History As Political Agenda

Oh, fer heaven's sakes.

What kind of moron thinks that the Pilgrims were socialists, or that Jamestown was a failing colony because they were all communists? Apparently, the very same kind of idiot that listens to Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck and believes their manipulative swill wholeheartedly.

I don't have much patience for people who lie about history.  I have even less patience for people who try to paint the world as black and white or good and evil with strong, easily definable dividing lines.  The truth is, there is a lot of gray in life.  And, moreover, you should never, ever allow someone else to define what you think and why.

So wake up sheeple.

Will the idiocy never end?

William Hogeland, the author of “Inventing American History,” agreed. “Across the political spectrum, there’s a tendency to grab a hold of some historical incident and yoke it to a current agenda,” he said. “It doesn’t always mean there’s no connection, but often things are presented as historical first, rather than as part of the agenda first.”

For the bazillionth time: never, ever accept anything anyone ever says when interpreting history and telling you what conclusions to draw from it at face value. Especially when that person has a political agenda to push in service of raising their own personal income statements.

The answer?  Go to the original documents and read them for yourself.


Especially since Jamestown was a for-profit colony that was owned by a company for which all of the inhabitants worked.  Duh.  And the pilgrims were socialists?  Do these people even know what "socialist" means in pure political terms, or is that just the slander word du jour used by people who think you are too stupid to crack open a dictionary.

Prove them wrong.

Don't just take some Tea Partier's word for what the Founder's said. Read the Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers, the writings of Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and all the rest...and read the debates during the Continental Congress.

All of this should be available at your local library.

Never ever let someone else do your thinking for you.  If you abdicate doing your own research and substitute someone else's thoughts for your own?  You get it wrong way too often.

But don't take my word for it.  Read the source material yourself.  We all should.