As a left-wing labor activist and father of two now-adult daughters, I once grappled with the challenges of “progressive parenting.” It was hard enough, I soon discovered, to avoid screwing up the basics of old-fashioned child-rearing — keeping kids safe, healthy, reasonably happy, and well-adjusted. Insuring conformity with parental views and values would have been an additional heavy lift — and an effort that could easily backfire.

I tried to learn from the experience of lefty parents who made their own politics a mandatory rather than elective subject, turning any related praxis into a much-resented family duty. For some, dragging their kids to meetings, lectures, rallies, and picket lines against their will created lasting resentment and even conservative views.

For radical parents who are still alive when their children stray far from their preferred party line, things can get a little embarrassing. Imagine the discomfort of David Horowitz’s parents, who were public school teachers and Communist Party (CP) members in Queens, when their red-diaper baby embraced the New, rather than Old, Left. (Of course, that 1960s heresy paled in comparison to David’s middle-aged romance with Ronald Reagan and the far right.) Fortunately, his Marxist mom and dad were long gone before their son, now a self-made right-wing icon, reached his final stage of parental rejection by embracing Donald Trump, a billionaire from his native borough. (Ironically, Horowitz’s own son Ben, a wealthy Silicon Valley investor, has, in turn, rejected David’s political views, including his rabid Islamophobia.)