Being Superior, Historically. Patriotically, and Conservatively

ACCORDING TO THE CONSERVATIVE VERSION, liberals do not like the United States, consider it to have been "wrongly founded", for nefarious purposes, and to have established repressive institutions, with dubious results. Conservatives, who don't even seem to know much about themselves, think themselves to be experts on the mind sets and motivations of liberals. Bless their little mind reading hearts. If only they would devote their energies more to reading history books, by either liberal or conservative historians, take your pick. Rush Limbaugh, for instance, once said that the Magna Charta was written sometime in the 1500s. Just the other day he said that when he was in grade school lunch cost twenty five cents, and that his mother would give him two fifty each week to cover the expense. This, from the bastion of broadcast excellence, mistake free, as he says. We can presume that Rush pocketed the extra buck twenty five, used it to start building his fortune, and didn't pay much attention in alementary math class. Had he paid attention in history clas, he might know, or he might not, that the Great Charter was writtin in the year 1215. But let's give Rush a break. He went to college for about one semester, and flunked everything. As Casey Stengel often said, you could look it up. "Hagiography" is the popular form of history among American conservatives; history written by Americans, from the point of view of Americans, by people who dearly love America, to the greater glorification of America. The problem with this is that is is not objective, and therefore not honest. Hagiography is biased, and distorted. Conservative American historiography is to American historiography what the Old Testament is to the hebrews who wrote it; self aggrandizing. The point to writing good history is that you the author are and must be neutral about your topic; you niether love nor hate it, you research it, and you seek to remain objective at all costs. Hagiography is what happens when those who madly their country write about it. Patriotism, a wise person once said, is the convenient refuge of scoundrels. Patriotism, as Goethe said, corrupts history. Our conservative American colleagues spew out so much love of country, sans objective historical truth, that one is tempted to say that no only do they love America more than liberals, but that they are superior for so doing, albiet hagiographic, and very superior, patriotically.