History, American Democracy, and the AP Test Controversy

Wilfred M. McClay (University of Oklahoma) - Historical study and history education in the United States today are in a bad way, and the causes are linked. In both cases, we have lost our way by forgetting that the study of the past makes the most sense when it is connected to a larger, public purpose, and is thereby woven into the warp and woof of our common life. The chief purpose of a high school education in American history is not the development of critical thinking and analytic skills, although the acquisition of such skills is vitally important; nor is it the mastery of facts, although a solid grasp of the factual basis of American history is surely essential; nor is it the acquisition of a genuine historical consciousness, although that certainly would be nice to have too, particularly under the present circumstances, in which historical memory seems to run at about 15 minutes, especially with the young. --No, the chief purpose of a high school education in American history is...

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July/August 2015 | Volume 44, Number 7/8
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Hundreds of Colorado students protest history curriculum changes that would promote patriotism

ARVADA, Colo. – Hundreds of students walked out of classrooms around suburban Denver on Tuesday in protest over a conservative-led school board proposal to focus history education on topics that promote citizenship, patriotism and respect for authority, in a show of civil disobedience that the new standards would aim to downplay.

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Dr. Benjamin Carson's Amazing Speech at the National Prayer Breakfast

Dr. Benjamin Carson, Pediatric Neurosurgeon and Division Head at John Hopkins Hospital, gave a speech that has received criticism from the Left for 'inappropriateness' and raves from many on the Right at the Fellowship Foundation's National Prayer Breakfast held at the White House last week. With President and Mrs. Obama looking on, Dr. Carson used bible references, American history, personal experiences, de Tocqueville and a parable to say that America is on the wrong course. Dr. Carson warned of the dangers of Political Correctness and how it stifles the exchange of ideas, understanding, and freedom of speech. He talked about 'fairness' in taxation through a biblical proportional system. He spoke of the importance of education and how destructive and costly today's dumbed-down education is while describing the successes of his Carson Scholars Fund. He spoke about Health Savings Accounts and how they can improve health and the health care system. In Carson's soft spoken manner he delivered the antithesis of Obama's vision for America. The Wall Street Journal wrote about the speech under the title, "Ben Carson for President."

YouTube Video: Dr. Benjamin Carson's Amazing Speech at the National Prayer Breakfast (27:31)
[Added 2/15] Transcript: Dr. Benjamin Carson's Speech

Dr. Ben Carson, with his wife Candy Carson, is the author of "America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great" (Jan 24, 2012). In addition, Dr. Carson has co-authored a number of inspiring books including "Take the Risk", "The Big Picture", "Think Big" and "Gifted Hands". Read More......

Glenn Beck's 'Liberty Treehouse' for Children

Liberty Treehouse Drive-Thru History: Monday marked the first episode of Liberty Treehouse, the GBTV Plus program designed specifically for kids. Check out this free segment from the first episode [shown below]. The new program airs weekdays from 4-5pm ET and is also available on demand only on GBTV.

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Perryman: Obama's References to His Party's Racist Past

#3
President Barack Obama is one of the only black elected officials and one of the only black leaders in modern-day history - who has openly discussed how badly Democrats have treated black voters and he does so in his book: Dreams From My Father. The book highlights a conversation where black Democrats referred to their relationship with the Democratic Party as “Plantation Politics.” (p. 147). Obama reports that during this conversation blacks in the barber shop asked themselves, why do they keep voting Democrat when blacks have “the worst jobs, the worst housing, Police brutality rampant, … and we all line up and vote the straight Democratic ticket. Sell our soul for a Christmas Turkey. White folks spitting in our faces and we'd reward them with the vote.”

Obama also states in his book that some white Democrats said they would “vote Republican before voting for a black [Democrat] to be mayor” of Chicago. (p. 148)

During Obama's Victory Speech on November 5, 2008 he talked about Ann Nixon Cooper, a black woman who could not vote because of his party's voting policies in the South and during that same speech he referred to “the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, the bridge in Selma and the preacher from Atlanta,” - all racist situations that occurred in areas where Democrat elected officials were in control.

He also talked about his party's racist past during his March 18, 2008 speech regarding Rev. Wright. The then Senator Obama said, “…so many of the disparities that exist in the African American community today can be traced directly to the inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the [Democrat's] brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.”

Obama, a student of history knew that his party made the following statements in several of their national platforms:

DEMOCRATS' 1844 PLATFORM for SLAVERY

“All efforts by the abolitionist and others made to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery... are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences....”

