Whether through public schools, popular culture, social media memes, or even the news, our children are constantly told they it can’t be done.

Every time they turn around, someone is telling them they’re victims. They’re being oppressed. There are people who want to keep them down. They can’t do it without someone’s help. (Or they can’t do it at all.)

Our politicians continue to tell our children how horrible America is. How horrible we are. That someone is always being attacked, insulted, or held down.

Of course, those who tell us how horrible everything is and how unfairly so many groups of people are treated then set themselves up as the solution. We need them to continue to point out how horrible everyone is so they can help us navigate it.

It hurts my heart.

These people are robbing our children of the optimism and excitement of youth. They’re killing potential before it even gets a chance to bud. We’re starting kids off on this political doomsday so early that they start hating and resenting at younger and younger ages all the time.

People in the Middle East who grow up thinking “Death to America” learn this before they learn anything else. By the time they are thinking adults, this is ingrained in them. It’s all they know.

This is what we’re doing to our children. By the time they become adults, they are impervious to any evidence to suggest that people are good, that relatively speaking, there are very few incidents of racism or hate crimes (whatever those are). When you indoctrinate children at such a young age, it’s basically an act of deprogramming to try and bring them back.

One of the fundamental and most significant differences between conservatives and leftists is that conservatives see the possible, and leftists want to convince everyone that people – specifically conservatives – are awful and the world is full of hates. And sadly, the Democrats control almost the entirety of cultural messaging.

This is why we need to start an ongoing and traveling “inspiration conference.”

As a professional, I’ve been to many conferences for work that have featured keynote speakers who’s entire purpose was to share their story of struggle, professional meandering, and unexpected turns they persevered to find and enjoy success. This is such a waste.

I mean, it’s great to hear these stories, but the adults don’t need to hear them as much as children do.

In the year before the pandemic destroyed live conferences (and everything else), I heard Amy Poehler tell an audience about how amazing failure has been for her because it tells her who her friends are. She said it’s amazing to see when something you do fails who runs away from you and who runs toward you.

Similarly, I heard Kevin Kwan talk about how he was aimlessly wandering through life until he was inspired to write his “Crazy Rich Asians” trilogy. (Yes, it’s a trilogy… I didn’t know, either.)

The entire time both of them were speaking, all I could think about is how much my daughter and her friends would get out of this.

There’s so much pressure on our children to get straight A’s and be successful at everything, I think they lose sight of how much of a journey life is. They don’t fully understand the highs and lows or the ups and downs. They don’t know that nothing is permanent. Success can turn to failure just as quickly as failure can turn to success.

At a time when Democrats have successfully wrested the megaphone from sane adults and are carpet bombing our children with pessimism, we need to find a way to engage our children in hope, optimism, and inspiration.

They need to hear from successful people just how difficult it all was before things started getting good.

We need an “inspiration conference” geared just for children so they can have a chance at finding and exploring their passions and reaching their potential.

It would be a crime to let Democrats steal their futures from them.