My son proposes a change to the Constitution

It’s not often that an amendment to the U.S. Constitution can be proposed that is endorsed by almost everyone, but I think my son may be on the right track

It all started the other day when my son exclaimed, “That should be against the law!”

I immediately FROZE! I wasn’t sure what I had been doing, but it couldn’t have been good.

“I can’t believe they’re doing that,” he said.

Oh, it’s not anything I’m doing. Whew!

Ok, I was in the clear. But now, like is often the case, I was (how can I put this nicely) a bit clueless as to what my son was talking about.

So, I slowly dipped my toe in to test the water.

Ummmm, I’m not sure what you mean.

“They shouldn’t be allowed to do that. It should be against the law,” he stressed while looking at the TV.

I glanced over. It looked harmless enough. Some kids on a commercial, exchanging ideas and thoughts on issues of the day I was sure. In fact, I wasn’t even sure what they were selling.

It turns out the commercial was for some back-to-school clothes or some such thing. Only, it’s still over a month before school starts. And therein lay the problem – as far as my son was concerned anyway.

“No one should be allowed to advertise school stuff before August,” he proclaimed.

In retrospect, I probably should have let it dropped there. To categorize it as the ranting of a kid who doesn’t want to go back to school.

Simple nuf.

But the slightest mention of advertising brought out the marketing side of me, which is never a pretty picture.

Well, I began, companies want to get their name out there first, get customers thinking about this, blah, blah, blah. And companies have the right to advertise stuff when they want to (insert more blah here).

“Well,” he declared, “there should be a change in the constitution.”

What do you mean?

“It should say in the constitution that no one is allowed to advertise anything for school until August. It’s not fair!”

And there you have it. For over 200 years, the U.S. Constitution has been a symbol of high ideals and democracy. It is made up of rights that we feel are invaluable to our citizens, like the freedom of speech and to drink beer and sleep late. And now my son wants to add the next important amendment – no commercials about school stuff until after the last day of July.

Well, actually it’s not the worst idea I’ve ever heard. In fact, I’m sure most folks would not only be in favor of adopting that idea, but would be up for an amendment that took out ALL advertising.

Hey, maybe this kid is a little more tuned in to public opinion than I ever imagined.

I’d probably be all for no TV ads, too. Except, as I learned through watching the World Cup, I need a bathroom break from time to time. And a chance to finish doing whatever it is I was doing before my son almost caught me . . .