A 15-year-old boy, the son of Obama devotees, was visiting the teenage children of one of our editors. He was thin, pale, sensitive, well-mannered and articulate. When invited to stay to dinner his immediate reply was, “No, thank you, I‘m a vegetarian.” He was assured that there were vegetables, salads and fruit on the menu. Rather reluctantly he sat down and spooned some food on to his plate. He explained that he had become vegetarian because he thought it wrong to kill animals for food. He felt very bad about the suffering of animals at the hands of human beings.

“And before you ask,” he went on, “I do not usually wear leather. It’s true that I’m wearing leather shoes today, but I know who produces them. It’s a small group of craftsmen who’re careful to get the leather from a place where the animals are well cared for, roam freely, and are killed humanely. I make sure that none of the things I buy is made by exploited workers.”

He went on to list other concerns of his. People on minimum wages were not being paid enough to live on. Illegal immigrants were unable to get health care. Blacks were perpetually discriminated against in all walks of life. Corporations were the curse of the earth. It was horrible that some people were rich while others were poor. America bullied other nations.

By the time everyone got up from the table, he hadn’t eaten more than two or three mouthfuls.

His hosts wondered if his parents were aware of the heavy burden of guilt and shame they were laying upon on him – no doubt reinforced at his public school – and whether they had noticed how severely he was punishing himself.

The poor kid felt bad about being well housed and provided for. He felt bad about being an American. He felt bad about being white. It seemed that he even felt bad about being a member of the human race.

How many millions of children are there now who are like this boy?

Raising generations that blame and despise themselves and their exceptionally bountiful country is surely the worst crime of the Left in America.