A Totalitarian Trend in History

“Removing the monument doesn’t change history. It changes commemoration, which reflects our values.”

Ty Seidule

“Commemoration is about who we want to be. And as a nation committed to equal rights for all under the law, we just cannot commemorate a movement that committed treason for slavery.”

Connor Williams

Both these men served on the Naming Commission. Ty was the vice chair and Connor was the lead historian. Congress established the commission with the following charter.

Assess the cost of renaming or removing names, symbols, displays, monuments, or paraphernalia that commemorate the Confederate States of America or any person who served voluntarily with the Confederate States of America.

It is plain to see that these men were perfect for the job. Ty says he knows what reflects “our” values and Connor knows that people in the South “committed treason for slavery”. One is full of himself and the other is an idiot. Both think their views on the subject are correct and our central government put them in a position to establish what should be commemorated.

Like with everything in the revolution, the Confederacy is low hanging fruit. The danger is that a totalitarian principle is being established. Our Federal Government is deciding what to commemorate. The history professionals will tell you there is nothing to worry about because history is different from commemoration. In a technical sense it is different. Ty is right that history still exists without a monument. It is just much harder to access it, and the masses will be more easily swayed.

The central government participating in the removal of artifacts of the Confederacy is establishing an approved interpretation of history. The government is saying that the Confederacy should not be commemorated. That is the official government view. That the government even has a view should be worrying. It is totalitarian.

This is neither surprising nor unprecedented. We can see it in the history of the French and Russian revolutions and in fiction. It is history repeating and there is a clear motive. “Who controls the past controls the future.”