For decades, Tipper Gore has told parents how to raise their children. In her book Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society, she shamed parents who dare allow their children access to youth culture. She insisted that following her example of selecting your children’s music and TV programs for them, of chaperoning your teenaged children at concerts, etc. was the only way to ensure children would grow up right and become adults who make the right choices.

We recently saw the results of Tipper Gore-style parenting. The son Tipper Gore raised, Al Gore III, was caught endangering people’s lives by driving 100 mph on a public highway. When police pulled him over, they found in his car several illegal drugs. This was not Al Gore III’s first such experience, of course. In 2003, he was stopped for driving at night with his headlights off and police found drugs then, too. Not only has Tipper Gore raised a junkie who endangers other people’s lives, but she has raised a son who can’t even figure out that when you have a stash in your car, you don’t drive 100 mph.

Now that we’ve seen the results of Tipper Gore parenting, hopefully parents will stop emulating her example. Because Al Gore III is not the only victim.

The most psychologically damaged person I’ve ever known was a bookstore co-worker of mine I’ll call Jim. He stole money from the store, he used drugs, and he frequently snapped, unleashing a lifetime of fury on people, cussing out customers, damaging store property, and even assaulting a co-worker without provocation.

Jim once told me of something he described as his “most painful childhood memory.” He was in grade school when the movie Star Wars came out. All his peers saw the film multiple times and this movie was the topic of nearly every conversation in his school. Jim, however, missed this cultural phenomenon. His parents chose to “protect” Jim from the violence and from the occult religion of the Jedi. He was shut out of every conversation his peers had. Desperate to escape his isolation, he lied, claiming he had seen the movie. But when he tried to fake his way through conversations about the film, he failed and became the butt of laughter.

And it wasn’t just Star Wars. Through his childhood and adolescence, Jim’s parents denied him all movies, convinced movie houses were dins of sin, and they denied him all popular music. Being so uncultured, he had little in common with his peers and little chance to form healthy relationships.

Tipper Gore told millions of parents it was their duty to inflict this on their children. Parents who loved their children and refused to lock them away from youth culture were denounced as “irresponsible.”

To get around such “irresponsible parents,” Tipper had her husband, Senator Al Gore II, introduce legislation making it illegal to sell any album with a warning label to anyone younger than 18. If parents didn’t wish to go to the record store and choose their teenagers’ entertainment, the Gores would have the government force them. This legislation failed, but the Gores never ended their crusade against permissiveness. The last time Al Gore II ran for office, few were surprised he chose fellow crusader Joe Lieberman as his running mate or that, in his last debate, Gore brought up once again the horror story of the time his wife caught their children listening to the prince of darkness himself, Prince.

In 2007, of course, it has been a long time since many Americans cared what the Gores had to say about parenting. But other crusaders follow the Gores’ example, such as Laura Mallory working through the court system to remove Harry Potter books, with their pagan wizardry, from school libraries and shaming parents who allow their children to read. Hopefully, the public results of Tipper Gore’s parenting will help people see that for our children to grow up right, what they need most is a chance to enjoy their youth.