Past Mistakes and Present Credibility, Part 2

I posted earlier a link and comments about an insightful article documenting William F. Buckley and his conservative movement's contemptible laissez-faire attitude toward civil rights in the 1950s and 60s.

To be fair, I thought I should post this article documenting the Democratic Party's likewise dismal civil rights record. In "The Democrats' Missing History," Jeffrey Ford notes the convenient glossing over significant portion's of its history on the DNC's official website. "Literally, the DNC official history, which begins with the creation of the party in 1800, gets to the creation of the DNC itself in 1848 and then--poof!--the next sentence says: "As the 19th Century came to a close, the American electorate changed more and more rapidly." Perhaps by change, they are referring to the systematic marginalization of black people through Jim Crow laws and economic oppression. Jeffrey Ford fills in the gap for us.

It reiterates the point from my earlier post -- our present credibility is compromised by a history of failure. The impulse to hide mistakes, however, must be avoided for several reasons. First, it's dishonest. Second, when found out, our credibility is damaged to a far greater degree than if we had been truthful. Third, we fail to learn from history. Fourth, and perhaps most important, we fall prey to our own trap. The illusion of perfection is internalized, becoming delusion. We feel we can do no wrong. Maybe if we remembered our checkered past, we would keep the present in perspective.