Rewriting History

When I was homeschooled, I was very interested in history and frequented used bookstores to find old history books. There is a stark difference between history as it was written in the 1950s versus the way it is written today. Today's history books are written like Power Point presentations. They have little content, but lots of bullet points and irrelevant graphics. The newer history books, generally speaking, fail to draw causal connections between events. They speak only of politician's stated motives, failing to note the effects of their laws. They devote more room for photos of women's fashion, boxing matches, wartime recruiting posters and commentary on "social and economic reforms," at the expense of content and conceptual history lessons.

Let me provide you with the closing statement of one of my favorite history books, published in 1952, entitled "The Hope of the Nation." The section is entitled, "Don't Vote Freedom Away."

And never forget that Freedom can be voted away just as surely as it can be torn from you by violence.

Keep prominently in mind, too, the heartening fact that political parties in our country want to keep you Free. But you must recollect that they need your active encouragement and support. Why? Because their leaders are under continual pressure from groups who, knowingly or perhaps blindly, are moving toward the elimination of your Freedom.

But those among them who promise you something for nothing should be shunned like the plague. Always ask yourself in regard to any such proposal: What will this cost me, and my children after me, in taxes? Will this add to or detract from my personal freedom and my opportunities to be self-reliant?

Keep ever before you the fact that a government produces nothing. When a government gives it must first take from someone -- and that someone is pretty certain to be YOU.

All history books should keep these principles in mind rather than repeating the rhetoric of politicians.