Dear Editor,
I’ve lately had some enlightening conversations with people who stand politically left of me. The main topics in these conversations were about Native Americans, slavery, and the role of government in a free society. All these topics are worthy of discussion, and we should thoughtfully address each in a way that ensures every American retains the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But I have learned that too many people have too little knowledge to do so.
There is widespread hatred for taking the lands of the Native Americans. They have an almost mythical belief that the inhabitants of this land were in complete harmony and peace with everything and everyone. They are unaware that The United States didn’t take these lands. All of North America was taken by European tyrants and left us to clean up the mess on lands we either won or purchased from these tyrants. We had to deal with tribes that allied with us and tribes that were our sworn enemies. All was made much more complicated by rogue leaders and factions on both sides who exceeded their authority or abusing power for their own gains. These people constantly apply the worst deeds to the United States and ignore all that preceeded our nation In a country where every child is guaranteed at least twelve years of free education, the ignorance on this topic is unacceptable.
On slavery, it is almost as if they believe it was initiated and spread by the USA. Were they not taught that slavery pre-existed in our country and most developing countries on earth for centuries? Do they not know that one of the greatest tools of power throughout history was the granting of lands and slaves to those most favored by tyrants? Were they not taught that slavery was the most persistently addressed issue in our nation for decades preceding our Civil War, or that one person died in battle for every twenty people freed? Again, knowledge on the subject is abysmal.
In these conversations, they presented beliefs that government, not people, made our country great. They view today’s government as a guardian angel that provides all they want and protects them from all they fear, while yesterday’s government was filled with evil white men running rough shod over a helpless populace. Where I appreciate the imperfect people who risked all to free us from tyrants, they see only their imperfections. Where I feel blessed by free people creating more choices to consume, more options to acquire and more opportunities to succeed than any others ever had, they are angry because those choices, options and opportunities do not come with guarantees.
In essence, we have failed to educate too many people on history and the realities our predecessors faced. We have failed to teach them that people created what we have, how it is made available, and the responsibility each of us carries in ensuring it all continues. That ignorance almost certainly guarantees greater control by and reliance on future governments, which has always produced fewer choices, fewer options and fewer opportunities for people. To fix this ignorance, we have our work cut out for us. And the first step is to require our elected officials to possess and espouse full knowledge of our real history and to understand that the people who brought us to where we are today were imperfect people, just as we all are.
Rick Stiles
Shawnee
