It's always disorienting to read or hear the "argument" that the Civil War was about Southern "rights" and the desire of freedom-loving people to resist the oppression of an overbearing Federal government. But the weirdness reaches whole new levels when the "case" is put by a New Hampshire resident writing to the Valley News, the local paper that serves Lebanon and the surrounding region. The desire to rewrite history, or inhabit an alternate reality, brings to mind Daniel Patrick Moynihan's observation that we're all entitled to our opinions, we're not entitled to our own facts. While I agreed with the late Senator from New York, I fear that far too many people don't. And that is very, very scary when one considers the implications for our national common life: If we can't agree on fundamental facts, how on earth are we supposed to discuss and debate issues? And if we can't do that, how are we supposed to address the many ...
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