Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, February 17, 2018

B3 Mountain Views News Saturday, February 17, 2018 OPINION B3 Mountain Views News Saturday, February 17, 2018 OPINION 
Mountain Views 
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PASADENA CITY 
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Dean Lee 
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TOM PURCELL 

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S 
HISTORY? IT’S COMPLICATED 

“What do you mean that America’s youth know little about George

Washington, except that he was a slave owner?”

“Few schools teach children about George Washington anymore.
And as more towns remove Confederate statues from public land, related news stories areemerging that focus on the complications of historical figures, such as Washington, whoowned slaves.” 

“As we apply contemporary morality to historical figures, I can understand how thingsmight get complicated. But Washington was still one of our greatest leaders!”

“It’s true. Many scholars and historians rank him as our greatest president and one of theprimary reasons the experiment called America was able to work. His story is one and thesame with America’s story.” 

“Go on.” 

“From early on, Washington was a natural leader. He had an imposing presence,
standing nearly 6-foot-3 at a time when the average man was about 5-foot-8. And he wasinvincible. During one battle in the French and Indian War, four bullets ripped his coat andtwo horses were shot from under him, yet he was unscathed.” 

“He was our first real action figure!”

“He represented the rebellious American spirit, you see, and he led the charge to breakaway from the restrictions and regulations of the British. In 1775, he took command of ourmotley crew of an army and led it in a war that lasted six grueling years. Many historiansbelieve that no other leader could have won this war.” 

“I read that he was so popular after winning the war, he could have become a king, butwanted nothing to do with that.” 

“That is also true. He used his immense popularity to help establish our Constitution,
which grants power to us little folks. Then he reluctantly became our first president. Hewanted nothing to do with that job, either, but knew our fledgling government needed hisleadership to survive.” 

“Well, we did survive and went on to become quite a success story. What did Washingtondo after serving his country for so many years?”

“He returned to his beloved Mt. Vernon to farm and enjoy life. He devoted himselfto innovating new farming techniques and he also owned one of the largest whiskeydistilleries in the country. Which brings us back to the domestic slaves who helped himrun his vast business operations.” 

“Go on.” 

“History.com says Washington’s views of slavery evolved over his life: ‘During theRevolutionary War, he became more uncomfortable with the thought of purchasing andowning other human beings. But though he supported abolition in theory, he never triedit in practice.’” 

“I thought that upon his death, he freed the slaves who worked on his plantation.” 

“According to History.com, he did promise in his will to free all of his slaves upon hisdeath. But only one slave went free initially.” 

“Why the heck did that happen?” 

“History.com says that it had to do ‘with law, marriage and a family that disagreed withtheir patriarch’s evolving views on slavery.’ Washington’s will also stipulated that his slaveswould remain with his wife, Martha, for the rest of her life.” 

“But Martha freed them?” 

“History.com says that she may have done so either because they were expensive to keepor because she feared they would poison her. She freed the rest of his 123 slaves one yearafter his death, though she kept 153 of her own slaves.” 

“I see what you mean by our history being ‘complicated.’” 

“Look, Washington was a great man by multiple measures. But his thoughts on slaverywere contradictory. The fact is, according to MountVernon.org, he was America’s onlyslave-owning Founding Father to free his slaves in his will!”

 Tom Purcell, author of “Misadventures of a 1970’s Childhood” and “Wicked Is the Whiskey,” 
a Sean McClanahan mystery novel, both available at Amazon.com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-R 


LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN 
DICK POLMAN 
MAKING SENSE byMICHAEL REAGAN

YES, A REPUBLICAN RUNNING 
he wanted one badly 

IT’S STILL NOT enough.

FOR CONGRESS 

GUNS 

Anyway, guns aren’tIS ALSO A NAZI During the intense media coverage of the problem. There 
Wednesday’s tragic events in Parkland, are 300 million of 

Forget Washington for a moment. Forget the news that theFla., I was shocked to hear it was the 18th all kinds floatingRepublican Congress has voted to massively deepen the budgetschool shooting so far this year. around the coundeficit, 
the same deficit they used to blame Obama for. Instead, let’stry. An infinitesimal 

trek to the American Midwest and play “Meet the Nazi.” 
fraction are used by 

18. In 45 days. 
In case you haven’t heard - and this will be a worthy footnote in the annals of dystopicpeople to hurt other 
2018 - an actual Nazi is the official House Republican candidate in Illinois’ third congressionalpeople.

That sounds terrible.

district. There’s virtually zero chance that he will triumph in November, given the district’slongstanding Democratic tilt, but we do have to wonder what in blazes is wrong with the GOPBut there has to be something going on in

That sounds like a huge American crisis

that it would leave a vacuum for a Nazi to fill. 
our society that has caused angry, evil or

that needs to be addressed immediately by mentally disturbed young men to plan and

It’s rare to see on cable TV the kind of exchange that transpired on the air last week. A

our great leaders in Washington.

CNN host conversed with Republican candidate Arthur Jones - who spent eight years in the 
carry out these rare mass shootings at Col


umbine, Sandy Hook and Parkland.

