WESTPHALL

The other day I ran across a social media post from an acquaintance complaining at length about how the National Archives website placed a “harmful language” disclaimer on (gasp!) the United States Constitution. Now, the post made it seem like my acquaintance was just randomly perusing some historical papers, minding their own patriotic business, when out of the blue, upon trying to access our nation’s most profound founding document — alack! What is here, but a heinous blight upon mine screen! A crude, yellow warning label born of liberal tears and the society-degrading cesspool of political correctness! Is nothing sacred? When will the brutish destruction of our most holy values ever cease? 

So, naturally, being all too willing to waste my own time refuting the ridiculous, I did some digging into the issue. Turns out, to no one’s great surprise, this was one of those low hanging fruit republican media frenzies. You know, the kind meant to keep “them” scared of “us” as the robbers of “traditional American values.” In other words, it was a slow news day and, as we all know, propaganda must never cease lest the masses forget their duty to feel perpetually under attack from the anti-American, leftist agenda.

Here’s the reality. When you access the National Archives Catalog website — a free and incredibly powerful .gov resource — an unobtrusive label appears at the top of the screen stating: “Potentially Harmful Content Alert,” with a link to the National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) statement. This is the gist of what you will find at that link:

“The Catalog and web pages contain some content that may be harmful or difficult to view. NARA’s records span the history of the United States, and it is our charge to preserve and make available these historical records. As a result, some of the materials presented here may reflect outdated, biased, offensive, and possibly violent views and opinions. In addition, some of the materials may relate to violent or graphic events and are preserved for their historical significance.” 

Anyone who understands the barbaric implications of the Constitution’s Three-fifths clause, for example, knows why NARA felt compelled to give notice of context for certain racist or historical white-pandering language that would not be acceptable by today’s standards. What a perfectly reasonable attitude toward the preservation of history! Personally, my hat is off to them for approaching their responsibility with such thoughtfulness. 

Anyway, believe it or not, I didn’t set out to tell this story to proffer a defense against yet another bogus right-wing claim about something that was taken wildly out of context and blown into “the sky is falling” proportions. I’m simply using this specific example — one out of thousands — to illustrate a broader point.

Not only has it become taboo within right leaning circles to discuss the negative aspects of our American history, the ability to freely do so in public spaces is under attack (like, actually being over regulated in real legislation. Not the empty “ah, they’re coming for me!” type of fabricated breaking news mania full of hot air and very little substance). What started out as whining about “P.C. Culture” has devolved into yet another culture war designed to pit right against left in order to distract from the truth of the issue. School board fights about Critical Race Theory, scores of anti-gay legislation, not to mention the new wave of book banning (and burning!) — these actions are the culmination of a group of people being yet again fear-mongered into holding an extreme position, skipping right over what is left of any gray area or nuance. The individual experiences, the willingness to listen to one another to learn the truth behind the matter, is once again lost in the fray — which is exactly what the fray was designed for.

Conservatism is by definition a commitment to a certain version of traditional values, and a pledge to stand against anything that would try to change that. It is the staunch defense of the preservation of the status quo. The problem lies in the reality that throughout America’s past, the status quo has at times — for countless minority groups — meant daily atrocities and unspeakable horrors. Historically, that could mean anyone who was not the right kind of white. Sometimes that meant targeting specific immigrant communities — the Japanese or the Germans, or at other times the Irish or the Italians. In my lifetime, the preferred target has often been Muslims. But, regardless of the enemy du jour, Black and Native Americans have always been placed on the raw end of The American Dream. Our nation’s successes have been built on a violent, exclusive, and bigoted power structure that to this day heavily favors wealthy, white men. That is not just a passionate claim, it is an indisputable fact.

Take a look at the demographic numbers of people who have held and are holding elected office at the national level versus the demographic numbers of the people who inhabit this country and you’ll start to get a sense of that disparity.

Let me get to the point. The idea that we can look at our nation, broken and bruised and miraculous and genocidal, and say yep! This is it! We’ve reached apex utopia. It’s time to hunker down and strive with all our might to maintain everything just so before someone comes in and ruins it with their idea of equality! That’s not only insane — it’s an infuriating level of denial.

Conservatives, by definition, want to keep things the way they are. Being progressive means being willing to look ugly in the eye and say it’s time for a makeover.

We need to get away from our addiction to believing that to criticize America is to disparage it, that to call out its brazen injustices and repudiate its past mistakes is tantamount to treason. We can be a great nation and also wrestle with the lasting consequences of the sins of our fathers. We can still be a shining beacon on the hill, but it requires us, now more than ever, to reckon with our dark and blood-stained history. 

When progressives say it’s time to leave behind old habits, time to get rid of certain bigoted or hurtful language, or time to overhaul outdated policies that exclude entire communities or harmfully target others, this is what they mean. It is not “political correctness” to be asked to be more thoughtful — it’s conscientiousness: literally, a wish to do what is right. Ultimately, you cannot be conservative AND want to change the status quo. Those ideals are at odds with one another. Neither is it siding with justice to cherry pick which issues you’re willing to acknowledge while being able to comfortably ignore the rest simply because it doesn’t effect you. So much more is required of us. 

There are pivotal times in history where lines are indelibly drawn in the sand and one must choose a side. Now is one of those times. Of course, it’s not always going to be as black and white as that, the world is much too full of nuance. Most of the time, life is going to be lived somewhere in the little gray areas, the places that fall in between the extremes, with ebbs and flows and exceptions and specifics. But civil rights issues, equity issues, systemic bigotry and brutality problems — these are not the battles we ought to choose to sit out. In times like these with everybody screaming and hollering, living every day on red alert, it can be difficult to know which of the culture war fire alarms are real, and which are fabricated distractions meant to keep us at odds with one another. But when in doubt, there’s a tried and true method I like to use to locate my horizon line. Take any issue and look to see on which side of the line the Nazis fall. Then simply choose the opposite side.