GRAIN OF SALT: Texas governor, some citizens showing true colors

The late Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Samuelson once famously said, "I don't care who writes a nation's laws, or crafts its treatises, if I can write its economics textbooks."

What Samuelson refers to is the influence textbooks can have on a population's thinking, for good or for bad.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Texas. Every ten years, Texas gathers the board of education and establishes the new curriculum criteria to be taught in their public schools.

Normally, this wouldn't much affect those living outside of the state. But Texas is the second largest state in the country and, therefore, is a huge market for school textbooks. If book publishers can obtain a contract to write the material for a large state, the market for textbooks can be greatly influenced based on the desires of those large states.

Usually, this isn't too much of a problem. Then again, most states usually don't have a governor that openly talks of seceding from the United States because he's angry at who's in charge of the federal government. Texas Gov. Rick Perry has done so on several occasions.

As is the right of the governor, Perry's stacked the state board of education with members that fit his ideological persuasion. Unfortunately, Perry possesses a few loose screws, and he's picked enough members to control the content of the upcoming curriculum changes.

This past week, they voted on what they're going to include and take out of the curriculum. Some examples, mainly from Talking Points Memo blog:

- Thomas Jefferson and the Enlightenment have been removed from a section in world history textbooks addressing the influence of political philosophers, due to Jefferson advocating a strong separation between church and state. Jefferson will be replaced by religious conservative icon John Calvin.

- Efforts to include the names of three Medal of Honor recipients – one Black and two Hispanic – were shot down.

- Teachers will be required to address the Judeo-Christian faiths of the Founding Fathers (despite the fact that Deism was much more prevalent).

- Students will be required to learn about the historical depreciation of the U.S. dollar, as well as hear arguments for reinstating the gold standard. No alternative views will be allowed.

- The ultraconservative wing refused to allow inclusion of the rise of hip-hop as an American cultural shift. The section on country music is increased.

- The board refused to require that students learn that the Constitution treats all religions as equal.

- Due to a perceived negative connotation, "capitalism" is now "free-enterprise system."

- Ronald Reagan is now required to receive even more prominent coverage, while covering Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor and Sen. Ted Kennedy are not allowed.

- The Board voted 10–5 to forbid mentioning that Tejanos (Texans of Hispanic descent) also died at the Alamo.

- In a 9–6 vote, the difference between sex and gender was stripped out of the curriculum for sociology courses.

- A plank has been inserted to address the rise of conservative groups such as the Moral Majority, Heritage Foundation, National Rifle Association and the Contract on America. No liberal or minority rights groups received the same benefit.

- César Chávez and Thurgood Marshall have been removed from the curriculum, and discussion of the civil rights movement has been greatly minimized.

- Finally, Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who became a national disgrace after orchestrating national witch hunts of American citizens by accusing them, and the U.S. Army, of being Soviet spies, is suddenly vindicated by the state of Texas.

Mary Helen Berlanga had served on the board since 1982, and she left in protest. "I've had it, this is it," she said. "I'm leaving. We can just pretend this is a white America and Hispanics don't exist."

Now, again, the governor has the right to appoint the people he wishes to the board of education. History is written by the winners, it's been said. In this case, the winners just happen to be ashamed of large portions of American heritage. So instead, they'll whitewash it.

I'm not big on George Orwell quotes, because the usage of them often seems quite hyperbolic, but this one seems apt: "He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future."