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Freakout Over Gay Marriage in Utah Resurrects Ghosts From America’s Past

Jan 7, 2014 | Civil Liberties, Gay Rights and Other LGBTQIA Issues, History, mic

Published: mic (January 7, 2014)

In light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision to temporarily halt gay marriages in Utah, it’s time to take a closer look at some of the most common anti-LGBT arguments. After all, the Mormon Church been conspicuously active in anti-gay marriage movements (most notably by passing Proposition 8 in California,) while Utah has long been ranked as one of America’s most staunchly conservative states, trailing only Alabama, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Mississippi in a Gallup survey last year.
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If Nelson Mandela Was a “Terrorist” As Some Claim, Then So Was George Washington

Dec 9, 2013 | Conservativism, Foreign Policy, History, mic, Political Ideologies, Race and Racism, Terrorism, World Affairs

Published: mic (December 9, 2013)

Back in the 1980s, Ronald Reagan, Dick Cheney, and other paladins of the American right labeled Nelson Mandela a terrorist.

While mainstream conservatives tend to renounce this characterization today, it still has currency in more ideologically zealous circles. Indeed, some people on Twitter are already tweeting away reiterations of the infamous “terrorist” designation.... Read Original Article

Why is This Speech So Famous?

Nov 19, 2013 | History, mic

Published: mic (November 19, 2013)

On Thursday, the Harrisburg Patriot-News printed a long overdue retraction. How long, you ask? Try about 150 years. Indeed, as the Harrisburg Patriot-News looked back to the days when it was still the Harrisburg Patriot & Union, it recalled how it had panned President Lincoln’s legendary Gettysburg Address, dismissing his words as “silly remarks” deserving “a veil of oblivion.”... Read Original Article

The Government Shutdown Has Created a New Word: Snollygosters

Oct 10, 2013 | Conservativism, Economic Policy, History, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Republicans

Published: mic (October 10, 2013)

Before you ask, I present the definition of “snollygoster,” courtesy of TheFreeDictionary.com:

One, especially a politician, who is guided by personal advantage rather than by consistent, respectable principles.

While not born of this crisis, snollygoster is an antique in the American political lexicon, tracing as far back as the 1840s and allegedly inspired by the Pennsylvania Dutch folk monster, the snallygaster.... Read Original Article

Memo to Ron Paul and Glenn Beck: America’s Founders Were Not Anti-Government

Oct 2, 2013 | Conservativism, Democrats, Economic Policy, History, Liberalism, Libertarianism, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Republicans

Originally Published: PolicyMic (March 8, 2012)
 Republished on PolicyMic (October 2, 2013) as “Government Shutdown Question: Would the Founding Fathers Fight Liberalism?”

Editor’s Note:Although this article was originally published on March 8, 2012, we felt it would be valuable to offer the perspective of a PhD student in history on the ideological debate accompanying the current government shutdown.

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