News Cut: June 15, 2011 Archive

Lake Whatshisname (5x8 - 6/15/11)

Posted at 7:20 AM on June 15, 2011 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Five by 8

1) THE CALHOUN KERFUFFLE

The dispute over whether to rename Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis is heating up. The person who's pushing to rescind the honor once bestowed on John C. Calhoun -- John Winters -- writes a rebuttal in today's Star Tribune to some history professors who rejected the notion.

Rewriting history is still popular in the South. I can see how losing a war can be painful and that people want to do something to ease the pain. But please, stop the lying.

A few years ago, my wife and I rented "Gone With The Wind" because she had never seen it. My wife enjoyed the movie. Although the movie was well done, I had trouble getting around the outrageous stream of Confederate propaganda.

Why has the Confederate message dominated the popular culture?

I was upset to see a picture of South Carolinians going to a ball to celebrate the 150th anniversary of secession dressed in their finery. They apparently imagine that if the South had won its "war for Southern independence," some great and elegant culture would have been preserved.

The professors from Alabama call the move "political correctness."

His persistent fear was that unpatriotic sectionalism would lead to civil war and a dissolution of the union. His last years were spent attempting to unify the country. On March 31, 1850, Calhoun died in Washington, D.C.

In Calhoun's interpretation, America's greatest hope lay in the interposing and amending power of the states, which was implicit in the Constitution. This alone could save the country by allowing for a greater diffusion of authority and undermining the cause of sectional conflict.

Perhaps you can detect a hint of where this debate is likely to end: It may not be a debate over John Calhoun in the 1800s, but a debate over the role of government in 2011.

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