This afternoon NPR ran a segment on All Things Considered about the Gadsden Flag. They quoted my writing almost word-for-word without giving any credit. Much more annoying, though, was the left-wing slant in the reporting. (I know, I know. Why should I be surprised?)
They had this history professor talking about why the Gadsden isn’t an appropriate symbol for the Tea Party movement. You see, in 1775 the American Revolutionaries had a legitimate grievance: they had no representation in Parliament. But today the right-wing nuts in the Tea Party movement just disagree with the representatives they elected.
If the ring-wingers want an historical precedent, this professor explained, they should look to Shays’ Rebellion.
Don’t get me wrong, Shays’ Rebellion was a libertarian uprising. What was terribly annoying is that the NPR reporter and editor decided to devote about 1/3 of this segment on the Gadsden Flag to this professor talking about Timothy McVeigh’s second-hand reference to Shays’ Rebellion via the t-shirt he was wearing at the time he was arrested.
That’s right. Timothy McVeigh.
McVeigh was wearing a t-shirt quoting Thomas Jefferson, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Jefferson wrote that while commenting on Shays’ Rebellion.
This professor explained to the NPR audience that the Tea Party nuts should be referencing Shays’ Rebellion, not the Boston Tea Party or the Gadsden Flag (remember, this was supposed to be a piece about the Gadsden Flag) … just like their forebear Timothy McVeigh.
