foresee high gas and oil prices and the effects that they would have on demand for cars and trucks.

I suspect that most Americans would fit somewhere along this compendium. Isn't it refreshing that our children sometimes see things more clearly than we do?