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As I was reading the recent stories about Cheney and his secrecy tactics, wall street profits amid a recession/depression, the war in Afghanistan and many others, I just kept thinking about the old cliche of history repeating itself. Some of these stories tend to reflect past history in our nation and I have to wonder if our national leaders understand the importance of an accurate recorded history. Hell, I even have to wonder if our national leaders are proficient in our recent U.S. history (let alone world history). Back when the elections were taking place, I would debate my RW father inlaw about the merits of Sarah Palin and when the issue of education would come up he would dismiss the importance of it. He felt very comfortable allowing someone who was neither well versed in the constitution or history to be elected into a position one step removed from the highest office in the land. I would always ask him how she would possibly be prepared to deal with monumental decisions without fully knowing the history of progress and setbacks that have occurred in our past and he would repeatedly dismiss the question. If as a nation, we are at a point that our history is seen as not important enough to be obtained or accurately recorded then we are most definitely doomed to not only repeat our mistakes, but compound them. Why are our leaders so reluctant to investigate an administration that is as cloudy as the previous one in order to obtain a historical truth? Without these truths, what will my children's history books say? Will we be setting them up for failure?
I am not well versed in US history (I am working on that), but I am well versed in my own personal history and I would never disregard the importance of it. It shaped who I am today. Many, many mistakes were made in my upbringing, however if I never new the details of those mistakes and the reasons for them, I may not have had the ability to avoid repeating them with my own children. I learned my lessons well....but I fear that my nation has not.
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