The New Old Glory

By James Loewen

This article appeared in the May 20, 2002 edition of The Nation.

May 2, 2002

Lynne Cheney sees the world in black and white. Or, rather, in red, white and blue. Or at least she would have young Americans see it that way. She begins this forty-page children's book with a textbook example of ethnocentrism:

I wrote this book because I want my grandchildren to understand how blessed we are. I want them to know they are part of a nation whose citizens enjoy liberty and opportunity such as have never been known before.

Of course, Lynne Cheney has not seriously contemplated the levels of "liberty and opportunity" in, say, the Netherlands or Canada today, or Choctaw society in 1600. She doesn't mean her declaration as a serious statement of comparative history--it's just nationalist cheerleading.

Subscriber Login

4 ISSUES FREE

Subscribe Now!

The only way to read this article and the full contents of each week's issue of The Nation online is by subscribing to the magazine. Subscribe now and read this article -- and every article published since for the past five years -- right now.

There's no obligation -- try The Nation for four weeks free.

.

About James Loewen

James Loewen (jloewen@zoo.uvm.edu) is the author of Lies My Teacher Told Me and Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong (both Touchstone), which have sold half a million copies between them. He is now researching sundown towns--all-white towns that are all white on purpose. more...
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Blogs

» Act Now!

Coal Country | "This is a civil war."
Peter Rothberg
46 Comments

» The Notion

A Blow to Privatization in Israel (and Perhaps Beyond) | A potentially historic ruling on prison privatization, in Israel.
Eyal Press
20 Comments

» The Dreyfuss Report

Can China Help on Afghanistan? | Beijing wants a broader role in the Middle East and South Asia. Will Obama bring them in?
Robert Dreyfuss
44 Comments

» Editor's Cut

Around the Nation | The week we went Rouge. Plus, Moyers on Afghanistan.
Katrina vanden Heuvel
88 Comments

» The Beat

Health Care Bill Advances, as Harry Reid Trumps Sarah Palin | The death panelist-in-chief rallied her followers to "KILL THE BILL." But 60 senators decided to follow the real leader.
John Nichols
109 Comments

» Altercation

Slacker Friday | The "Second Amendment" sale; the raving paranoids of the right.
Eric Alterman