Wally:Yes we agree.  There has never been a Communist Country if we use the pure unadulterated languageof Marx.  Those that claimed to be so were frauds much like some nations that claim to be Democraciesand are not.I should like to make one final point.  Democracy and Capitalism are both imperfect and nobody disputesthis fact.  The vaunted benefits to a worker enjoying the benefits of living in a nation like ours aremany, but again perfection is of part of the equation.  If one is fortunate enough to inherit or acquire the skills and talents necessary to thrive in our sometimes unforgiving economic environment, life can be quite sweet and comfortable financially.  Because this is not the case,we have adopted over the yearscertain elements of a safety net so as to provide the worker with some semblance of security.  If it wasgood enough for Bismarck in the 19th Century it ought to be good enough for us in the 20th.Democracy, Capitalism and a safety net (how big remains a problem) seems to be a reasonableapproach to achieving  a stable and tranquil society where each person can find his place.  Once weemerge from this slough of despond we can address how best to realign our workforce and politicalinstitutions to meet the new challenges we are sure to face.  Enjoy the remains of the day.One final point.  I know of no sysand are not.

How do you post pictures–I have an iMac

Wally:  I sure wish you lived down the street.  Let me respond as best I can.1.  I too was bred by the American Revolution--so puny compared to the events in Europe.  Later I learned I had been mistaken.  it is taught like rootcanaling in High Schools--I remember.2.  Polk was determined to take the land--slavery was not absent from his calculations.3.  Wow--you have a great memory--I saw it in Zinn and no where else--why?4.  Many slave owners loved to quote the Old Testament where concubinage, slavery and patriarchywere  exalted and fierce vengence would be visited upon those miscreants who violated the laws.5.  And we accept this still.  What does that say about us as a people?6.  JFK got a pass on almost everything--rich, good hair and charming--but not a war hero.7.  Iran-Contra--agreed--The fraud should have gone to jail!8.  Problem here:  My argument is that there has never been a Communist State at least according to aMarxist definition.  Communism happens at the last stage when the state "withers away".  Have not seen that yet.  We have had states that called themselves Communist, but were that in aspiration only andusually totalitarian regimes hiding behind a scrim of Marxist rhetoric.  We have had other states that called themselves Socialistic and in some ways they were.  In Sweden the government never owned the means of production and the same can be said for France, Germany, England, Canada et. al.  Thesestates borrowed elements of the Socialistic program, warped them to their peculiar needs, and instituted them.  Social Security, medicare and medicaid are our borrowings and perhaps health care, aprogram proposed by many Presidents since the beginning of the century.  The real problem is that I no longer know what people are talking about when they use certain terms--we have different definitions.  I use the dictionary and have no idea what source they use=--perhaps Newt or Glen beck.9.I too was a union activist--I believe I belonged to about 6 over the years--the most unusual one wasThe International Ladies garment Workers Union.  Later I became a "suit" and sat on the other side of the table--but that is another story as you have said on another post.10.  Right on!  We need to talk about it so we do not fall into the trap today.  How many young people in Afghanistan and Iraq today are aware of that tawdry experience in the islands or of Smedly Butler'scommentary that as Commandant of the Marine Corps he was just the muscle for American companies in Central America. Lots of these kids are out of high school and if they go to college they will be trained, not educated--if they do not know now then they never will and another generation will wallow in ignorance--which is not all bad for some people running America.Final note--stolen from a book about the decoding of the German codes using the enigma machine."Truth is so precious that it must be surrounded by a bodyguard of lies".

I am delighted to see that we agree than the banning or burning of books is just not the way to go,but I am shocked that you put this little book in the same category as Mein Kampf or Das Kapital.Mr. Zinn may arouse passions, but his books are hardly in the same league as those penned by Hitleror Marx.I believe that Mr. Zinn saw the books that were written and found them wanting either because certainsubjects were not covered at all or because they were glossed over or contained statements that were not factual.  I think he wanted to fill in the blanks.Let me give you 10 examples of the kinds of things I mean.1.  American Revolution--I did not learn in High School that only one third of the colonial people inAmerica supported the revolution--the others were Tories or indifferent.2.  Manifest Destiny--I did not learn in High school that Polk manufactured a war with Mexico so as togain territory--it seems un American!3.  I did not know that one of the first things Woodrow Wilson did when he became president andmoved into the White House was to dismiss all the black supervisors.4.  I did not know that slavery was regularly justified by Bible scholars--and people said this is good--the sons of Ham ought to be hewers of wood and drawers of water.5.  I did not know that A.G. Palmer and his horrid little lapdog--Hoover violated laws on a regularbasis during the Red scare following WWI.6.  High school textbooks are silent about the fact that JFK's father bought the Democratic nominationin West Virginia thus placing is son of the road to the presidency.7.  Commentary on the Iran-Contra disaster are discussed very briefly and without much depth incurrent text books.  The President's lies are merely dismissed--he was old.8.  Current texts do a very poor job when describing alternatives to Capitalism and Democracy.  In arecent interview Newt Gingrich was asked whether he thought our President was a Socialist.  he replied--yes!  Now we both know he has a PhD in History so it is somewhat surprising that he answered as he did as a "Socialist: is one who belies that the Government ought to control the means of production, distribution et al.  In fact, if you look at our President closely, you might well conclude that he is much more likely to be a Fascist than a Socialist.  So if Newt blundered in such a manner--what can we expect from little Audrey who believes that textbooks contain truth rather than viewpoints.9.  Current textbooks do little to enlighten students concerning the struggles between capital and labor from 1865 to 1941.  The Pullman strike, the violence in the mines, the shops and the oilfields , the IWW and Big Bill Haywood,  Eugene Debs the Holmstead strike, the  CIO, the UAW and the battle of the overpass are touched on lightly if mentioned at all.10. Textbooks do not contain much material on the way we acquired Hawaii and what we did to thepatriots in the Phillippine insurrection, the fate of the patriot Emilio Aguinaldo. An American army ofover 60, 000 men was necessary to convince the natives that American hegemony was "good" andbetter than the freedom they had hoped to acquire when the boot of Spanish rule was lifted from their neck. The American soldiers who fought there had some colorful sayings--"civilize them with a Krag"and some unprintables--L.B.F.M. being one.So all in all I think you will agree that history should be taught using the maximum of factual narrativeand a minimum of cant.  You will also, no doubt, agree that it should be taught as it happened--warts and all.

Howard Zinn was a zealot for truth as he saw it.  He explored the byways and midden heaps of historyso that ordinary people could be shown in a different light.  Was he a propagandist for his point of view--of course he was just like others are for theirs--Charles and Mary Beard come to mind as does AJP Taylor,Edward Gibbon, Alfred Mahan, and David Irving to name but a few.  The reason I found him fascinating is that he covered material I had never heard of, things that were forgotten, covered up or merely neglected in mainline history books.  Check out a high school textbook and see how much time is devoted to thelabor movement, the war protestors of WWI and the Red scare of 1919.  Find out why Harry Anslingersaw that he would have to find a new target for the prohibition agents one the 18th amendment was repealed--he did marijuana.  See how little time is devoted to the de facto segregation in the Northdirected against Jews and Blacks and people of inferior European stock.  Zinn covered all of this in his books and essays and perhaps his screed is better thought of as a scream --ala Munch--against thehypocrisy and Babbitism of American society.  Zinn should be read to flavour the stew.  One need notadopt his views, but one ought to hear of them.