Tennessee Teabaggers try to, quite literally, whitewash American history. Update!

Courtesy of the Commercial Appeal:

Members of Tennessee tea parties presented state legislators with five priorities for action Wednesday, including “rejecting” the federal health reform act, establishing an elected “chief litigator” for the state and “educating students the truth about America.” 

About two dozen tea party activists held a news conference, then met with lawmakers individually to present their list of priorities and “demands” for the 2011 legislative session that opened Tuesday. 

Regarding education, the material they distributed said, “Neglect and outright ill will have distorted the teaching of the history and character of the United States. We seek to compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government.” 

That would include, the documents say, that “the Constitution created a Republic, not a Democracy.” 

The material calls for lawmakers to amend state laws governing school curriculums, and for textbook selection criteria to say that “No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership.” 

Fayette County attorney Hal Rounds, the group’s lead spokesman during the news conference, said the group wants to address “an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another.

This is why I am always working to energize the Democrats, by pointing out the important things the President has accomplished and reminding everybody that we need to elect more Democrats, not just to help Obama continue his agenda, but to protect America from the destructive anti-science and anti-educational agenda of the conservatives.

The Teabaggers see their overwhelming 2010 victory, a victory they were only able to realize because Democrats let themselves be discouraged into staying home, as a mandate. And they fully intend to change the way history, science, and government are taught to reflect their insane point of view.

Teaching history in such a way that “No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers," is going to make it almost impossible to teach about the contributions of many important black leaders. Or is that the point?

Taking the accomplishments of minorities in this country out of our textbooks is to remove any opportunity for today's non-whites to find inspiration within their pages. No mention of Booker T. Washington or Harriet Tubman? After all they were once slaves and according to the revisionist history of the Teabaggers, slavery was virtually abolished by the Founding Fathers

What of more modern minority leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks? They fought against discrimination. In a perfect country there can be NO discrimination.

And need I even ask about President Obama's accomplishments?

Apparently not:  

The group also wants the state legislature to reject key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 as “an insult to Constitutional principles.”

Our Founding Fathers were great men, of that there is no doubt, but in the end they were just that, men.

They were not gods to be worshiped, they were men to be admired.  They did a great thing, but not a perfect thing. Our children deserve to know that. They deserve to know the truth.

And they certainly don't deserve to have KKK members Tea Party members writing their history books for them.

Update: As everybody pointed out the article I linked to is from last year. I follow the link from the original source over at the Huffington Post and did not check the date. But yes it is still happening this year as well:

A little more than a year after the conservative-led state board of education in Texas approved massive changes to its school textbooks to put slavery in a more positive light, a group of Tea Party activists in Tennessee has renewed its push to whitewash school textbooks. The group is seeking to remove references to slavery and mentions of the country's founders being slave owners. 

According to reports, Hal Rounds, the Fayette County attorney and spokesman for the group, said during a recent news conference that there has been "an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another."

Different year, same Teabagger shit.