The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Opinion

Best of Right Opinion

• Ben Shapiro: Stop Making Children Into Moral Authorities
• Michelle Malkin: Another Fatal FBI Fumble in Florida
• Marc. A. Thiessen: No, Liberals Don’t Hate America. And Conservatives Are Not Racists.
• John Stossel: Climate Exit
• Walter Williams: Not Always Like This

For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion.

Opinion in Brief

Ben Shapiro: “Innocence is the moral quality of being sinless, and children are inherently innocent specifically because they have not yet developed the ability to distinguish right from wrong. Once they do, the only way to maintain their innocence is for them to do right — the same way we all attempt to maintain our innocence. But children must first be taught right from wrong. That means that as children develop their capacity to choose, they must develop a moral compass. Children don’t have such a compass — the most selfish, cruel and nasty human beings on Earth are small children. If two-year-olds had the capacity to carry weapons of war, we’d all be dead already; my son isn’t yet 2 and takes a peculiar pleasure in knocking down his sister’s blocks. That’s why it’s a good thing they’re so darn cute. But they’re not moral guides. We must protect them from having to act as moral guides until they are prepared to do so. And that means we must stop using their innocence — their lack of capacity for moral decision-making — as a substitute for moral authority. To do anything less isn’t merely foolish; it’s cruel.”