Texas is the reason
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1253
Wow - you stupid, backwards, ignorant, hypocritical posers just won’t stop. Nothing is sacred - not even history. You bastards - and you’ll get away with it. You’ll get away with it because the stupid always seem to win. So, in fighting for what’s good - and bad - in history, I have some questions & comments:
If you’re going to mention a ‘Conservative Resurgence’ of the 1980s & 1990s, let’s make sure it covers all things. Like the two recessions Reagan oversaw and did little to address while nearly bankrupting the country in an arms race with Russia. Star Wars? Let’s talk about the rise of Junk Bonds and the Market Crash of the late 80s and the failure of deregulation (sounds familiar today, no?). Let’s talk about mortgage interest rates of 15%. Let’s talk of inflation between 1980 and 1992 - and let’s talk about ‘No New Taxes,’ as well ‘Voodoo Economics.’ How about the Iran Contra Affair? How about the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings? How about the fact that Nancy ‘Dancing with the Stars…No the Fucking Real Ones in the Sky’ ran the country from 1986-1988 when ol’ Grandpa Ronnie’s mind fell apart with old age? How about the fact the Gorbachev, not Reagan, was the progressive in Russia who toppled Communism despite our tough talk? And the 1990s? How about Newt Gengrich’s ‘Contract with America’ lies, and NAFTA, the floodgates of off-shoring? Will you talk about how Greenspan and Clinton, that’s right, Clinton, whose people helped prop up a failing market for nearly a decade with the .Com boom? Will you talk about ‘Sexual McCarthyism’, and how the GOP accused Clinton of ‘wagging the dog’ when US cruise missiles struck at Al Qaeda?
Will you talk about Trent Lott’s racism, Larry Craig’s ‘wide stance’, or any of the absolutely colossal fuck-ups of 2000 - 2008? How about how you stole the 2000 election in the closest vote ever - 5-4 by the Supreme Court. How about WMDs and Iraq? Blackwater? Enron’s ties to the White House of George W? Haliburton? How about the ‘Al Qaeda attack on American Shores Imminent’ memo from the FBI in 8/01? How about deregulation, a 2nd time, and the Wall Street Collapse? How about George W overseeing two more recessions, including the worst since the Great Depression, and how he disappeared from 2006-2008? How about Bin Laden still being out there? How about sanctioned torture? How about the Right Wing’s moral bankruptcy - see Ted Haggard & New Life Church. How about the blatant discrimination against gays & lesbians by the conservatives, wanting to deny them civil rights? How about the absence of any fiscal responsibility and the abandoning of Goldwater’s principles? How about the Medicaid Drug Benefits plan which cost taxpayers an unfunded $500B in 2003? How about the $1.35T tax cut aimed at the top 2% of the income bracket, leading to the widest income disparity in US history and some of the largest government shortfalls of all time? How about the fact 40+ million have no insurance when premiums and medical costs have more than tripled in 20 years? How about Dick Cheney in general? How about Gov. Sanford and all the GOP sex scandals? And on the social front, how abortion, teenage pregnancy, STDs, and divorce rates are all higher in religiously conservative/red states? And how education standards continue to decline to record lows in the same places?
Will you talk about the racism of the 2008 campaign and the brainless backing of the Amazing Sarah Failin’ Palin and do nothing GOP Tea Party idiots? Will you talk about how pervasive conservative influence is, and how your archaic, anachronistic view of America is detrimental to progress? Will you talk about how you’d set civilization back 500 years and delve us into another sociopolitical Dark Age where no one can speak the truth? Is this the Resurgence you speak of? If so, let’s make sure it’s accurate – which will be difficult for conservatives. History is a real bitch to those on the wrong side of it.
A reduced scope for Latino history? This is outright racist revisionism similar to Mau’s re-education programs. Guess what – whites will no longer be the majority within 35 years. You’d better get on board with diversity and learn to accept others are different from you and are no less or more human. Latino history has a massive impact on today’s America, arguably as much as anyone has claim to our history. Europeans, Natives, Asians, Africans, Muslims, Indians (as in, from India), their descendents, and so on and so forth – ALL HAVE HAD A SAY IN THE SHAPE OF MY COUNTRY, GOOD AND BAD, RIGHT AND WRONG. Recognize it and respect it – because here we are, and we are not the same; I’m an American – You Conservatives are sick Assholes. Will you conservatives understand that?
Terminology changes? Imperialism is what the Romans did, but we expanded via ‘expansionism?’ Really? Then how come we don’t have 58 states? Guam? Puerto Rico? Anyone? Because we have territories – like Imperialist Britain. See, Iraq, or India. Capitalism is to be redefined as ‘free market?’ Why? Is it because Conservatives turned capitalism into a bad word? Then yes – but don’t fool yourself into ‘free market’ delusions and ‘Golden Goose’-theory bullshit. George W bailed out the banks and the airlines – will that be noted, too? Tax breaks for the rich did not equate to jobs and reinvestment in the American Economy (but sure helped overseas markets/accounts) – will that be on the quiz?
The Cold War – very positive indeed; like Korea (Truman), the Bay of Pigs & Cuban Missile Crisis (Kennedy), Vietnam (LBJ & Nixon, both)…but remove McCarthy? Why – because you don’t want people to know how history repeats itself – see, War on Terror in the 2000s. Patriot Act. Guantanamo Bay. Suspension of Habeas Corpus. Spying on home soil without warrant. Who’s a terrorist? Are you? How about the damage of nuclear testing in the South Pacific? How about how we supported the Majahideen in Afghanistan before bailing on them when the Wall fell? How about how Gorbachev did more via Glasnost and Perestroika than we ever did?
