Institute on the Constitution – Warren Throckmorton

The Institute on the Constitution Again Falsely Ascribes Quote to Thomas Jefferson (UPDATED)

If the Institute on the Constitution leaders can’t get these easy quotes right, then how can they be trusted to teach the Constitution?
This time it is Jefferson again. IOTC has Jefferson saying, “That government is best which governs least.” According to the ever reliable Anna Berkes at Monticello, Jefferson didn’t make that quote.

The IOTC has falsely attributed quotes to George Washington (twice), Thomas Paine, and to Jefferson (twice). It certainly looks like they don’t care. To my knowledge, they have never corrected the false information or removed the fake quotes.
UPDATE: Someone who runs the IOTC Facebook page said the following in response to my assertion that the Jefferson quote was false.

Actually he quoted Henry David Thoreau’s work called “Civil Disobedience”. The quote is also part of his philosophy.

In fact, Jefferson died on July 4, 1826 and Civil Disobedience was published in 1849.

Todd Starnes: School Board Members Who Voted to Remove Rebel Mascot and Dixie Anthem Are Dim-witted Lefties

Add Fox News Todd Starnes to the short list (including David French and Bryan Fischer) to the list of prominent conservatives who are defending symbols of the Confederacy.
In a column today, Starnes made fun of the Fort Smith, Arkansas school board for phasing out their Rebel mascot and removing Dixie as the school fight song. More precisely, the school board met as a committee of the whole and voted to make it official during an upcoming meeting. According to a notice on the district’s Facebook page (which Starnes partially cited), the changes are being made because the racist symbolism.
The board wrote:

Giving great consideration to the continuing impact of perceived symbols of racism on the community, state and nation, the Fort Smith Public School Board convened as a Committee of the Whole tonight and passed a motion to discontinue the use of “Dixie” as the Southside High School fight song in the 2015-2016 school year, and to phase out the use of the Rebel as the Southside mascot in the 2016-2017 school year.

This motion passed with a 6-0 vote and will be presented to the Board during the regularly scheduled meeting on July 27, 2015. The Rebel and “Dixie” have been used as the Southside High School mascot and fight song since the school opened more than 50 years ago. The Board understands the challenges of changing what has come to be the tradition of the Southside High School community, and will work with the student body and staff over the next year to name a new mascot and fight song for the school.

While this is sure to be controversial, it shouldn’t be. The Civil War was over a long time ago. It is time to move past Rebels and Dixie. Nothing seems clearer now; except to Todd Starnes. He closes his “news” break with this:

Folks around Fort Smith aren’t too keen on the idea of removing either the mascot or the song. Many posted their extreme displeasure on the district’s social networking sites.

“It appears to be a knee jerk reaction influenced by current events,” one reader wrote. “Removing flags or historical symbols because they may offend a number of people is a slippery slope.”

I’m curious, though, about this idea of perceived symbols of racism. It really is subjective, isn’t it?

I mean – I could perceive the Fort Smith School Board to be a bunch of dim-witted, dingleberry lefties who don’t have the sense God gave a goose.

But I could be mistaken.

However — in this case, I’m more than likely right.

And I’m not just whistling Dixie.

Starnes might like to hang with Michael Peroutka who thinks Dixie is the national anthem.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/EU-yheBdOTI[/youtube]

You Find the League of the South in the Strangest Places: CNN and the Institute on the Constitution

The League of the South appears to be leading the media defense of the Confederate flag. Tonight I watched the South Carolina LoS chairman Pat Hines try to defend the Confederate flag on CNN (I’ll get video when I can).

"We think it's a memorial to our ancestors who fought to stop an invasion." Pat Hines, SC League of the South pic.twitter.com/dvt9IDeRtP

— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) June 23, 2015

At one point near the end, Hines wondered why another guest (a South Carolina state legislator) was working for the “cultural genocide” of the Southern people by advocating removal of the Confederate flag. The incredulous response of the guests and host Don Lemon was the same as mine. You (Hines) can’t be serious. A symbol of slavery does not represent any good thing about anyone’s culture.
It was surreal seeing a representative of the League of the South as a guest on CNN. The leader of the League of the South. Michael Hill, has warned African-Americans about a race war and wants the Southern states to secede and become a homeland for whites. He has no problem being known as a white supremacist. His most recent rant is unhinged.
On another front, it has been surreal for a couple of years to know that members of the League of the South are leaders of a self-described effort to educate students and the public about the Constitution. Regular readers know I am talking about the Institute on the Constitution. Founder and director Michael Peroutka is a former board member of the League. David Whitney, IOTC senior instructor, is currently listed as chaplain of the Maryland/Virginia branch of the League (see image below).
At a news conference prior the Peroutka’s election to the Anne Arundel County Council, Peroutka defended the League, calling it “a Christian free-market group.” Peroutka said he quit the group but his Senior Instructor (Whitney) is a leader in the state branch and Peroutka has never denounced the League. Peroutka has also said he didn’t know any racists in the League but that stretches belief.

It is Past Time to Remove the Confederate Flag in South Carolina

Governor Nikki Haley has called for the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of the South Carolina capitol and I agree with her.
Why did it take so long?
The argument that it is about heritage not white supremacy is a tired, silly argument. Anyone who understands how offensive the flag is would not display it. There can be no other reason but to send a message of intimidation.
Southern nationalists will go nuts but that isn’t reason enough to keep it. They are all over themselves trying to distance themselves from Dylann Roof while defending what Dylann Roof believes about African-Americans.
Of course, they have a right to hold and voice their opinion. However, so do I and other Americans who are tired of the deadly games they are playing.
There is a history to why the flag is there, but that is less important that the future. Removing it will symbolize the future of the state and send a clear message to the League of the South and the Council of Conservative Citizens that the cause really is lost.

The Institute on the Constitution Posts Another Incorrect Quote Attribution – This Time They Get Thomas Paine Wrong

The Institute on the Constitution claims to be an educational outreach of Michael Peroutka’s law firm. Miseducational outreach would be a better term. They claim to teach about the founders but they often are sloppy and attribute things to the founders they didn’t say.
Once, they claimed Jefferson said something he didn’t say and then they botched George Washington as well. Now, the target of false quotation is Thomas Paine.

Paine never said it; it most likely originated with Edward Abbey.
Note that it has been shared 1600 times. That’s a lot of ignorance for which IOTC is responsible.
For those keeping track, IOTC’s senior instructor is still listed as chaplain of the Maryland/Virginia chapter of the League of the South, a white supremacist organization.

How many churches who host IOTC courses know they are involved with an organization which is run by a former board member of a white supremacist group and which promotes the teaching of a current chaplain of a state chapter of that same white supremacist group?