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Brodie Farquhar: History check

Dear editor,

I’m afraid Mr. Meglen’s grasp of American and constitutional history (Oct. 18, 2014 letter to the editor) is severely impaired by watching Fox News and apparently listening exclusively to Rush, Hannity, Bill O and Beck.

His understanding about what is or is not taught in local schools about American history sounds like it came straight from a right-wing pundit — it obviously did not come by sitting in any classroom in Routt County and personally witnessing American history treated as a fable or children’s story.



If Mr. Meglen bothered to read a history textbook or spend time in a local classroom, he might learn something accurate and even nuanced, rather than the originalist drivel peddled by the right-wing smear merchants. I’m not sure where he gets the idea that the institution of slavery was “forced” on our Founding Fathers, many of whom were slave owners, like Washington and Jefferson. The institution of slavery was an economic one, based on the fact that enslaved natives were eradicated by Spanish, French and British conquerors in less than a generation and that Africans better endured the brutal conditions of slavery in the South.

Nor did American women immediately benefit from recognition of constitutional rights — suffrage eluded them for many decades after the Constitution was ratified, during which time they were chattel, with precious few rights.



He entirely glosses over the fact that the Constitution has been amended and approved by the states 33 times — which makes the argument that the Constitution is a “living document” stronger, rather than weaker. Indeed, his decrying change by his adherence to the Ninth and 10th Amendments is self-contradictory, in that the Ninth and 10th were changes themselves to the original Constitution.

Mr. Meglen also ignores the role of the British Parliament — a representative legislature in the House of Commons — in passing laws and taxes that were viewed as onerous by the colonists. The cry of “no taxation without representation” was aimed at Parliament, not the divine right of kings as Meglen strongly implies.

What Mr. Meglen has imposed on the readers of the Steamboat Pilot & Today is poorly understood American history and a word salad that is long on outrage and fear, and short on any real understanding of our complicated history. In short, he gets an “F.”

Brodie Farquhar

Hayden


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