DEMOCRATS' 1852 PLATFORM for SLAVERY

“The Democratic Party standing on this national platform will abide by and adhere to a faithful execution of the acts [meaning Fugitive Slave Laws]... for reclaiming fugitives.... The Democratic Party will resist all attempts at renewing in Congress or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under whatever shape or color the attempt is made.”

Not one Democrat voted for the 13th Amendment to end slavery and as a party, Democrats did not vote to pass the 14th Amendment to make blacks citizens nor did they support the 15th Amendment to give blacks the right to vote.

Obama is one of the only black leaders who have acknowledge these wrongs by his party. so with this lawsuit we are simply asking: based on what he knows about his party's racist past and how they have treated black folks, why is he and the leaders of his party reluctant to issue a public apology?

Rev. Wayne Perryman
www.wayneperryman.com

---

Received via email, September 13, 2011 as a PDF attachment (HT: Stella Guenther).

Rev. Perryman's most recent book is Whites, Blacks & Racist Democrats: The Untold History of Race & Politics within the Democratic Party From 1792-2009. Read More......

Perryman: Obama's References to His Party's Racist Past

#2
President Barack Obama is one of the only black elected officials and one of the only black leaders in modern-day history - who has openly discussed how badly Democrats have treated black voters and he does so in his book: Dreams From My Father. The book highlights a conversation where black Democrats referred to their relationship with the Democratic Party as “Plantation Politics.” (p. 147). Obama reports that during this conversation blacks in the barber shop asked themselves, why do they keep voting Democrat when blacks have “the worst jobs, the worst housing, Police brutality rampant, … and we all line up and vote the straight Democratic ticket. Sell our soul for a Christmas Turkey. White folks spitting in our faces and we'd reward them with the vote.”

Obama also states in his book that some white Democrats said they would “vote Republican before voting for a black [Democrat] to be mayor” of Chicago. (p. 148)

During Obama's Victory Speech on November 5, 2008 he talked about Ann Nixon Cooper, a black woman who could not vote because of his party's voting policies in the South and during that same speech he referred to “the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, the bridge in Selma and the preacher from Atlanta,” - all racist situations that occurred in areas where Democrat elected officials were in control.

He also talked about his party's racist past during his March 18, 2008 speech regarding Rev. Wright. The then Senator Obama said, “…so many of the disparities that exist in the African American community today can be traced directly to the inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the [Democrat's] brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.”

Obama, a student of history knew that his party made the following statements in several of their national platforms:

DEMOCRATS' 1844 PLATFORM for SLAVERY

“All efforts by the abolitionist and others made to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery... are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences....”

DEMOCRATS' 1852 PLATFORM for SLAVERY

“The Democratic Party standing on this national platform will abide by and adhere to a faithful execution of the acts [meaning Fugitive Slave Laws]... for reclaiming fugitives.... The Democratic Party will resist all attempts at renewing in Congress or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under whatever shape or color the attempt is made.”

Not one Democrat voted for the 13th Amendment to end slavery and as a party, Democrats did not vote to pass the 14th Amendment to make blacks citizens nor did they support the 15th Amendment to give blacks the right to vote.

Obama is one of the only black leaders who have acknowledge these wrongs by his party. so with this lawsuit we are simply asking: based on what he knows about his party's racist past and how they have treated black folks, why is he and the leaders of his party reluctant to issue a public apology?

Rev. Wayne Perryman
www.wayneperryman.com

---

Received via email, September 13, 2011 as a PDF attachment (HT: Stella Guenther).

Rev. Perryman's most recent book is Whites, Blacks & Racist Democrats: The Untold History of Race & Politics within the Democratic Party From 1792-2009. Read More......

The Bad Luck President

By Dr. Milton R. Wolf at The Washington Times - America’s misfortune is nothing if not Obamanomics: [Excerpt] “Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded - here and there, now and then - are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as ‘bad luck.’“ ✧ Mr. President, you didn’t run into bad luck. You created it. ✧ America is indeed blessed, but it’s not by some accident that previous generations were able to create the most prosperous nation in the history of humankind. Our founding principles of constitutionally limited government, individual liberty and free-market capitalism have unleashed the powerful American engine of prosperity. This engine is fueled by individual players’ investments of labor and capital, and both are supplied directly in proportion to their confidence of realizing reward. Read more at the Washington Times...
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Morning Bell: Remembering the Providential Gift of America

From THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION/FOUNDRY/Morning Bell, 12/24/2010

Christmas, 1776.

