My latest in PJ Media:
Video surfaced on Saturday of Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg saying in 2014: “It’s an embarrassing thing to admit, the people who wrote the Constitution did not understand that slavery was a bad thing.” In saying this, Buttigieg demonstrated both his abject ignorance of the history of America’s founding and the utter failure of the American educational system to teach that history. No wonder this place is crawling with young socialists and America-haters.
Buttigieg, the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is 37 years old; he reportedly attended Catholic schools, not public schools, in his youth. At this point, however, that is a distinction with barely a difference: both Catholic and public schools generally teach the spirit of the age, and that spirit dictates that the Founding Fathers, when not ignored altogether, should be presented as white male slave owners without any redeeming qualities.
If Buttigieg had received anything resembling a decent education, he would have learned about a fellow named Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States. Jefferson was a slaveholder, and that is likely to be all that young Mayor Pete was taught about him. But reality is seldom simple and cut-and-dried. As president in 1807, Jefferson promoted the Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves, which outlawed the importation of slaves after January 1, 1808. Jefferson hoped that it would lead to the outlawing of slavery altogether, as he stated in his annual message to Congress on December 2, 1806: “I congratulate you, fellow-citizens, on the approach of the period at which you may interpose your authority constitutionally, to withdraw the citizens of the United States from all further participation in those violations of human rights which have been so long continued on the unoffending inhabitants of Africa, and which the morality, the reputation, and the best interests of our country, have long been eager to proscribe.”
Hmm. That doesn’t sound as if Jefferson “did not understand that slavery was a bad thing.” But taking a strict constructionist view of Buttigieg’s statement, Jefferson was a key Founding Father, but he was not a primary architect of the Constitution. The “Father of the Constitution” was another dead white male Mayor Pete may or may not have heard of: James Madison, who earned that nickname by being the principal architect of both the Constitution as it was originally written and the Bill of Rights (that’s the first ten amendments to the Constitution, Pete). Madison (yes, another slave owner) supported the prohibition on the importation of slaves, but was impatient with the delay of getting it going.
“It were doubtless to be wished,” Madison wrote in 1788, “that the power of prohibiting the importation of slaves had not been postponed until the year 1808, or rather that it had been suffered to have immediate operation.” He explained that “it ought to be considered as a great point gained in favor of humanity, that a period of twenty years may terminate forever, within these States, a traffic which has so long and so loudly upbraided the barbarism of modern policy; that within that period, it will receive a considerable discouragement from the federal government, and may be totally abolished, by a concurrence of the few States which continue the unnatural traffic, in the prohibitory example which has been given by so great a majority of the Union. Happy would it be for the unfortunate Africans, if an equal prospect lay before them of being redeemed from the oppressions of their European brethren!”
Once again, this sounds as if James Madison understood perfectly well that slavery was a bad thing. To be sure, there were some among the Founding Fathers who didn’t understand that, and anti-slavery forces at the Constitutional Convention had to make the hard choice between accepting slavery, hoping to end it in the near future, and dividing the United Colonies into two or more states, which would weaken them all. They chose the former, but that doesn’t mean that Jefferson, Madison, and many others, notably the irascible and fantastic John Adams, didn’t understand the evil of slavery.
If by some bizarre turn of events Pete Buttigieg becomes president of the United States, he would likely not be the first product of our shoddy, heavily politicized, and frankly anti-American educational system to enter the Oval Office without any understanding of or appreciation for the greatness of the office he now occupied, and its illustrious history. The first was Barack Hussein Obama. How many more such presidents can the free republic that Jefferson, Madison, and the rest bequeathed to us afford to have?
There is much more. Read the rest here.
Dude says
Then came modern slavery: minimum wage and no health care. Of course now we have a partial health care program. They still live in abject poverty with no way out that doesn’t involve crime, but we feel better about it now, for those of us who care to wonder.
gravenimage says
*Good grief*. Anyone who believes that working for minimum wage is the same as slavery is as ignorant as Pete Buttigieg–or worse. Unbelievable.
