# My son has joined the Communist party! **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 1, 2002, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843 "2002-11-01T14:26:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/21 "2002-11-01T17:34:40Z")
For heaven’s sake! I know Somerset’s got a reputation for being a bit sleepy but surely you can’t need this explaining? No, of course they don’t wear uniforms (unless you count goatee beards and homemade sweaters). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/22 "2002-11-01T22:53:57Z")
Hey, **I** was a young conservative. I read Ayn Rand and everything. How old is your son? My first impression is that he’s joining because he was looking to get laid by some attractive Party chick (an apparatchik, get it?). By the time he’s old enough to get a job or security clearance or anything, communism will be so old that his membership will probably generate more laughs than suspicion. (“Ewwww, you were a commie? I was a goth, myself.”) ---
**Author:** ![ElJeffe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@ElJeffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElJeffe)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/23 "2002-11-02T00:04:55Z")
> [@](#): > > A Situationist friend of mine once told me the following bastardized version of a Churchill quote: > > -If you are not an anarchist when you’re fifteen, you’ve got no balls. > -If you are not a socialist when you’re twenty five, you’ve got no heart. > -If you are not a Democrat when you’re thirty five, you’ve got no brains. > > I wouldn’t worry. Anarchist, Communist Youth Party – what’s the diff? > > Daniel In the interest of accuracy: > [@](#): > > Charles Krauthammer [op-ed, May 25] quotes Winston Churchill as saying, “If you’re not a liberal when you’re 20, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative when you’re 40, you have no head.” > > This quotation is frequently but mistakenly attributed to Churchill. It is anyway unlikely that Churchill would subscribe to this philosophy: He was a swashbuckling soldier at 20, and a Conservative member of Parliament at 25. A couple of years later he switched to the Liberal Party (which was not liberal in the modern sense), and later went back to the Conservatives. > > The phrase originated with Francois Guisot (1787-1874): “Not to be a republican at twenty is proof of want of heart; to be one at thirty is proof of want of head.” It was revived by French Premier Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929): “Not to be a socialist at twenty is proof of want of heart; to be one at thirty is proof of want of head.” It’s also worth noting that the definition of “republican” at the time the quote originated has little to do with modern day Republicans. Regarding the OP, I agree that you have little worry about, unless you see junior start to build pipe bombs in his spare time, or something. If you want to hasten his abandonment of communism, though, give him a subscription to National Review. 😉 Jeff ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/24 "2002-11-02T00:10:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yojimbo \* > \*\*He’ll probably end up a left of center nice guy like me 😉 \*\* Don’t bet on it. I was practically a commie in my high school days, and now I wave the Free Market flag 3 times before I go to bed each night. Ask him if he’s doing it to get the chicks, like I was. ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/25 "2002-11-02T00:24:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ScoobyTX \* > \*\*It could cause trouble if he ever needs to get a security clearance, but otherwise it’s mostly harmless. \*\* Ignorant question : Is the above true ? Why would it cause trouble ? ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/26 "2002-11-02T00:31:53Z")
\*\*Montezuma wrote: My son has just recently joined the Communist youth league, should I be worried? What do they do? Is he in any danger?\*\* Why don’t you do something really radical like ask him why he joined and then ask him to explain his political and economic philiosophies to you. Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m a dreamer! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jmpride62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@jmpride62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmpride62)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/27 "2002-11-02T01:07:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Montezuma \* > \*\*My son has just recently joined the Communist youth league, should I be worried? What do they do? Is he in any danger? > Please help. > Thanx \*\* First the PT Cruiser now this, this retro stuff is getting out of hand.😃 ---
**Author:** ![ElJeffe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@ElJeffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElJeffe)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/28 "2002-11-02T01:11:30Z")
> [@](#): > > ## quote: > > ## Originally posted by ScoobyTX It could cause trouble if he ever needs to get a security clearance, but otherwise it’s mostly harmless. > > Ignorant question : Is the above true ? Why would it cause trouble ? When you apply for a position within a covert agency, such as the CIA, NSA, and such, they do a background check that’ll make your head spin. I lived with a girl who was the ex-girlfriend of some guy from highschool, and she was interviewed by someone because her ex had applied for a low-ranking position in the CIA. One of the questions they asked was whether or not he was a member of any clubs or organizations. While being a member of the Communist Party when you’re a dumb kid (no offense to the OP’s kid) is far from a sign that you’re going to sell out to the Chinese, the government likes to cover all its bases, and it gets enough applicants that it reject people for even such innocuous “offenses” as these, and still have plenty to choose from. Jeff ---
