Leave it to American public education run amuck. Not always, of course. Nevertheless I wonder, if it weren't for private schools and a few active parents, if I would have given up hope by now.

Among his many accomplishments of note, Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense in 1776. However, as I recently read on one message board, which was a history lecture hall provided for students from all parts studying Thomas Paine, among others, who wish to pool their knowledge, such that it was. (Does anyone pick up a book anymore?) I quickly noticed that here too, not very many students today know him by name or deed. Worse yet, they aren’t even familiar with his cause.

I decided I would post to that message board a few words, since it was open to anyone in general who wished to add their two cents’…or three shillings’ worth. Not entirely in condemnation of the students did I wish to do this of course, rather in the name of enlightenment, as seems to be the buzzword for modern historians. Unfortunately, the message board server returned an internal error every time I tried to post it. Finally, I began to accept the fact it wasn’t going to have any postings today of any kind, by anybody. Not even from professional computer geeks like me who tried it six or seven different ways. So I closed the window and abandoned my rescue mission.

Had I been able to post my mini-lecture, I would have touched on a few of Paine’s high points (along with the charge to research and build their own knowledge). He was a true American and his work helped us to understand succinctly our need for independence from the tyrannical royal crown of England and the perils which befell anyone tied to that empire. Punctuated further by living in the late 18^th century, an age when wars in Europe were common, our being bound to any one of the many-factional alliances through our English proxy surely meant loss of trade with and the threat of hostility from those countries with whom the crown was at war. And at war for reasons completely unimportant to interests of Americans. The idea of being at war with foreign powers on behalf of a crown with which we had no legislative representation summed up what was the worst of all worlds.

It is noted by history that these crimes of the crown against the American people were many and egregious, with the steady crescendo of atrocities growing to a cacophony of misery from which the American people, given no other options or respite, were then forced to free themselves.

Unfortunately, the cynical publishers of most of today’s books of “higher learning” all too eagerly gloss over these important details. What else can you do when your political ideology conflicts with the very facts and ideas under which the country whose freedoms you enjoy was created and now exists?

And so it is that the acts of oppression committed by the crown which lead to the birth of our nation; the self-same Imperial acts which justify at any point in history the acts of noble resistance, are quite often omitted by our texts, leaving only the acts of resistance themselves to stand as a man in a courtyard shouting at no one. The deeds of the British crown not apparent, any such response as ours undertaken through the course of the Revolutionary War would likewise arguably be interpreted as insane.

This role-reassignment of course, has been a dear and beloved tactic of the Far-Left for some time. In the area of foreign policy, it was witnessed in Viet-Nam, Nicaragua, has been standard fodder against Israel and is now being dusted off for a grand reprise in Iraq (though perhaps not as successfully as before, due to gains in accuracy in mass-media). In domestic affairs, I am sure we all remember quite vividly the Rodney King drama or the Congressional budget contests of the 1990’s or the many times criminals have been painted as victims and home-owners as vigilantes. Even still, we see this all too often consistent thing in academia. And it is to our discredit that we have not learned to effectively counter this, the Left’s chief political tactic, much more enthusiastically. In truth, the Left is but a one-trick pony, which thinking men should easily be able to master at the university -- not to mention in every arena. But we have not been, as a culture, a large consumer of the truth in the recently concluded 20^th century.

Though surely indeed, in some areas we have made progress in public media circles, as mentioned before with regard to reporting on Iraq. As the common man’s point of view is again heard in the mass media such as Television, Radio and the Internet, so too, much to Thomas Paine’s delight, Common Sense has once more found a home. This is a source of encouragement for us, as the purveyors of falsehood have begun to retreat and regroup with the likes of Al Gore Jr. trying to raise money for a doomed “officially” Liberal news network. Americans are no longer constantly force-fed faulty premises upon which they must base their judgments of the events taking shape around them in society, government and internationally by left-leaning news monopolies. But we still have a great work to do. We must now bring the same liberation to the malnourished minds of our youth.

How bad is some of the spin in college text books? Well, if we were to take the events of the Revolutionary War and apply the same patterns of filtration imposed on them by many publishers and professors today, but to the attacks of September 11, then we could "spin" those events to make them anything other than what they were also.

For instance, one account could read as follows:

"There was a difference of opinion, a rift, between at best two equals who each had many valid points and unfortunately divergent interests. Finally, one side attacked the most visible symbol of their opponent’s strength in order to send a strong message for their cause".

We know that this hardly tells the story, it makes one sick even to read it – and yet if you do not know what happened on that day from some other accurate source, you would have no way to debate it – even in your own private intellect, where your intuition is telling you there is something wrong. Clearly, if you cannot win that last debate, it is fully lost.

Worse, the hypothetical account above provides no justification for the events about which would no doubt come in the account of America’s response in the next paragraph:

The American Republican-dominated leadership responded with a massive military force, mobilizing its armies into several countries around the world, killing thousands, which drew sharp worldwide criticism. Seeking to destroy their opponents abroad (and perhaps at home), the Republican Administration and Republican Congress together in an unprecedented axis carried out the largest and most expensive military deployment in history, during which many nations including their closest allies questioned its justification and the Pentagon’s regard for human rights, citing thousands of civilian casualties as too high a price for revenge (Insert quote from post-war historian)."

Offensive, to say the least. But this is exactly how many publishers are spinning the American Revolutionary War, not to mention more recent epochs in our history. Most students today show greater ignorance of American history than in any time before. What is even more alarming is that those few who do take our history more seriously, such as honors students and history majors seem to be with rare exception, dis-informed, making the leaders and educators of tomorrow nothing more than useful idiots, carriers of the virus of the intellect called Propaganda and Myth. They will unwittingly infect the coming generations and the body politic and consign them collectively to the deathbed. 

It is simply a matter of “Common Sense” again, how one must address these unpleasant practices by the “ponies” of the academic Left. We need, as a society to encourage use of reputable publishers and fill every sector of the education process, this vital part of our culture with historically informed and intellectually honest people. We will begin to do this, in all likelihood, when we, the American individual are made aware of its severity in both occurrence and consequence.   

By ignoring the truth in American history, the Left admits it is a failed ideology which must “invent” a résumé to justify its existence and that it is no friend indeed to America, her way of life, her history, causes, philosophies, traditions and results. The fruit of the Leftist spin in history has none but the basest aim: the bastardization of our Land and People. Our grandchildren deserve better and it is fully within our power to give them better: Their American heritage. We can give them that very rare and precious gift.

Post script:

Thomas Paine Lecture Hall link: http://mobydicks.com/lecture/ThomasPainehall/wwwboard23.html

This page belongs to Western Canon University Lecture Halls and Live Recitations , which actually is a site that has some neat stuff, such as many complete classic literary works.