And yes–I worked for minimum wage–and even sub-minimum wage under-the-table work when I was first on my own.
The idea that no one can improve their lot without resorting to crime is not only absurd, it is also an insult to all those like myself who have studied, worked hard, and vastly improved their situation.
Westman says
Bizarre expectations. I was grinding brake shoes for 40 cents an hour at 14 which was better than setting bowling pins at 13. At 15 I was working on a farm to help the family survive. I gained skills everywhere I could until I was able to pay my own way through the University while working. Amusingly, I would have made more money by not going to the university, however, that was not the object of the education.
Never once did I lose respect and love for America or for the opportunities and wonderful life I’ve had. I watched the nation correct slavery and give a leg up that was grasped by some to pursue opportunities and absorbed by others.
No nation has more unexploited, habitable, wilderness and resources than the US. The SJW’S that hate it should find another nation that will give them more opportunity or a better history of correcting its past mistakes. The US is the first choice of immigrants for objective reasons.
Dude says
For sure, old-time Ben-Hur or Georgia slavery is nothing like flipping burgers for a nickel an hour at Macdonald’s where you can live where you want, eat what you want, love who you want. And now finally at last if you get sick you can get fixed up without selling a kidney. Maybe if they all refuse to flip burgers for a nickel, middle America will realize their lazy asses need someone to do it for them.
I remember back in the eighties learning that not all people had health coverage in America. Coming from friendly Canada, I thought y’all were a primitive hard-hearted selfish gang of thugs, bullying the burger flippers. For so so long.
Westman says
I discovered that the key to self sufficiency was being willing to do whatever was necessary to support your own employment. The universites are now scamming students with the old idea that “education” will get a job not requiring labor. With today’s automation that promise is impossible to keep and becomes a lie as those displaced from labor, yet skilled, compete with the “educated” for the remaining jobs.
Because of globalism and automation, the economic future belongs to the brilliant, highly skilled, and the self-employed. Yesterday’s job is a dead end.
gravenimage says
More drivel from “Dude”.
I’ve had times when I did not have health insurance. His trying to present this as Americans not being able to receive health care is utter claptrap.
mortimer says
Dude, smoke some more of that stuff until you can’t type. Middle America is far from lazy. They’ve been hollowed out by globalist elitists and Leftarded know-it-alls like you. Some of the jobs have returned thanks to the current president. Middle America: to know them is to love them.
Dude says
Good for you.
abad says
Agreed, Gravenimage. Buttigieg is a member of that community which is told what to think, not how to think. He would make a horrible president.
gravenimage says
Very true, Abad.
william carr says
I think his pen name says it all!
Wellington says
Dude: You have to be another clueless Leftist (excuse the redundancy) to write what you have. And who is the “they?” Being ambiguous, you know, is almost as awful as just being plainly wrong—as you clearly are.
Here’s a sampling of what Western Leftists do not get: 1) the menace to liberty which Islam poses; 2) the menace to liberty which Western Leftism poses; 3) the fact that Western Civilization pioneered democracy, philosophy, the scientific method and the most astounding technological advances of any civilization ever; 4) women’s rights as no other civilization remotely has; and 5) the capacity to apologize for past wrongdoings as no other civilization remotely has (N.B., ALL civilizations have committed wrongs, none more so than the Islamic world, but when has any but the West apologized for its faults?).
Oh yeah, also the greatest medical treatment ever and this denied to many in the West not for the reason you purport but rather because of the inability to realize that such things as the minimum wage kills jobs and that the way to have great medical for all is by way of the private sector, replete with medical vouchers to got out and buy their own medical insurance as folks too poor buy food by way of food stamps.
Wake up, “Dude.” Until you do and as long as you spout the drivel that you have, you will, most certainly, reveal far more about yourself than you realize.
Westman says
Amen…
gravenimage says
Good posts, Wellington and Westman.
