Two Roads Converged in the Woods
Sometimes two seemingly unrelated developments are in fact cause and effect. Such is the case with the White House calling attention to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s “extreme political activism” and the rise of militant socialism within the Democrat Party.
The White House Domestic Policy Council issued a report in early July revealing the Smithsonian’s exhibits treat history as a tool to divide citizens. The report pointed out the taxpayer funded institution focuses “too heavily on systemic flaws rather than national achievements.” Smithsonian officials naturally pushed back on the report, but the evidence proves the White House to be correct.
For example, the Heritage Foundation’s Mike Gonzalez in an American Radio Journal interview revealed the Smithsonian’s exhibit on Benjamin Franklin suggested readers question whether Franklin performed electrical experiments on slaves. This despite the fact there exists zero historical information suggesting the anti-slavery Founding Father did any such thing.
Gonzales testified last week before a congressional subcommittee investigating the White House allegations. He said during the radio interview the Smithsonian’s approach to gender and sexual identification issues was so perverse he could not provide details on a family-oriented program. That, however, does not prevent the Smithsonian from placing such exhibits in areas frequented by families with small children.
The big political story in recent weeks has been the rise of so-called Democratic Socialists within the ranks of the Democrat Party. Fueled by the election of extremist New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani, the socialist fringe of the party has racked up key victories in other cities including Seattle and Washington, D.C. and scored primary victories in congressional races against establishment Democrats.
The threat of more such wins by socialist candidates has roiled the Democrat Party whose establishment wing appears unable to stem a drift – which has become a torrent – toward not only socialism, but communism. Radical views espoused by the Democratic Socialists of America have taken center stage imperiling Democrat candidates in more moderate districts outside urban cores.
Among the reasons for this socialistic trend within the Democrat Party is the failure of establishment Democrats to stand for anything. Rather than offering a realistic set of policy alternatives establishment Democrats have simply become anti-Trump. To a degree that motivates the party’s base, but younger voters in particular, are looking for a path to a brighter future and they have been seduced by the siren song of the Democratic Socialists.
Younger voters are vulnerable to falling for the socialist message because they have been groomed for decades by many of the nation’s most influential institutions. The “extreme political activism’ of the Smithsonian is the tip of the spear. The Smithsonian isn’t just a museum – it provides course materials to schools across the country spreading anti-American propaganda to young minds from seas to shining sea.
Institutions of higher learning have for decades been bastions of Left-wing indoctrination. That is why activists like Charlie Kirk “invading” their campuses with facts and logic pose such a threat. Rather than being forums for debate and the exploration of ideas, university campuses enforce rigid speech codes.
Thus have several generations of young Americans been taught that socialism is a “warm embrace” rather than an economic system that has failed everywhere it has been tried and resulted in brutal regimes responsible for the slaughter of millions of people.
The Left, of course, has no intention of moderating. During the House subcommittee hearing Anthea Hartig, director of the National Museum of American History, bobbed and weaved refusing to give straight forward answers to congressmen’s questions. Left wing media outlets immediately branded the hearing as modern day McCarthyism.
That of course is what the Left always does when it must defend the indefensible – revert to name calling. Hartig didn’t give straight answers because her institution has been caught red handed (pun intended) pushing a radical revisionist view of American history.
This poises a dual threat: how to wean generations of young Americans off their acceptance of socialism; and preventing the socialist surge within the Democrat Party from gaining enough traction it begins to influence national policy.
Fortunately, there are countervailing trends, but the future of our Republic depends on a large majority of our citizens understanding that capitalism has powered our economic successes and socialism will send us down the path to economic ruin and a loss of personal liberty.
(Lowman S. Henry is Chairman & CEO of the Lincoln Institute and host of the weekly American Radio Journal and Lincoln Radio Journal. His e-mail address is lhenry@lincolninstitute.org.)
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