It is happening as we watch. The heritage (good as well as bad) of Americans, of people throughout the Fifty States, is slowly being flushed down a toilet. The flushing is motivated by hatred and fear, empowered by “democracy” and by activists who push a Woke agenda that denigrates virtually everything about Euro-American history and Western Civilization.

And it is happening because of ordinary people. Why? Read on.

Many years ago, in this writers’ political childhood, I wrote a satirical article about Fort Collins, Colorado. Home of Colorado State University, county seat of Larimer County, and for decades competing with Boulder and CU for becoming the most Woke place in Colorado. Competing for the title of “an island of (political) fantasy in a sea of reality.” In my article I speculated on Fort Collins renaming many landmarks of the city and area – even its own name – to become politically correct. Fort Collins was originally a US Army post: the name must go in the cause of anti-militarism. Poudre City would not work, as the word comes from “Cache la Pourdre” – French for a “cache (supply) of (gun) powder.” Perhaps “Larimer City” would work? No, Larimer was a general who founded Denver, a colonizer and abuser of Native Americans. But we must find new, politically correct names to use. They must be changed.

As must the names of such major streets as LeMay Boulevard (for GEN Curtis LeMay, architect of the massive bombing of Germany in WW2 and the man who implemented the Cold War Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) Docrine. And dozens of other streets, parks, and features. Not just because of militarism and warmongering, but because of all the “dead white men” whose names graced land stolen from the poor “Native Americans.” So we must include not only Eisenhower and former governors of Colorado (never a woman) but anything to do with colonialism, exploitation of the land (such as “Prospect” as in a mining prospect), and of course, no Native American names – that is cultural appropriation, right?

It was supposed to be humorous, pointing out the silliness of the politically correct. It was, after all, fiction.

Today it is reality. On university campuses, public institutions or not, the names of donors who contributed millions of dollars (even when a million was a lot) are sand-blasted or chiseled off the buildings honoring them. Schools are renamed to erase the names (and therefore the memories) of those formerly honored. Entire military installations are renamed to remove the names of their founders or persons respected by the Army unit that established them. Statues are pulled down. And on and on.

Why? Because someone has decided that the people whose names are being removed are not worthy to be honored or even remembered.

Why? Because they said or did something that by modern, politically-correct 21st Century “standards” that puts them beyond the pale. For example, a wealthy patron may have profited – even indirectly – from the evil institution of slavery back in 1790. Or even may have had a relative or business associate who did. A once-honored pioneer school teacher has her name removed from the school built and named to honor her. Why? Because in a book she wrote, she referred to the people who raided and burned the farms of her family and neighbors, who raped and killed her relatives and neighbors, as “savages.” In some colleges, certain food items and combinations are prohibited from being served. Why? Because someone has squawked about the food being “cultural appropriation” as though certain kinds of foods can only be prepared by people of a certain culture or ancestry. Or because the foods served are considered to be stereotypical of some disadvantaged group and must be avoided.

We could fill a hundred pages of examples, with more and more appearing every week. The use of certain words are more and more being forbidden. Not because they are insulting or demonstrate bigoted ideas. But because the words bother certain people, or certain groups of people. And because certain advocacy groups and/or politicians see a political advantage in pushing the point. A recent example is a government publication about a historic plantation in the South. It used the word “slavery” and condemned the institution of slavery. But the author completely avoided the word “slave” (as in “the slaves did this work). Instead, they were all called “enslaved persons” – as though to call someone what they were (a slave) was demeaning to them.

But what is important is that the object and the result of this is to make people forget history. Real history: for what is left for our historical understanding is the lowest common denominator. We are taught only the “good things” – the things that we remember are the things that are acceptable by today’s “enlightened” and “modern” standards. And everything else is condemned so strongly that it has often become forbidden to even mention it, let alone discuss it.

We all know (and all too often ignore) the truism, that those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it. But that is precisely the point of those who wish to whitewash (or blackwash) our history: to make us forget so that the same horrific events of the past will be triggered once again. Their purpose? To steal away all liberty, all freedom, that prevents them from the control, the power, and the wealth that they lust for and believe their due.

If we accept their erasure of history, we are one step closer to the slavery they want for us.