The title is only a slight exaggeration. The Tennessee tea party groups have come together and made some demands of the state government. They want the government to "reject" Health Care reform, and they want an elected Attorney General, so that they can pressure the AG into joining the HCR suits.
But most interestingly, they want legislation introduced to alter public school history curricula.
Neglect and outright ill will have distorted the teaching of the history and character of the United States. We seek to compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government.
I didn't realize that the Tea Party was "pro-truth" while high-school history teachers were "anti-truth." If I had realized that earlier I would have been a lot more respectful toward the movement.
But there is one particular area in which the Tea Party are upset with history teaching: The treatment of minorities. It doesn't quite seem that the problem is how minorities are treated, as rather that they are treated. The TP'ers demand legislation stating that:
No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership.
Interesting, there seems to be an exemption for history that did not actually occur. That could be a useful loophole.
The TP'ers are very concerned that myths and falsehoods, slander and calumnies, have been propagated through Tennessee public school systems regarding our founding fathers, and they demand that it stop. Their manifesto is very specific about which ones:
Fayette County attorney Hal Rounds, the group’s lead spokesman during the news conference, said the group wants to address "an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another.
Since the truth is that our founding father never owned any slaves or "intruded" on the Indians, it is important that these facts be taught to our kids.
And I want to emphasize that the Tea Party are not a group of bitter white Republicans confused and angry that society is moving forward and becoming more inclusive. They are not bigotted and they are not racist. They merely stand for the truth and the constitution. And who could object to that?
I just may have been wrong about them all along.
[Hat tip: TPM, ThinkProgress. ]
[By the way, you've got to check out the comments in the news article. I tip my hat many times over to the commenter who coins a new term to describe what the TP'ers are trying to impose on the schools: A doctrine called "teabonics." Based on the poll results, it looks as if Tennesseans are not impressed by all this.]