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Guest Commentary January 30, 2002
No More 'Founding Fathers'?
The Honorable Robert Bennett
Yesterday [January 28, 2002] there was an article in the newspaper that caught my attention. I hope sincerely that the article was incorrect. All Members [of Congress] have had the experience of being quoted in the newspaper and wondering where the reporter got the information that was the basis of the story. I hope that is the case with this article.
It was reported in the State of New Jersey a new set of history standards have been adopted and that textbooks in New Jersey high schools dealing with American history will now fail to mention the names of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, or Thomas Jefferson. Further, it said the word "war" had been removed from the textbooks and in its place we have the word "conflict," and there would be no discussion of wars.
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I hope this is incorrect. It indicates that at least someone in New Jersey is prepared to make that State an isolated island of ignorance about American history. To think we can bring citizens into maturity in this country without their having any understanding of, indeed, no mention of, the names of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and the other Founding Fathers is absurd.
One of the best-selling books currently in the marketplace is the history of John Adams by David McCullough. On the dust jacket of the book, McCullough says, accurately, we as Americans cannot know too much about our Founding Fathers. We must never forget them. We must always learn as much as we possibly can about them.
I would say to those who are supporting this position in New Jersey schools, how are you going to explain to your students the fact that we take the Fourth of July as a holiday in this country if you are not going to tell them anything about the Revolutionary War? If you cannot even use the word "war," how are you going to explain to these students that the country honors those who founded it and who fought that war; if you can't tell them the name of the commander of the Continental Army and the forces on the American side of that war because you think that name somehow no longer matters?
How are you going to describe what happened on the Fourth of July if you cannot use the name of Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, that was proclaimed to the country on that day? How are you going to explain to high school students who decide they are going to enter public service, and take an oath of office, that they are swearing to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States when you will not have been able to describe the Constitutional Convention, the President of which was George Washington, and one of the leading figures in which was Benjamin Franklin, if you have exorcized the names of Washington and Franklin from your textbooks? What meaning does the oath of office have if you cannot explain where the Constitution came from or describe the convention that created it?
How are you going to describe some of the major problems that have existed in this country stemming from the great battle that was the Civil War, that went across five Aprils, and divided this country in a fundamental way that has taken us a century or more to heal?
No, we can't discuss that. We can talk about conflicts, but we will not discuss the leaders of that war. We will not discuss many of the problems of that war because it isn't politically correct to raise those issues anymore.
We have talked about history in this Chamber before. There have been those who have been trying to rewrite our history, trying to change it and shape it and slice it and dice it in ways that become politically correct in today's mode of conversation. You cannot do that and be accurate to the requirement of telling the truth about what really happened.
That is Orwellian. We read the novel by George Orwell, "1984," in which the hero of the novel spent all of his time at his job changing the past. He worked for the Ministry of Truth and his job was to go back and correct the record so as to rob the present society of a true understanding of the past in the name of the state, thus the adjective "Orwellian" entered our language.
What is being proposed in New Jersey is Orwellian. It is stupid and it needs to be condemned.
Robert Bennett is a U.S. Senator (R-Utah). The above column has been adapted from a speech Sen. Bennett delivered on the floor of the Senate, January 29, 2002. To contact him, Click Here.
The above column has been distributed by PoliticsOL.com.
