STORY SUMMARY: The story takes place around a Senator who has proposed a bill that would require mandatory service for kids. He got the idea from the Nazi party, but means well in that it will get kids outside and teach them the value of volunteering. The bill goes over very badly and he now faces a formal censure from the Senate. He compromise is made and quietly withdraws the bill, in support of a supporting additions to the proposed annual budget.
DISCUSSION: Story does a good job of showing all the good things that came from sources that don’t live up to modern standards of morality. Does that mean we toss those ideas out, or those people out of our history books? Perhaps we simply teach a more complete version of history where people are not idealized. Even when we tell our history and role models to children, the explanations should be more complete. Can a good person have a good idea? Is a person all one thing, or all another? Singers and comedy people may be horrible people in real life, but does that make the art of lower quality?
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E5. "Pretty Pragmatism" - Can a good idea come from a horrible source?