Just to clear up any mythology about the Founding Fathers having created a perfect country, THIS was still considered okay to give to school children a hundred years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

(Just in case you are not horrified enough by the cover, you can see the contents by clicking here.)

You know whenever I hear the Republicans talking about taking this country back to the days when it better reflected the image of the Founding Fathers, this is the kind of ugliness it conjures up in my mind.

This book was printed in 1876, exactly one hundred years after this country, the land of the free and home of the brave, was founded, and only ten years after slavery was finally abolished.

This was a time when the white male citizens had ALL of the rights, blacks knew their place, women were little more than property, and the Bible was an accepted textbook in the American classroom.

These are the "good old days" that the GOP waxes poetic over in their speeches to the American people. A time when only those of a certain ethnicity, or gender, were allowed to control the direction in which this country is headed. If they had their way, there would certainly NOT be some uppity, oddly named, Hawaiian born Socialist occupying the Oval Office.

Essentially everything they say is code for taking this country back to a time when the idea of "white makes right" was accepted with little or no challenge.  And while I am well aware that President Lincoln was a proud Republican, this is NOT his party anymore.

Today's Republican presidential candidates seem for all the world like hood-less KKK members rather than agents for societal progress in the United States.

From Ron "racist newsletter" Paul, to "Rick "Niggerhead ranch" Perry, on to Newt "have poor students (i.e. black students) clean school bathrooms" Gingrich, and Rick "I don't want bla..people's lives better by giving them somebody's else's money" Santorum, right up to Mitt "My church would not allow black priests until 1976" Romney, the field seems to be only one giant cross, a can of gasoline, and a match away from admitting to African American voters exactly what they think of them.

Personally I would like to look to a future where people who love each other can marry, regardless of their gender, ALL people's religious beliefs are recognized and respected equally, and children are raised seeing a person's character before they notice the color of their skin. 

And that is definitely NOT the future that will be available to us if one of these arrogant, racist, backward thinking pricks get into the White House.

Despite any residual disappointment I might feel, for me the choice was never in question:

Barack Obama for President in 2012!