In America, Childhood Is Eternal

As a kid, I knew the world was filled with things denied to me, but the grown-ups could have them whenever they wished. Deal was, one day I'd be grown-up too, and then I could set aside childish things and embrace adult ones instead. But they changed the rules by the time I grew up, and now America is the land of perpetual childhood. I discuss this over at the Guardian, with a special shout-out to that uniquely American brand of idiocy wherein ostensible adults brag about taking advice from children:

Consider Phillipsburg, New Jersey, where a classful of determined seven-year-olds started a campaign which 19 months later convinced state legislators to ban the sale of novelty lighters. The kids, of course, are proud of themselves, and the politicos are behaving as though it's reasonable and even admirable for middle-aged lawmakers to seek counsel from people who still worry about the monsters under their bed.