politics

When I was in kindergarten I was terrified of all things Halloween related, thanks to a book called "The House that Drac Built." When the 2000 election between Bush and Gore rolled around, we kindergartners got to vote. As I was scared of "Gore" (meaning blood and guts, as used in that book), I voted for Bush! A couple years later, when my classmates were saying he was a bad president, I was so ashamed because I thought my vote had actually counted and I'd helped elect a bad president. :(

Aretia

I used to believe that everyone on tv (the news specifically) was famous because they were really great, good people. This is why I carried around a picture of Saddam Hussein with me at school. I wonder why my parents never bothered to stop me from doing this.

Rachel

I used to believe for far longer than I care to admit that Sinn Fein was an actual person and was amazed at how much influence he seemed to have. It was a long time efore I realised that it was a political party and the guy who I thought was Sinn Fein was in fact just Jerry Adams.

Laura Croft

I recall thinking that the reason the Soviet Union was so evil was that, instead of people choosing their profession like in America, the government decided that for you. (I think this was actually how my dad explained that country to me.)

Darren

When I was a kid, I'd heard the words governor and government, which must have pretty much run together for me at one time. By the time I had it correctly figured out that the governor was a single elected official (for any given U.S. state, that is, thought I probably didn't understand that much at the time), I puzzled still over who the government was, thinking that that too must be one particular elected official. I clearly remember thinking, "I know who the governor is, but who is the government?", as if each were one particular person.

Anita

I thought Richard Nixon was God because he could interrupt any TV show, even on public television (this was during Watergate when I was 7 or 8; tricky dick was on TV a lot then)

Anon

I used to believe that the leader of a country could get whatever he wanted for free because of patriotism and the fact that he was the leader.

Anon

When i was little, my dad always watched the news. I kept hearing things about a black hole in China. And for about a year i thought a black hole had hit China and it had been wiped of the map

Anon

When I was a kid, I used to believe the government (all) were always good people who wanted to do good and improve life for everyone.

... then I learned about dictators and false promises from democratic leaders.

Anon

One time during the presidential race between George Bush and Al Gore, my friend's parents asked her, "who do you think will win the election?" She said, "I vote for George Washington! I vote for George Washington!" (she was five at the time)

Hannah

I used to believe that heads of state had diferent kinds of heads on their shoulders

stupid elado

when I was small I used to believe that the name of the president of a country applied to every other country in the world.For instance I would think of a thing like: America's Bill Clinton,France's bill Clinton,Italy's Bill Clinton.

etoile

I used to think the liberal democrats were giant crabs that would wander round town and turn everybody into slaves/clones that did nothing but walk all day.

Trust me to have a politician as a dad.

Anon

For some strange reason, I always get Al Gore and Ross Perot mixed up! I seriously dont know why!

Elizabeth

i thought president Bush was an actuall bush.

oops

When I was young, president Bush was president. For some reason, I thought Abraham Lincoln was the president that came right before bush, instead of Clinton. I recall bragging that I was alive when Abraham Lincoln was around. No one believed be, though.

Anon

I thought that James E. Carter, Jr. and Jimmy Carter were different people...until my mom pointed out that they were the same.

Anon