Dude says
Wow, i used to have respect, but you guys are really just {blanks} – bad karma, dudes. Suddenly I’m left wing? It’s like the people who freak when I say that Osama whacked the Towers because of what was done to Tripoli towers (as explained by Osama himself in a video that was swiftly taken down by CNN). Then there are the patriots, rah rah, who get upset when I point out there was no real justification for invading Iraq – and even when the lies for the invasion finally became exposed, thousands upon thousands dead, we couldn’t be honest enough, human enough to apologize and beat it the hell out of there immediately – the shame of the whole world.
gravenimage says
Wait–we have “bad karma” for not considering slavery to be worse than working for minimum wage?
And Osama bin Laden gave several reasons for 9/11–the most common being the presence of us ‘filthy Infidels’ in the Kingdom of the Two Holy Places (i.e. Saudi Arabia) when we were asked to protect them from Saddam Hussein during the First Gulf War.
One presumes that “what was done to the Tripoli towers” is a reference to the 1986 bombing of Libya, undertaken only after Gaddafi was involved in escalating support of Jihad terror attacks all over the world.
How *dare* you dhimmis fight back against Jihad terrorism? You all deserve more Jihad terrorism…
Yes, we should eventually get out of Iraq–because Muslim nations cannot be civilized, no matter how much blood and treasure we spend on this futile attempt. That we should abjectly apologize for taking out the murderous Saddam Hussein and for offering the Iraqi people a chance at freedom is pretty grotesque–but considering the source, this does not surprise.
gravenimage says
Pete Buttigieg’s Comments on Slavery Show the Failure of Our Educational System
…………………
Good lord, what an ignorant idiot. Besides the ban on importing slaves under Thomas Jefferson–a landmark act–most of the Founders wrestled with the idea of slavery, and many of them wanted to see it end.
George Washington had all of his slaves freed upon the death of his wife.
Late in life John Adams spoke with pride that he had never employed slaves on his farm, despite this being a common practice in New England at the time. His son, of course–President John Quincy Adams–would go on to become a noted abolitionist.
Wellington says
+1
RonaldB says
New England was heavily involved in financing slavery and transporting slaves. The average caloric intake of slaves was higher than the factory workers in New England industries. John Calhoun pointed this out. Lincoln not only supported the continuation of slavery in the states it existed, but supported a constitutional amendment forbidding even the consideration of interference with slavery in the slave states. New England and Lincoln hated blacks. Lincoln’s Illinois had laws forbidding free blacks from entering the states, and Lincoln sponsored plans to send blacks to Africa up to the end of his Presidency.
When the Union army occupied the south, they herded blacks into concentration camps and impressed them as chattel labor. As many as one-third of the slaves in the south died during the conquest and occupation from starvation and exposure.
The emancipation movement wanted to end slavery through mechanisms like compensating slave owners. There were more emancipation groups in the south than in the north, up to about 1830, when the abolitionists gave the whole movement a bad name.
The abolitionists were the Antifa of the time. They advocated for violent actions against southerners, the immediate, uncompensated freeing of slaves, and supported slave revolts like that of Nat Turner, who butchered his victims. Northern abolitionists met with John Brown and gave him financial support. John Brown was a psychotic criminal sociopath who tortured and mutilated his victims.
Having said this, I really don’t expect any opinion on any topic, particularly slavery and race, from a Democrat candidate, at least not any opinion deeper than the average 8th grader gets from watching re-runs of “Roots”.
Berry says
I just finished reading “Slave Narratives” and you are incorrect in many of your assertions. Too many actually to address them all. The abolitionists were definitely NOT the antifa of their time. In fact, there were many mobs that attacked them when they were speaking. Especially Henry Bibb and Sojourner Truth. There were northern states that didn’t allow slavery and when we became our own country soon abolished slavery right after we did. The Republican Party was created to abolish slavery as we waited for 80 years for the Whig party to do so and they failed. The kkk was the terrorist arm of the democrat party created right after the we won the civil war. Their purpose was to terrorize the newly freed slaves. The first gun laws were instituted in the south to un-arm newly freed slaves so they couldn’t fire upon the kkk.
