Defining Moments in US History and their Relevance Today

Defining Moments in US History and their Relevance Today
By Charles Sullivan

There are periods in the history of every nation that define its character and reveal who is really running the government and its social and financial institutions. In the US, one of those periods, of which there are so many, was the political witch hunt that occurred during the 1950s. Known as the era of McCarthyism, this was a time in which the civil rights of anyone with leftist political leanings were violated through a series of tormented public persecutions. During McCarthyism, thousands of law- abiding citizens were blacklisted and thus unable to find work. Among this group, numerous families were torn asunder, divorces sharply increased, and multiple suicides were reported.

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Periodically, progressives, liberals, socialists and communists, were rounded up, divested of their constitutional rights, and imprisoned or executed. There were the notorious Palmer raids on the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and other revolutionary unions, the execution of organizers like Joe Hill, and the deportation of others, including Big Bill Haywood. Eugene Debs, a socialist union organizer, was imprisoned multiple times for his political views. The Haymarket Martyrs, who championed the cause of the eight hour work day, were hanged in Chicago for their anarchist ideology, framed for crimes they did not commit.

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Virtually all of today’s democrats do not deserve to be associated with the ideology of progressivism. Barely a handful of them are worthy of the liberal label. The traditional liberals, personified by the likes of Cynthia McKinney, were forced to leave the party. It is beyond absurd to think of President Obama as anything but a political conservative dressed in the garments of liberalism and masquerading as a man of the people. Obama’s voting record, his political appointments, the money trail, and his policy decisions reveal his true colors. So much for change we can believe in.

As significant as they are, such defining episodes of history are curiously absent from the narrative disseminated in the public education system. For most Americans, these episodes never happened. Indeed, anything that contradicts their obstinate belief in American democracy did not occur. Most Americans cannot wrap their languorous brains around these defining actions, and that is why current events, including 9-11, make so little sense to them: they lack historical context.

Indeed, as history attests, it has always been dangerous to be a progressive in this or any nation, and it still is. Since the people who wield the most political power were never struck down or divested of their ill- gotten influence, such episodes are certain to occur again.

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I know several teachers, from fifth grade on up, who use books such as Zinn's "People's History of the US" as their main textbook. Hell, even back in the bad old days of the seventies you saw several teachers turning towards more progressive history texts such as "Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee." And this is in some very conservative school districts.

The trouble is that with the increased emphasis on the back to basics movement (starting during the Reagan era), NCLB and massive student testing, history has gone by the wayside. I was doing an observation in a fifth grade class last year, and according to the GLE's (the state's mandate of what the students are to be taught, year by year), fifth graders are supposed to be taught US history up through the Civil War and into Reconstruction. The thing is, with NCLB and massive testing, the emphasis is on reading, writing, math and science, what gets tested under NCLB. Thus, with a month left in the year, the students were just getting into the history of the revolutionary war. This was a good teacher, but she was handcuffed by these federal and state mandates, and thus history got kicked to the curb. That's why I decided to go into middle school instead of elementary, I love history and social studies and can get these kids caught up and ahead of the game, repairing the damage done by NCLB.