A Rendezvous With Destiny

-- by Sara

One of the most important tasks confronting us as we rebuild American progressivism is reclaiming our own long, rich heritage. It's astonishing, when you look through popular history books or watch what's presented on TV (if you watch the so-called "History Channel," you easily get the idea that American history started in 1941 and ended in 1945), to realize that there's a vast, deep, and important current of liberal history that has flowed straight down the memory hole.

We may be the first Enlightenment nation -- but all traces of that radical impulse have been carefully, consciously excised from the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, and what's desirable and possible in the world. Other generations have faced down these same tyrants -- and yet we can't even name most of them, let alone recount how how they did it. And it costs us, because without those stories, we have far less confidence in our ability to fight that battle once again.