More Changing the Past

One thing I remember from speech classes is the KISS rule.  Keep it short stupid.  I never had a problem with that in speech.  In writing, well, that's a different story.

So to continue with yesterday's theme about changing the past to control the future.  I just saw a story this morning about a proposal to take Grant off the $50 bill and replace him with President Reagan.  Not that I have anything against Reagan, I think he was the greatest president of the 20th century.  But I think we should respect what Grant accomplished. 

I used to tell friends that I thought President Bush (43, not 41) would be seen in a much different light by future historians.  That he could possibly be considered one of our great presidents with the way he responded to the 9/11 attacks and even with that extra challenge, oversaw six years of solid, steady economic growth.  Remember, we were in a two year recession when he came to office.  You may not remember, since Clinton-loving media types tend to overlook that.  But given the current progressive agenda of historians and educators, I'm not sure that President Bush will be treated fairly by future historians.

It was less than thirty years before historians and educators started changing the facts about President Grant and trying to influence the public toward the more progressive view of federal government.  With the omnipresence of media today, it was less than two years before history was changed during the Bush administration.  I remember driving across northern Arizona while on vacation in March of 2002 listening to National Public Radio (embarrassing to admit, but really it was the only station I could get.  I swear!).  They had a story about Saddam Hussein using chemical and biological weapons and killing entire cities of his own citizens.  Thousands of people killed by their own government.  Now, I will admit that I don't know the official definition of weapon of mass destruction, but I would think that the ability to kill thousands would meet the criteria.  But then again, the same media let President Clinton challenge the definition of "is."  And he's a Rhodes scholar, so who are we to question him?  Anyway, now the same "experts" say that President Bush intentionally lied to America and the world about Hussein's WMD's to justify his invasion of Iraq.  And the majority of Americans believe them! 

The new catchphrase in politics is "control the message."  If you can control the message, you control opinion and you control the future.  That's why President Obama's FCC guy was so impressed by Hugo Chavez and the way he took over the media, then the country with his revolution in Venezuela.  He actually said that is what must done in the U.S. to get the President's agenda pushed through!  And the media is blind to the fact that they are being led around by the President and his people.  Or they are complicit in the program.  I'm actually starting to wonder if they are behind the program.  When you start reading, this progression toward the federal government controlling everything has been going on for too long to blame it on Obama and his people.  It started with Theodore Roosevelt. Then Woodrow Wilson tried to accelerate it and went too far too fast. The American people saw the plan and stopped it.  Then FDR took advantage of the crisis created by the Great Depression and put a great deal of the agenda into place.  Like Obama's advisor Rahm Emmanuel said, "You don't ever let a crisis go to waste.  It's an opportunity to do important things."  FDR pushed through the New Deal, social security, etc. not because he wanted to, but because he had to in order to deal with all the problems.  Sound familiar?  "I don't want to run banks or automobile companies, but I have to in order to save them."  Yeah right.  And once those programs are in, they don't come out, no matter how poorly they are run or how poorly they work.  No one with a brain likes social security, but after paying into the program for your entire life, you sure want to get the payoff when you retire!  It's like a gambler doubling down.  Eventually you have so much invested, you can't afford not to keep doubling down.

One last President who has benefited from revision - Woodrow Wilson.  I think even Obama may look good in comparison.  Wilson is kind of skimmed over in history classes.  If anything at all is said about him, it is usually that he was one of our most intelligent presidents. Maybe that his League of Nations was the pre-cursor to the United Nations.  But that's about it.  But go back and read about him.  He was evil.  Hitler used some of his ideas when he came to power.  Do a Google search for eugenics.  It's an idea that is still around, but Wilson actually proposed using it.  When they realized they would not be able to get their proposals into place so fast, they backed off and went in stages.  I can't remember the name of the lady who advised Wilson on the eugenics program, but she wrote about using abortion to lead into eugenics!  Ever wonder how killing an unborn child became a right?  The majority of Americans have always thought that abortion was wrong.  Yet we have progressed to the point where the belief that killing an unborn child is wrong is considered the radical point of view!  Bush went too far with the Patriot Act?  Wilson actually imprisoned people who spoke out against his agenda! 

In the story I mentioned yesterday,A Game of Blood and Dust from the collection: Last Defender of Camelot, Blood counters Dust's move of having Lincoln assassinated by having Wilson survive an attempt on his life, ending the game with Blood winning.  He says that although Wilson did not get his agenda through, it was put into place.  And once in place, it never would be removed.  When I read it back in 1982, I had no idea what Zelazny was talking about.  Who knows anything about Wilson?  The progressives actually believe the only way for man to survive, Blood to win the game, is for the government to take control of everything and take care of us.

We need to take control of the message.  Learn history!  So much for the KISS today.