Before I even start, I am not a revisionist. I am an Historian that has gotten fed up with the course of revisionism going on in this country and the fact that it is being allowed so willingly.
Being a revisionist is actually quite easy (make up the history that you want to fit your ideologies) which is the reason why so many people choose to take that path then to actually go out and do the research and see what actually happened. If it weren't so infuriating how badly these people distort history to fit their own needs you could call it "lazy man's history". There has always been a level of revisionism in history but in the United States if full started after World War I when conservatives started getting into the history profession. They did not like the idea that the American Revolution was a violent, radical, progressive idea so they changed what actually took place.
Below I will give an annotated version of the Revisionist's History from the founding to today.
The founding of the United States - Revisionists claim that the nation was founded not only on Christian values but as a Christian nation, despite the fact that a majority of the Founding Fathers were not fans on Christianity at the time. They did consider themselves Christians but they did not solely belong to specific faiths many were either universalists (George Washington) or Unitarians (Thomas Jefferson)
The Revolution War - For revisionists the war was nothing more than a repudiation of British ideals but the majority of laws and rules were kept in place (Note: They apparently discount the entire war forget about the Boston Tea Party - ironic considering the Tea Party Movement). In Revisionist History the very idea that a completely new government was formed is discounted and downplayed.
The Declaration of Independence - Revisionists typically take very many different views on what was laid out in the DoI but they state the Jefferson directly came up with the document solely from God. This is directly contrary to what even Jefferson stated as he took bits of it from different documents published in England. Revisionists once corrected on their God claim point back to the idea that the Revolution War was actually a conservative movement. Circle logic at it's best.
The Constitution and Bill of Rights - For revisionists these two documents are a quandary. The only rights they truly seem to care about being strictly followed are the 2nd Amendment and the Freedom of Religion clause in the 1st Amendment (but they only believe in Freedom of Religion if it's Christianity.). The rests of the rights are only important if they feel they are being violated and they only have to be followed strictly at certain moments.
Civil War - This an example where actual historians have excepted some of revisionists have said. It was long believed that the Civil War was about ending slavery. After WWI revisionists came along and said that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery and had everything to do with states' rights. Actual historians have now accepted both as reasons for the Civil War but revisionists still insist that slavery was not a factor, completely ignoring the 100 years of tension before that.
The New Deal - This one is quite the doozy. Revisionists claim that the New Deal had no affect on the Depression at all and it was World War II and that alone that helped bring down the Depression and end it. They typically only quote unemployment numbers as their proof. If that is all you look at it they almost have a point. But it's when you actually look closer at the numbers that their argument falls apart.
- From the time that Roosevelt took office until 1936 unemployment went down.
- In 1937 a new Recession hit (whether it is related to the end of some of the New Deal programs is still undetermined at this time) causing unemployment to shoot back up.
- From 1938 to the U.S entry into World War II unemployment was again dropping.
NOTE: I deleted the original #2 that stated that Republicans won both houses. I was completely wrong on that fact. I apologize for putting my own apparent revision into real facts. Big thanks to vikingkingq for pointing that out.
Reaganomics - This is their bread and butter. Despite the fact that the national debt skyrocketed during Reagan's Administration and the unemployment rate was actually higher in 1982 than it had been at the start of Carter's term, Revisionists say that Reaganomics was the best system ever initiated by the federal government and that the country loved Reagan. The actual data and information does not support their revisions but do not tell them that they will not even argue just how good Trickle-Down Economics is they will just tell you that you are wrong and stupid.
George W. Bush - Revisionists have already written the history on GWB. He will go down as one of the greatest presidents ever (even better than Reagan) who saved us from evil. They loved Bush's Trickle-Down Economics that saved the rich from going into a recession. He was also absolutely right about Iraq. Just as an addendum to this, revisionists historians are also fortune tellers already saying that not only will Obama go down as the WORST president ever he will not even finish his first term.
UPDATE:
I am absolutely appalled that the Texas Board of Education actually voted to drop Thomas Jefferson from Social Studies books. This is the political revisionism in this country at it's worst and ugliest. They always talk about how they want to honor the founding of American and then they move to strike the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence from the History books. This is a sordid and disgusting group of people. My only hope (and it's slim at that) is that if these positions are elected positions they are thrown out on their asses SOON!!! Just like in Kansas when a board struck the evolution theory out.
We have entered a new era of the Dark Ages and these sheep on the right are nodding and applauding us into it.
Truly disgusting