politics

I thought that a President was like an elected dictator who could do anything he wanted and we were just lucky we never got an evil guy as President

Xenomorph

You know how every state has an official state seal? Until I was in SIXTH grade I thought that every state had a real seal (the animal) at their state capital.

Anon

as a child I beleived that if you had "united" in the name of your country you couldn't be involved in a war.... where I got this from I'll never know... but I recall watching the news with my parents and there was a foreign country with "united" in its name (no clue now which one) and I remember smuggly saying well they are united so they can't go to war. My parents swiftly corrected me and through the entire 80's I rarely slept the night thru due to thinking we'd launch into a nuclear war at any moment. ignorance is truly bliss i suppose....

CEM in NC

When I was a young child I used to believe that when you ran for presidency, the person that could run the furthest without stopping became president.

Anon

When I used to hear things on the news like "Terrorists are a serious threat to the peace and security of the world" I wondered what was so bad about people who travelled to other places on vacation (tourists).

Tim

I used to believe that George Washington was my father. I ran around during 1st and 2nd grades bragging that he was my father. I have no idea why.

Tiffany

I used to think that when a president "died in office," he was just sitting at his desk in his office and would just sorta collapse.

David

When my sister was little, my father would always talk about what a dirty crook Nixon was. She thought he was an a crook like a burglar and was scared that Nixon was going to break into their house at night and rob them.

Kath

I thought that socialism just meant being social and didn't get why anyone would be against it!

Olcasgean

I used to think running for president involved actually running somewhere.

Artimage

I used to believe "Pedestrians" was a political party like Democrats or Republicans.

August

I thought the presidential race was an actual running race to the White House, and whichever candidate got there first was elected president.

Anon

When I was very young, I thought that there was a new president each day. I'd repeatedly ask who it was, and thought that George Bush (the elder) must be really good at his job, since he was president seemingly every day.

Ana Byrd

When I was 4 years old, there had been a presidential election that year. I had been under the impression that the presidential candidates had to actually run acroos the country, like a running race, and whoever did it the fastest became the next president. I actually believed this until 4 years later, during the next elections. My mom clarified how it really worked.

Tov

When I was little I wanted to be president.
I thought a president has power to do whatever he or she wanted because I didn't know about the constitution or three branches of government. So I was determined to become president and make it a law that everyone had to have a horse.

Queen Chrysalis

I used to believe that "Bush" (the president) was an actual bush. I thought that was kind of stupid that people were listening to a bush, so I didn't tell them what I thought so I wouldn't offend them!

MAU!

Before I knew about voting I thought a president was picked as so: the old president would have everyone in the country go to this HUGE building where he would stand on a stage at ask "ok, who wants to be president?" and anyone who wanted to be would raise their hands and the old president would pick one at random and they would be the new president!

Tunat'Muram Cuu Vauax

When there was a referendum for Quebec to seperate from Canada I actuallay thought that Quebec was literally gonna break apart from Canada and that a whole bunch of people would stand on the border and push Quebec away from Canada with machines.

Canuck

When I was little, I thought Abraham Lincoln had a tail. Made sense at the time, considering that every time you had to make a decision, you'd toss a penny and call "Heads or tails!" and on one side of the penny you see Lincoln's head. I assumed that the picture on the other side was his tail. By extension I assumed that all presidents had tails and it was some sort of prerequisite.

Ashley

In 5th grade, my class took a tour of the state capital building. When I got home, I excitedly told my parents that I saw the room where they execute people. I was so proud; I mean, how cool is it to see where they execute people? I was horribly embarrassed when they corrected me and told me that the "Executive Office" has nothing to do with executing people.

k8ydid