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First a predicate. Here's a passage about our nation's founding from Howard Zinn's A People’s
History of the United States.
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Around
1776, certain important people in the English colonies made a discovery
that would prove enormously useful for the next two hundred years. They
found that by creating a nation, a symbol, a legal unity called the
United States, they could take over land, profits, and political power
from the favorites of the British Empire. In the process, they could
hold back a number of potential rebellions and create a consensus of
popular support for the rule of a new, privileged leadership.
When we look at the
American Revolution this way, it was a work of genius, and the Founding
Fathers deserve the awed tribute they have received over the centuries.
They created the most effective system of national control devised in
modern times, and showed future generations of leaders the advantages
of combining paternalism with command.
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Pretty cool, huh? Those crafty white dead men devised
a perfect system for keeping us people ("proletariat," in the vernacular)
oppressed. You get the drift. Things go downhill from
there. But, here's what I wanted to show you, those who don't
already know about Wikibooks
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You’ve
heard of Wikipedia, but do you know Wikibooks? It’s in the same
easy-to-use interface, but a totally different concept. Wikibooks is a
community that was made to create a free online library of educational
textbooks that anyone can edit. Just one click can get you a plethora
of information you never thought even existed or let you become an
expert in a subject you’ve always wanted to know.
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Are you thinking what I'm
thinking? Yes, but unfortunately Zinn's book is not one open for
editing at Wikibooks. There is a paper, Are there any socialist thinkers close to anarchism? that focuses on Zinn, but I want to do my own alternative People's History of the United States. I've begun the chapter on the Clinton era. Here's what I have so far.
January
20, 1993. It was a cold and dreary day when a magnificent lying
cocksucker raised his right hand and ....
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More after I have a grilled cheese sammich. I like the beginning though, always the hardest part.
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