Change the Legacy of 1960s Liberalism – by saying Title IX and Affirmative Action were bad ideas? Wow – how about the Voting Rights Act? Was the Civil Rights Act wrong, too? Separate but Equal? Even today, few outside of Human Resources personnel have taken the time to understand that Affirmative Action is not about quotas, but about equal opportunity to educate and reach out to all people on every forum to make sure the best candidates of all stripes are considered. These actions are true hallmarks of the American spirit – benchmarks by which we can say we did something right, something it took far too long to accomplish in doing something good. But instead, will you conservatives exhort that Jim Crowe Laws were valid and necessary?
And wait a sec – Thomas Jefferson is not a ‘model founder’? What? But Calvin and Blackstone are? What about John Locke and other famous humanists – the predecessors to Ben Franklin, John Adams, and Jefferson on which the individual spirit of man is the sole foundation of forming unity, regardless of creed? To say Jefferson is not important is like pissing on the flag (and while liberal, I think flag burning is abhorrent – but also is a protected means of protest). Will you talk about his infidelities instead in a subtle racist character assassination as well? Strict Christian beliefs were certainly involved, perhaps prevalent – but what is truly transcendent about our freedoms as defined by our Founding Fathers is their ability to embrace differences and to not condemn by them, and to not recognize one as greater than another. So, will you talk about the role religion has played in hijacking the Conservative Right? The role it has played in attempting to devolve our nation into an ignorant backwater devoid of progress? Will you talk about the sheer hateful divisiveness strewn between those with even similar beliefs but which are not exactly the same? Will you mention that George W used the word ‘Crusade’ when talking about the War on Terror in Muslim countries? Do you even recognize the historic and cultural significance of why that word is terrible, especially in context to Judeo-Christian and Islam conflict? Thomas Jefferson knew that – even in the 18th Century. Funny – I also don’t recall Blackstone or Calvin writing the Declaration of Independence nor signing their names on it in direct offense to the mighty British Crown. Will you write about the Puritans and the Mayflower, and how under their expert tutelage, people were burned as witches and warlocks, and this was considered a just and righteous religious government authority? Will you try to say this was a more proper system than the one Jefferson greatly influenced in helping write our Constitution and Bill of Rights?
And no Ralph Nader, or Ross Perot, or Ron Paul, even though the latter two are from Texas? Where’s your state pride? Why would you exclude figures that helped shape elections and who, for right or wrong, represent a noticeable and significant shift in American political thinking beyond a two-party system? Does this make the matter to gray for you, having movements that do not conform to your black and white ideology? Yet, Stonewall Jackson was a good leadership model? Well, so was General Rommel I guess - but will you at least admit that they fought for the wrong side, and what those sides stood for (you know – indoctrinated racism, the Third Reich, things like that)? And you need Jefferson Davis’s rebuttal to President Lincoln? Dear Texas under the Confederate Flag – you lost. Will you remember that, too?
Texas has both kinds of music – country and western. But no Hip Hop? How plainly racist can you get? Robert Johnson? Count Basie? Duke Ellington? Dizzy Gillespie? What about BB King and John Lee Hooker, the Supremes and Aretha Franklin? Jimi Hendrix? Motown? Sam & Dave? Marvin Gaye? Curtis Mayfield? P-Funk? Rick James? Will they be mentioned even though they’re black and clearly huge influences on all genres, including hip hop? What about Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, NWA, Ice T, Snoop Dog, Wu Tang, Run DMC – or even the Beastie Boys?…the list is incredibly long and relevant, as Hip Hop evolved from influences hundreds of years long – too many to list, and yet despite their current prevalence and talent, no mention despite its mainstream credibility? Hey, Hank Williams is great and all, but no OutKast? You’ll mention Toby Keith, but not Tupac? Dolly Parton, but how about Erykah Badu? Reba McIntyre but not Lauren Hill? Beyonce? Rihanna? Garth Brooks, but not Anthony Hamilton? How about Michael Jackson, even before he went nuts? Will you also skimp on British & American Punk Rock? Will you focus on just Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles in the 70s? How about Prog-Rock? Early gothic and synth-pop? Metal and Industrial? Or, since you love Reagan’s 1980s, will it be all about Scorpion and Skid Row? Glam rock, mixed with Huey Lewis and Hall & Oates? Debbie Gibson? Will you skip the 1990s? I love the Seattle Scene and Industrial, counting Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Ministry among my favorites, but they were far from alone – and sorry, when I think 1990s, I just don’t think of ‘Achy Breaky Heart.’ Fuck that noise. But at least I acknowledge it exists.
I think the real question, the only question, is this…Are you people absolutely fucking insane? Changing history books – to be studied by children!!! - to reflect your distorted beliefs is a crime against humanity and all things that America stands for – truth, even when painful; tolerance, so we can be greater than ourselves; bravery, in the face of all odds. We stand for something Thomas Jefferson believed in – equality and progressiveness, even in harsh times. He once said ‘Democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51% of the people can take away the rights of the other 49.’ But he also believed in our inherent value as people of character to do right, and to do right by all people despite ourselves. ‘All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority posses their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.’ To denounce history as liberal is to deny history its worth as a lesson to learn from. And we must not allow that, ever. History is prologue, to be viewed bare with all its imperfections. It must be protected, for it is who we are. ‘All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.’ – Thomas Jefferson.
March 16th, 2010 at 20:30
Fuck Yeah. We can not stand for this anymore. If ever there was a reason to think that the right wing have a secret agenda, this article is it.
Thanks Agent X!