Americans don’t know their history
By William C. Fizer
The recent election, with its rhetoric, half-truths and misinformation, and our celebration this month of Veterans Day remind me that we’ve become a nation of historical illiterates.
Fizer, of Roanoke, is founder and president of Lodging Technology.
November 29, 2012 - 8:07 AM
It’s long been my opinion that, like Hosea, “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.”
But I also maintain that the first duty of a newspaper is education. This newspaper fails miserably at that. As today’s editorial shows, attacking “hyper-partisanship” while participating in it does nothing to educate your readers.
Mr. Fizer, thank you for an excellent article. And thank you, Roanoke Times, for printing it. I agree if America doesn’t return to it’s original foundation of Liberty Under Law we will never preserve our freedoms. But I see little hope for such a return. The liberal/leftist worldview has such a stranglehold on the media and educational system today that the true story of America’s founding principles will never be taught or tolerated. For more, see the article on my website (www.iLuvgoodnovels.com) “Why we owe our democracy to a Judeo/Christian heritage.”
I don’t doubt that a senior class made up of only 25 people would have much more time for serious study and investigation that leads to retention of historical facts, a deeper relationship with their mentors/teachers, and a genuine motivation to succeed. I doubt that any educator would refuse such a boon. Class size matters, from K through 12.
I don’t doubt that knowing why we celebrate July 4th, that some founding documents seem religious in nature, that many believe they are based solely on Judeo-Christian principles, that religious services were held in the House of Representatives, and that the U.S. Constitution is the law of this land. Knowing all of that and the history and sentiment that surrounds it still helps us today as we understand how our nation has changed, evolved and become the world power and example that it has.
“Worship services in the House–a practice that continued until after the Civil War–were acceptable to Jefferson because they were nondiscriminatory and voluntary. Preachers of every Protestant denomination appeared. (Catholic priests began officiating in 1826.) As early as January 1806 a female evangelist, Dorothy Ripley, delivered a camp meeting-style exhortation in the House to Jefferson, Vice President Aaron Burr, and a “crowded audience.” Throughout his administration Jefferson permitted church services in executive branch buildings. The Gospel was also preached in the Supreme Court chambers.”
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel06-2.html
It is also important to know the voices that changed those comfortable but constraining habits.
“Whilst we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess and to observe the Religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we cannot deny an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the evidence which has convinced us.”
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_religions43.html
We all need to know where we came from to realize how far we have come.
From the slavery and blatant discrimination we were born in, to the diversity and respect for all (or no) religion we now enjoy, knowing our past to the greatest extent possible helps us better understand the hard fought progress we have achieved.
I don’t doubt any of that, and yet, I also do not doubt that lacking such in depth knowledge bodes ill for us as a nation, that it hinders us in choosing good stewards and leaders or that there is something sinister in an American feeling comfortable of our 236 years of solid, progressive heritage.