The Tennessee TEA Party has proposed a few changes in the way American history is taught in the state. The TP-ers say we have for far too long been overlooking the immortal greatness of our Founding Fathers in favor of emphasizing unpleasant and minor aspects of our history, like the contributions of minorities and that whole darn slavery business.
It’s true. Their quotes sound like a parody written by The Onion. You can read a summary here at Think Progress, but allow me to give you a couple highlights, with my own helpful translations:
TP: “No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership.”
Translation: Our “leaders” were perfect. Don’t let our children think they had flaws. That minority experience might have “actually occurred,” but so what?
TP: There is “an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another.”
Translation: Indians and slaves were troublemakers. They got what they deserved.
Huh, rewriting history to make our glorious leaders sound perfect. Stalin would have loved these people!
It goes without saying, of course, that all the Founding Fathers were white, as were all the protesters in Nashville. But there’s nothing racial about this, folks. There are several black Tea Partiers — somewhere. (You’ll read that in the comments that will immediately follow this blog post.) They’ll tell you there’s nothing to see here, folks. It’s all just a coincidence.
Of course, the real scary part of this is that the newly Republicanized Tennessee legislature is quite likely to take these people seriously.
