made a thought-provoking proposal a few days ago, but it was posted as a comment in the midst of a long
, and may not have gotten the attention it deserves. So here it is again:
A reader writes:
As everyone knows, February has officially been designated “African American History Month.” The idea recently occurred to me that conservatives counter-designate February to be “American History Month.”
But perhaps we should designate January to be American History Month. Let the liberals have their celebration, and let us not unnecessarily provoke Leviathan.
I have prepared a possible declaration of American History Month, included below. Any suggested improvements will be welcome. Notice that I do not call it “White History Month.” That is its effective meaning, but it sounds to me nobler simply to call it American History Month. That way, we are free to mention minorities who merit inclusion, making this a true American History Month.
Proclamation: American History Month
Whereas the knowledge of and reverence for its history is crucial for the survival and flourishing of any people;
Whereas the knowledge of and reverence for American history is under widespread and effective assault, in large measure so that socialist and so-called progressive revolutionaries will have an easier time achieving their goal of the radical transformation of America;
Whereas this assault consists of two primary parts, one of which is the deliberate and great decrease, compared with past practices, of instruction in the achievements of European-Americans in favor of the deliberate exaggeration of the achievements of Americans of minority background;
Whereas the second part of the assault on American history consists of the implication—or outright statement—that the America of the past is not worthy of being honored on account of her alleged great injustice to minorities;
Whereas one manifestation of this assault is the unseemly practice of government designating certain months to honor the achievements of Americans from minority groups, coupled with the conspicuous failure of our government to designate a month to honor the Americans whose ancestors contributed by far the most to creating America and making her great;
Whereas America was built primarily, but not exclusively, by European-Americans, in which case a proper American History Month would give priority to their achievements;
Whereas we Americans have good reason to be proud of the achievements of our ancestors and to celebrate and honor such persons, objects and events as: Lexington and Yorktown. Antietam and Gettysburg. Belleau Wood, Guadalcanal, D-Day. Inchon. Robert Fulton, Samuel Morse. Alexander Graham Bell. The Wright Brothers. Robert Oppenheimer. Richard Feynman. Herman Melville. Mark Twain. Emily Dickenson. Thomas Hart Benton. Georgia O’Keefe. Stephen Foster. John Phillip Sousa. George Gershwin. Benny Goodman. Louis Armstrong. Bill Robinson. Lewis and Clark. John C. Fremont. Kit Carson. John Glenn. Neil Armstrong. The Transcontinental Railroad. The Panama Canal. The Atomic Bomb. The Space Program. The personal computer. George Washington. Thomas Jefferson. Abraham Lincoln. Ulysses S. Grant. Robert E. Lee. Stonewall Jackson. Dwight Eisenhower. Henry Ford. Henry Kaiser. John D. Rockefeller. Etc.
Now, therefore we, the patriotic Americans, by virtue of our awareness of our debt to our ancestors, and our love of our people, do hereby proclaim every January to be American History Month. We call on patriotic Americans everywhere to observe this month by remembering and increasing their knowledge of American history, especially the once-widely-known but now increasingly unknown contributions of European Americans. We also call on Americans to honor American History Month by passing on this knowledge to the young, and encouraging them to honor the achievements of their ancestors. Let us also acknowledge America’s failures and sins, but let us not exaggerate them. And most of all let us not draw from them the false and monstrous conclusion that America is bad and therefore not deserving of honor. On the contrary, America is good, and she is ours.