RonaldB says
“Too many actually to address them all.”
There must have been too many to address, since you didn’t address a single one of my points.
gravenimage says
Actually, John Brown was a complete outlier. The idea that most of those who wanted to abolish slavery were violent is utter claptrap.
Scott in PA says
You are mostly right, but it should be remembered that Brown had some sympathizers from the intellectual abolitionists, such as Thoreau and Emerson.
RonaldB says
gravenimage says
Most abolitionists were entirely peaceful, as Ronald B no doubt well knows.
Rarely says
Having a poor education on the U.S.’s beginnings is pretty sad. Being a Canadian I have only a cursory familiarity with it. But if you want to give your head a shake ask a few under 40s about 20th Century history. Questions like:
Who were we fighting against in WWII? (Likely response: You mean there were two of them?)
When was WWII?
What was the Vietnam War about?
What was the Cold War? Who was on the other side?
You can make up some questions of your own but be sitting down for the answers.
It’s easy to be “taken in” when you don’t know ANYTHING.
What is being taught in the schools? That there are 32 genders?
gravenimage says
This is true, Rarely. I’m sure many remember this depressing story from a few years ago:
“College students were asked simple questions about politics and history and their answers are a dramatic wake up call about the state of our education system”
https://www.salon.com/2016/02/03/college_students_were_asked_simple_questions_about_politics_and_history_and_their_answers_are_a_dramatic_wake_up_call_about_the_state_of_our_education_system/
Vernon says
It’s not just history….I had girl scouts at my door wanting to sell cookies….About 10 year olds I would guess, maybe older….I said to them, if they can answer one question for me I would buy $50.00 bucks worth….They said ok….I asked, what is 9×9….They went for the phones….I said no, do it in your heads…..They could not…. I still bought cookies, but only a couple boxes….They were embarrassed, and should have been….We do not require learning in the schools anymore…80% of high school students in LA can’t read at an 8th grade level….I can only imagine their math skills.
tedh754 says
It never ceases to amaze me how many politicians tell us that our country was founded on slavery and genocide but if we just elect them it will be OK!
mortimer says
Unqualified agreement with Robert Spencer. Pete Buttigieg’s lack of any real, history education or even critical thought or even CURIOSITY to learn more on the topic is a shameful and humiliating indictment of the failure of the delusional, Frankfurt-school educational establishment in America. Sadly, most of them are unrepentant and their failures and conceits are being multiplied to an entire Gen-X cohort of largely uninformed, but highly-indoctrinated graduates.
Has Pete Buttigieg got the smallest idea of the slavery of Islam? Will he make the slightest effort to inform himself? We can all guess he will not. Such an attitude of know-it-all conceit is a recipe for political mistakes of a catastrophic nature in a US president.
Paweł Jarmicki says
Another uneducated lefturd. No, thank you…
Lorraine E Blazich says
Name of Pete’s game is to blame someone or something else for his own personal opinions. Pete isn’t man enough to say, “This is what I believe.” The last thing we need in the Oval Office is someone who is playing the blame game in order to garner the votes of black Americans. There is nothing real or honest about Pete and he should go home and stay out of politics.
abad says
Buttigieg should drop out of the presidential race, we don’t need someone who represents 2% of Americans (LGBTQ) running the USA.
L.J. Middleton says
There isn’t anyone the Democrats have in their leadership that has even a single brain cell. So what they have resorted to doing is copying Trump’s bellicose behaviour thinking this will get one of them elected. Where they are lost in their purpose is that their bellicose behaviour doesn’t make any sense. If you read Trump’s messages his purpose is to rile up the liberal-left and the Democrats to show just how stupid they really are, and they right after his comments they show just how stupid they really are.