Something about the upcoming SCV Constitution Day Summit looks awfully familiar to me.
No, it doesn’t remind me much of other Constitutional educational events. I grew up in the birthplace of our country, Philadelphia, PA, and costumed events celebrating Independence or the Constitution are commonplace and distinctly non-political. There’s the smell of hot cider and gunpowder wafting over crowds of men and women in period dress, selling reproductions of our founding documents and an assortment of all things pewter.
In school, kids in Philadelphia are drilled on the important points of our nation’s founding, so much so that I was shocked at the ignorance of my classmates when I moved to California, where our nation’s founding doesn’t receive very much attention. So I get why concerned history buffs would want to create such an event here in the SCV.
I’ve been taking a closer look at the planned event, since I’ve been thinking of taking my kids (until other things came up), despite my initial suspicion. It didn’t take long to stumble, disappointingly, on vindication of my first suspicion.
It seems that the boosters of this event can’t quite help themselves.
The names associated with this event are a who’s who of the local right-wing crazy closet. You half expect someone to come dressed like Roger Gitlin for old time’s sake. The overlap in attendance between this gathering and the upcoming Sharron Angle meetup should be considerable.
Yes, this event looks familiar. But it’s looking more like a Tea Party rally than an old timey Constitution Day.
Case in point, Bill Reynolds, known to most of you for making racist jokes here about Michelle Obama and for his NotAFerryFan videos, used his poor man’s Ken Burns schtick to create a 15 minute video on the Constitution. The organizers have been publicizing this video on Facebook and promises to use the audio during the event itself. Have a look:
The video is mostly spoken quotes from founding fathers over period paintings and pictures of monuments and cemeteries, and the like. It meanders on fine and good for a while, but further in, it all comes apart.
First red flag was a quote from John C. Calhoun. Huh? John C. Calhoun wasn’t a founding father (he born in 1782), but rather an ideological forefather of secession and the most ardent defender of slavery.
Soon enough, it further devolves into classic Bill Reynolds material: selective quotes sucked out of context over arbitrary anti-Obama cartoons, images of food stamps, a cartoon of a naked Al Gore, and so forth. There’s also this odd obsession over the liberties granted by 2nd amendment, without hardly mention of any other liberty found in the Bill of Rights.
It seems that veneration of John Calhoun and disparagement of the President is their idea of a fitting Constitutional tribute. Classy.
Have look at their website, half of their sponsors are either right-wing blogs (WRB, ROSCV), right-wing radio (TRS /w Joe Messina) or Tea Party groups (SCV Patriots).
Through the forest of (John) Birch trees, it’s hard to see what’s left for the kids. I can only expect a heavy dose of kneejerk indoctrination and little in the way of education. If this is indeed a nonpartisan educational event, they are doing a very good job of hiding it.
So to summarize: a crowd of right-wing nuts having an outdoor gathering in Santa Clarita where they plan to dress in colonial attire, complete with a Bill Reynolds side show. My advice? Stay home. You’ve seen this before.
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