National Socialist White People’s Party, who assails “the Jew-party system,” who thinks the

But that 18 number, which the anti-gun

Holocaust is a crock - and we got this:

lobby in the media has emphasized without

Host Alisyn Camerota: “Mr. Jones, it is shocking to hear how vocally and unapologetically 
Is it because of social media? Violent video 

going into the details of the individual inci-games? Bullying in schools? Broken fami


racist you are. Are you a Nazi?”
Jones: “Well, for the past 15-20 years I have not had anything to do with any nationaldents, is highly misleading. lies? Anti-depressant drugs? Boredom? All

of the above? Something else?

socialist organization on a formal basis…I call myself an American patriot and statesman,

None of those previous shootings was any-

OK?” 
Camerota: “You’ve been part of anti-Semitic groups since the 1970s. You go to neo-Nazithing like the horrible one on Wednesday Whatever the cause, we need to sit down as

that left 17 students and teachers dead at a country and figure out how we can identi


rallies - we have pictures of you there. You are - were part of the White People’s Party. You dress

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

in Nazi garb and you celebrate Hitler’s birthday. You’re a Nazi…” 
fy, help or stop crazy or violent individuals

before they carry out their deadly attacks.

Jones: “…You Jews-media, you’ve gone absolutely nuts…” 

The year’s worst previous shooting, which

Jones has been quite candid about his life-perspective - he calls the Holocaust “an

happened in Kentucky at a high school less Meanwhile, forget the gun-control poli


international extortion racket by the Jews,” he stands “shoulder to shoulder” with Donald

than a month ago, left two students dead 

Trump, he says he’s a “white racialist” who thinks blacks are dumb - and I’m loath to detail his 
tics. If we really want to protect our kids in

and 14 wounded by gunfire.

loathsomeness any further, lest I risk lowering the ambient IQ of this column. Suffice it to say,schools we have to get serious. 
this dude doesn’t exactly burnish the GOP’s reputation.

The only other death was a single murder

So how did Jones wind up on the Republican congressional ballot, with the GOP primary 
We need to put guards in our schools -

that occurred on a college campus. armed guards, not spectators.

just weeks away - running for the party nomination unopposed?

For starters, Illinois’ Third Congressional District, which takes a slice of Chicago andadjoining liberal-leaning suburbs, hasn’t elected a Republican congressman since the 1970s.Two of the shootings that occurred at one We need make sure any potential mass kill-
Some people blame Democratic gerrymandering, but no matter how you carve up thatof the country’s 120,000 public and private er, young or old, knows that our schools are 
particular area, the district would be solidly blue. As a result, the Illinois GOP has had a toughschools this year were suicides. no longer “gun free” zones. 
time recruiting quality candidates.

But as Illinois political analyst Christopher Mooney reportedly said the other day, “AnytimeSome involved guns firing accidentally. Better yet, as Judge Andrew Napolitano ofyou’ve got a Nazi running, somebody was asleep at the switch.” By all accounts, the state GOPAnd most of the other incidents were ran-Fox News suggests, we need to copy the 
is extra somnolent this year because Trump, who lost Illinois in a landslide, has further soureddom shootings on public school property Israelis. 

that resulted in no one being hurt.

the grassroots’ mood. Nobody wanted to risk time and money losing the Third District race inthe midst of a nationwide blue tsunami. For years they’ve successfully protected

So as the GOP sat on the sidelines, Jones sallied forth, taking advantage of Illinois’ easyBut these details of the earlier shootings their schoolchildren’s lives from attack 
ballot-access rules. All he needed to get on the Republican line was 603 petition signatures. Hedidn’t matter to religious anti-gun nuts in with strong fences, locked gates, careful IDdid the job all by himself, going door to door, talking vaguely about economic security, endingthe media like Don Lemon of CNN and lib-checks and cameras. 

eral politicians like Sen. Chris Murphy of

wars in the Middle East - and saying nothing about his Nazi track record. He found a sufficient

Connecticut.

number of incurious citizens (you find 603 people to sign anything). And now that he’s on theBut they’ve also done the smartest thingballot, he’s dialing up the candor: “I don’t believe in this doctrine of racial equality.” – arming and training classroom teachersWith the March 20 primary looming, with all deadlines having expired, the state GOP can’tBefore we knew hardly anything about the who can defend against intruders. And noeven field a write-in candidate. All it can do is distance itself from Jones with all deliberate Parkland shooting they were offering their one knows which teacher is packing a gun.

usual simplistic solution for stopping what

speed: “The Illinois Republican Party and our country have no place for Nazis like Arthur

Murphy exaggeratedly called “this epidem-

Jones. We strongly oppose his racist views and his candidacy for any public office.” The 
Increasing security at our nearly 100,000

ic of mass slaughter” in our schools.

national GOP says: “We condemn this candidate and his hateful rhetoric in the strongestpublic schools to prevent future Parklandspossible terms.” will cost us a lot of money.
Well, at least that’s something. No party wants to be publicly defined by its worst bottom-To no one’s surprise, they called for new

laws to control or outlaw guns, especially

feeder. But for the next nine months Jones will be peddling what he pitched on CNN - “I am 
Local districts and the states should pay 

semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15.

not campaigning as a National Socialist, I campaign as a Republican” - and in a tough electionmost of the tab. But how about this idea: 
year, Jones will be dead weight on the GOP’s potentially heavy lift. 
Lemon and Murphy will never give up their 

Instead of the federal government raising

gun-control pipe dreams.

-my gas tax 12 cents a gallon and pretend-
Dick Polman is the national political columnist at NewsWorks/WHYY in Philadelphiaing it’s going to be used to fix our highways,
(newsworks.org/polman) and a “Writer in Residence” at the University of Pennsylvania.But those of us who live in the real world why not use the money to hire guards for

know that no law will ever be devised or our schools – and give them guns they

Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com. 

enforced that can stop a determined mass know how to use. 
killer from getting his hands on a gun if 

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