It doesn’t require much searching to discover that the very roots of our nation are being targeted from within. Yes, there have been numerous attacks — physical and ideological — from outside U.S. borders. But decades of anti-U.S. indoctrination within has altered the thinking of many, especially in several fundamentally important professions.
The campaign to besmirch America now comes from within. In the past, teachers, journalists, elected officials, and others could be counted on to know U.S. history and to pass along truths about how America became a worldwide ideal. The United States was looked upon by mankind everywhere as the best nation to raise a family, build a business, and enjoy the fruits of freedom. But those days are disappearing, and many who today call themselves “American” are delighted to spread misinformation about what made our country great in the first place.
Two and a half centuries ago, America’s founders decided that living under British royalty and its numerous infringements on liberty had to cease. They declared independence from the Crown and fought a war against mighty Britain to get out from under various forms of oppression. The world watched as the U.S.A. became admired by practically all of mankind. Yes, there were some warts that had to be dealt with — and many were correctly removed. In a mere few decades, from the outset of independence America became a wondrous example of true greatness.
Could the reason for gaining worldwide respect be explained? Yes, indeed. And many early Americans not only understood what made America different, they also cherished the difference. America became widely admired because of its 1787 Constitution — not because of what government did, but because of what government was prevented from doing. Barring an assortment of meddlesome laws and the folly of poorly educated dreamers resulted a free populace where personal success was available for the honest and hard-working.
The founding documents of our nation tell us what happened. Not only did America’s founders cite unalienable rights, they also proudly proclaimed that their freedom from oppressive government was God’s intention. “Men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” said the 18th century Americans, and they backed up their assertion by defeating the British forces in the War for Independence. As the place known as “America” thrived, people the world over strove to enter our land and benefit from freedom.
But, today, several campaigns are at work to cast aside fundamental beliefs about our nation. Two years ago, for instance, the New York Times published a book-length tract entitled The 1619 Project. It’s core claim says that America shouldn’t be looked upon as a bastion of freedom traceable to 1776. Its beginning, claims author Nikole Hannah-Jones, should be marked as the year 1619 when the first blacks were brought from Africa as slaves to the Western Hemisphere. She added that it was slaves who built America into greatness. How anyone could believe that is mind-boggling.
According to National Review senior writer Dan McLaughlin, promotion of such erroneous conclusions about America’s launching deserve to be completely ignored. He’s certainly not alone. With no evidence to back up her assertions, Hannah-Jones even claims that a primary reason the colonists decided to declare independence from Britain was their desire “to protect the institution of slavery.” That’s preposterous!
Times writer Hannah-Jones and the influential newspaper that has glorified her work and continues to promote it want Americans to forget 1776, regret the war for independence, and challenge the 1787 U.S. Constitution as the real basis for the greatness of our nation. Today’s Americans — black, Asian, white, and others — aren’t exposed to America’s real history, especially the truth taught during our country’s first 200 years. As evidence that faulty thinking and bogus claims are currently being given credibility, consider that the Hannah-Jones distortions of America’s history have won her a Pulitzer Prize. And add to her erroneous characterization of America’s roots that it has become an important element in the curriculum of many of our country’s government-financed and government-controlled schools.
Countering the spread of much of this propaganda, McLaughlin points out that Spanish explorers transported African slaves to what became Florida a century before 1619. And he adds that 90 percent of the slave trade out of Africa during the period written about by Hannah-Jones went, not to what became the United States, but elsewhere.
The “1619” claims have been joined by the various and equally odious distortions contained in what is known as Critical Race Theory (CRT). Become aware of this, and it become becomes obvious that an ideological war is indeed being waged against our country. The goal is to destroy among the current and future generations any admiration for our nation. But the enemy isn’t another country or group of nations. It’s a growing number of homegrown rewriters of history and their supposedly clear-thinking victims who seek to destroy freedom and completely convert America into a mere province in the developing New World Order.
While it is true that slavery existed in the United States, it was done away with more than a century and a half ago. Americans of any ethnic bakground should be proud of their country’s history, a place where slavery was abolished. That is something any American should delight in repeating to those influenced by Hannah-Jones and the famous newspaper that continues to recommend her unsupportable claims.
America isn’t perfect and sensible Americans continue efforts to make it better. The distortions presented in The 1619 Project and championed by the New York Times aren’t the way to proceed.
