History Channel's Flawed History Lessons

By Douglas V. Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host

Americans no longer seem to understand history.  A part of the problem is that most folks, especially those who are younger, don't care to know about history.  We are, after all, told to live for today.  You be you.  History is full of racists and bigots, anyway, we are told.  So, statues are toppled, and the truth has been, as Karl Marx put it, swept into the dustbin of history.  

But, I am told, not to worry.  A large part of history has been preserved on the internet.  Don't worry, if you really need to learn about something, all you need to do is look it up.

While conducting research regarding the Temperance Movement and Prohibition during the 1920s I looked up the "Eighteenth Amendment" on Google, and among the top choices available to me was a link to the History Channel (https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/18th-and-21st-amendments).  Ahh, a trustworthy source, or at least that is what we are told to believe.

Then, I read the first paragraph:

By the late 1800s, prohibition movements had sprung up across the United States, driven by religious groups who considered alcohol, specifically drunkenness, a threat to the nation. The movement reached its apex in 1919 when Congress ratified the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors. Prohibition proved difficult to enforce and failed to have the intended effect of eliminating crime and other social problems–to the contrary, it led to a rise in organized crime, as the bootlegging of alcohol became an ever-more lucrative operation. In 1933, widespread public disillusionment led Congress to ratify the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition.

The error was easy for me to spot, and not a surprise since I know that the push by the left is for you to believe that everything must go through the federal government.  In the view of the progressive left the States are nothing more than provinces along for the ride.  To assist you, in case you didn't notice the error in the paragraph, let me give it to you again, this time putting the error in bold.

By the late 1800s, prohibition movements had sprung up across the United States, driven by religious groups who considered alcohol, specifically drunkenness, a threat to the nation. The movement reached its apex in 1919 when Congress ratified the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors. Prohibition proved difficult to enforce and failed to have the intended effect of eliminating crime and other social problems–to the contrary, it led to a rise in organized crime, as the bootlegging of alcohol became an ever-more lucrative operation. In 1933, widespread public disillusionment led Congress to ratify the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition.

Congress does not ratify amendments.  The States do.

Is the mistake on the History dot com website an innocent flub?  Or is it a part of the larger effort to push federal supremacy, regardless of what the Constitution says, as we've been seeing from the progressive commie left for as long as history has been marching?

One wonders.

Which brings up one more question.  If the History Channel is wrong about their portrayal of history, or more specifically the constitutional workings of our governmental system, where else are they in error?

P.S.: Yes, I have contacted them about the error.  We'll see how they respond.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary