Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Joey's Take: A History Lesson

With every breath they take, every move they make and every vow they break, Congress and the president are proving how much they need a herding dog like me to police them – and keep them out of our pockets and the business of local government.

Last week, President Obama strayed out of the federal fence again when he weighed in on the fact that the Virginia governor’s traditional proclamation of April as Confederate History Month did not mention slavery, calling it “an unacceptable omission.” The incident serves as “a reminder that when we talk about issues like slavery that are so fraught with pain and emotion, that, you know, we'd better do so thinking through how this is going to affect a lot of people,” the president added (The Washington Times).

But Gov. McDonnell was not talking about slavery. He was talking about a war that started 150 years ago this month, that turned brother against brother and that almost destroyed this nation. Like it or not, that war – in and of itself – is a defining chapter in our country’s history. It is still the subject of college courses, movies, documentaries and books, many of which focus on personal narratives, military strategies and the politics at play, not on slavery. And here in Virginia, which is home to more than its share of Civil War battlefields and monuments, the war means business – and jobs. Real jobs, that is, for both black and white.

Contrary to what the president and media would have you believe, the proclamation is not a celebration of the war or slavery. Although it now includes an obligatory reference to slavery, the intent of the proclamation is that this part of “Virginia’s history should not be forgotten, but instead should be studied, understood and remembered by all Virginians, both in the context of the time in which it took place, but also in the context of the time in which we live.”

It’s a lesson the president and Congress should take to heart. By studying the years leading up to the war – years marked by an increasingly divided nation, a political battle for states’ rights and an onslaught of nullification efforts – they could take the steps necessary to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself.

I’m Joey. I’m running for Congress. And I approved this message.

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