**Author:** ![Avumede](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/avumede/32/7235_2.png) [@Avumede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avumede)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/29 "2002-11-02T01:15:34Z")
Isn’t it illegal to discriminate based on politial affiliation? The Communist Party is a legimate political entity. If the CIA can discriminate against it’s members, could they also, for instance, refuse those who are members of the Democratic Party? ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/30 "2002-11-02T01:18:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Goo \* > \*\*Ignorant question : Is the above true ? Why would it cause trouble ? \*\* It should be amended to read “if he needs to get a security clearance _in the United States_”. I think some Dopers forget to check the poster’s “Location” field before replying, either that or they don’t realise not every country is as paranoid about communism as the US is. Actually, if he ever wants to immigrate to the United States it may cause some problems too. But apart from that, he’s probably got little to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/31 "2002-11-02T05:13:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elucidator \* > I, myself, in callow youth was quite taken with Ayn Rand and Objectivism, Say it ain’t so, **elucidator**! > [@](#): > > which might be the only set of dogma less connected to reality than Communism. Ain’t that the truth!!! ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/32 "2002-11-02T05:49:29Z")
Read **Radical Son** by [**David Horowitz**](http://www.cspc.org/founders/horowitz.htm) (without you son’s knowledge). Buy **The Communist Manifesto** and other [**books**](http://eserver.org/marx/) by **Marx** and **Engels**. Let your son see these. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/33 "2002-11-02T06:52:19Z")
\*\*Montezuma wrote: My son has just recently joined the Communist youth league, should I be worried? What do they do? Is he in any danger?\*\* Why don’t you do something really radical like ask him why he joined and then ask him to explain his political and economic philiosophies to you. Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m a dreamer! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/34 "2002-11-02T07:05:29Z")
Wow…a double post that is over 6 hours apart. Congrats, **Freyer**. ---
**Author:** ![I\_am\_Sparticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@I\_am\_Sparticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_am_Sparticus)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/35 "2002-11-02T07:30:41Z")
The Spartacus Youth League is a great place to pick up enlightened women. Not. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/36 "2002-11-02T14:19:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Montezuma \* > \*\*My son has just recently joined the Communist youth league, should I be worried? What do they do? Is he in any danger? > Please help. > Thanx \*\* Yes, thats very bad! It is a clea sign that he will do arts at university and spend the rest of his life as a McDonalds worker. Crush any signs of rebellion early on and get him into a nice engineering degree. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/37 "2002-11-02T16:26:42Z")
**Montezuma** : you may want to find out if there are any cute girls in the local Communist youth league chapter. He might just be joining in a bid to get laid. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/38 "2002-11-02T16:49:54Z")
\*\*Neurotik wrote: Wow…a double post that is over 6 hours apart. Congrats, Freyer.\*\* _YIPES_ It was those **EVIL** Commies, I tell ya!! Them’s the ones that did it! ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/39 "2002-11-02T21:22:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Montezuma \* > **My son has just recently joined the Communist youth league, should I be worried? What do they do? Is he in any danger?** Take a look into the future and shudder at the horror of it all. Your son will orchestrate an overthrowal of British society through spending his evenings in drafty public hall meetings that would bore most to contemplation of suicide. All of these meeting will be entitled “International Socialism: The Way Forward” or a variation of such and be sparsely attended by the same 10 people. Your son will ignite a revolution of the proletariat by handing out leaflets to uninterested shoppers in rain-lashed Saturday afternoon high streets. If he’s really fortunate he will get a 10 minute shot at haranguing people with the megaphone. Your son will smash the international capitalist hierarchy by sitting up until 3 a.m. drinking bad home-brewed ale and having earnest and increasingly confused debates with intense young men in suspiciously affected working class accents. No one will get laid, ever, lest it result in someone being oppressed. Your son will show solidarity with the workers of the world by attending mass demonstrations and marches of 20 and calling bored policemen “fascist”. Clearly he is in great danger. You must stop this. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843/40 "2002-11-02T21:32:11Z")
Are you sure it isn’t just a rock band? **jshore** , I cannot, it is true, I was much taken with Ayn Rand, the Carlos Castaneda of Republicans. Luckily, I was soon off to the University, where a palliative course of sex, drugs, and rock and roll was applied, and underwent a complete recovery. I remain grateful to this day for exotic alkoloids and generous young women. I was also much taken by the vaguely homo-existentialism of Herman Hesse, until the day I noticed that all of his heroes had long eyelashes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-son-has-joined-the-communist-party/134843.md?page=3)