Summer had begun with strong declarations of noble ideals, but by winter the cause of liberty seemed to be at low ebb. Having suffered defeat after defeat, many had all but given up hope. It looked like freedom would succumb yet again, as it had throughout history, to the forces of authoritarianism and tyranny.

Then, on Christmas Day, 1776, a small band of colonial forces under the command of Gen. George Washington, having retreated all the way from New York, again crossed the Delaware River and brought battle at Trenton, New Jersey. Washington not only won the battle but regained the initiative and turned the war in the patriots’ favor. One week later, Washington defeated the British at Princeton and forced the enemy to withdraw, preventing its advance on Philadelphia, seat of the Continental Congress.

When it announced itself to the world in 1776, the United States of America was little more than an alliance of 13 small colonies on a barren continent, thousands of miles from their ancestral homeland, surrounded by hostile powers.

Now, well over two centuries after winning independence from the British Empire, America is the freest, wealthiest, most powerful nation on Earth. Along the way it established sovereign nationhood, settled a continent and more and brought unprecedented prosperity to its citizens. It survived a devastating Civil War that threatened its very life, abolished slavery and raised up the emancipated to be citizens equal to their one-time masters. It triumphed in two world wars fought on foreign soil and a decades-long struggle against worldwide communism that, 20 years ago, led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of the Soviet Union.

What accounts for this monumental success? The founding of the United States was indeed revolutionary. But not in the sense of replacing one set of rulers with another, or overthrowing the institutions of society. John Adams queried:

What do we mean by the American Revolution? The revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people. . . . This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution.

Our revolution was about the ideas upon which a new nation was to be established. Permanent truths “applicable to all men and all times,” as Abraham Lincoln later said, proclaimed that principle rather than will would be the ultimate ground of government.

What is truly revolutionary about America is that, for the first time in history, these universal ideas became the foundation of a system of government and its political culture. Because of these principles, rather than despite them, the American Revolution culminated not in tyranny but a constitutional government that has long endured.

To this day, 233 years after Washington and his men crossed the Delaware, these principles–proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence and promulgated by the Constitution–still define us as a nation and inspire us as a people. These principles are responsible for a prosperous, just nation unlike any other. They are the highest achievements of our tradition, a beacon to those who strive for freedom but also a warning to tyrants and despots everywhere. Because of these principles, not despite them, America achieved greatness.

The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson later recorded, was “neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, [but] was intended to be an expression of the American mind.”

As Americans, our aim must be a clear expression and forthright defense of the nation’s principles in the public square so that they become, once again, an expression of the American mind. Despite constant scorn by academic elites, political leaders and the popular media, most Americans still believe in the uniqueness of this country and respect the Founders’ noble ideas. They may fail a test of particulars – quick: when did Washington cross the Delaware? – but they overwhelmingly want to know about this nation and its meaning.

We must give voice to all those who have not given up on their country’s experiment in self-government, have not concluded the cause of liberty and limited constitutional government is lost and have not accepted America’s decline as inevitable.

The goal must be to restore the liberating principles of the American Founding as the defining public philosophy of our nation. As it was for most of American history, so it can be again.

The joy of this wonderful season is about new beginnings and the eternal promise of redemption. We Americans have the immeasurable benefit, the providential gift, of having inherited a great country.

We must never forget its confidence, optimism and promise, its endless capacity for renewal, are contained in our dedication to the enduring principles of liberty with which all men are endowed by their Creator.

May you and yours have a merry and blessed Christmas. Read More......

WSJ: The Death of Conservatism Was Greatly Exaggerated

WALL STREET JOURNAL/OPINION by Peter Berkowitz - In 2008 liberals proclaimed the collapse of Reaganism. Two years later the idea of limited government is back in vogue. Last August left little doubt that a conservative revival was underway. Constituents packed town-hall meetings across the country to confront Democratic House members and senators ill-prepared to explain why, in the teeth of a historic economic downturn and nearly 10% employment, President Obama and his party were pressing ahead with costly health-care legislation instead of reining in spending, cutting the deficit and spurring economic growth.

Still, whether that revival would have staying power was very much open to question. A year later—and notwithstanding the Democrats' steadily declining poll numbers and the mounting electoral momentum that could well produce a Republican majority in the House and a substantial swing in the Senate—it still is.

Sustaining the revival depends on the ability of GOP leaders, office-holders and candidates to harness the extraordinary upsurge of popular opposition to Mr. Obama's aggressive progressivism. Our constitutional tradition provides enduring principles that should guide them. Read more at WSJ...

Keep up the good work conservatives! --bc Read More......