Teens, got summer plans? For a lucky few, maybe foreign travel or wilderness expeditions await. Others probably have to choose between scooping ice cream and mowing lawns. How about getting an early start on your run for political office?
That’s the plan for the adolescents headed to iGovern Summer Leadership Camp, a weeklong gathering of conservative Christian teenagers. They’ll participate in political simulations and listen to an array of prominent guest speakers, including leaders from Focus on the Family and Concerned Women for America, as well as Congressional representatives Mike Pence and Michele Bachmann, two Tea Party favorites with presidential aspirations.
Most iGovern participants are homeschooled, because the organization running the show is a civic education program for homeschoolers called Generation Joshua. GenJ, as it is fondly called by its more than 5,000 teenage members, is a division of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), the world’s largest and most influential homeschool advocacy organization. “Generation Joshua is engaged in the battle for the hearts, minds, and futures of America’s youth,” proclaims Will Estrada, GenJ’s director. “Our goal is to ignite a vision in young people to help America return to her Judeo-Christian foundations.”
As you would expect:
But as a training ground for future citizens and leaders, GenJ seems to be missing something vital. Rather than framing democratic citizenship as a shared endeavor among a diverse people, where compromise and accommodation are not only necessary but often desirable, GenJ promotes a vision of adversarial political engagement informed by narrow ideological boundaries.
Bachmann will be a featured speaker at Generation Joshua's IGovern event at the end of the month.
More about Generation Joshua.
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