The Cult of Americana

Education versus Acculturation and the Reality of History

The American Dream was replaced by the cult of Americana. It was because our public education system has declined systematically, particularly in teaching our history. This was due to the political agendas of school board members. Instead of offering truthful education, we've been fed patriotic myths rooted in misogyny and narcissism, mainly aimed at shaping attitudes rather than informing. While our shared past is dark and filled with vice, flaw, prejudice, and evil, understanding and learning from it is crucial, not distorting it for political purposes. In the present, we must learn from the past so that we can avoid making the same mistakes in the future. That is what history is.

A significant portion of us views themselves as “the true Americans.” They assert they embody the moral, ethical, and value system of “the land of the free.” Yet, their policies over the last four decades have transferred essential governance benefits to the ultra-wealthy, corporations, and the permanent arms industry, placing the financial load on ordinary citizens. They claim to know and honor American history, but they distort, manipulate, bastardize, and propagate it, making the nation’s past unrecognizable and aligning it with their agenda. Additionally, they profess to respect and revere the U.S. Constitution, but their political party publicly supports a platform that would indefinitely suspend it to serve partisan ideological interests.

A clear example of this is at Mount Rushmore in Keystone, South Dakota, where the faces of four U.S. presidents—sculpted by Gutzon Borglum—symbolize the nation. According to many self-proclaimed ‘true’ Americans, we admire these figures for what we believe they represent, rather than who they actually were. Let us explore their true identities beyond the built myths and assess how well these individuals grasp and respect their history.

Biographers James Thomas Flexner and John Fehrling reveal that George Washington wasn't the saintly figure many assume. He cursed like a sailor, drank heavily, and had a 15-year affair with his best friend’s wife, Sally Fairfax. During this scandal, Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis, the wealthiest widow in Virginia, which significantly boosted his wealth. With the nuptials, her wealth became his, and should they have divorced, under Virginia law, it would not have been returned to her. At Valley Forge's winter encampment in 1777-78, Washington faced a choice: give food to his starving soldiers or keep a case of Madeira wine for himself, and he chose the wine.

Biographers Willard Sterne Randall, Dumas Malone, and Jonathan Sistine suggest that Thomas Jefferson had a penchant for women, especially married ones, believing that if there were a ‘mistake,’ it would be the husband’s, even if the child had Jefferson's characteristic red hair and blue eyes. Although Jefferson often claimed credit for the Declaration of Independence, its initial drafts were authored by John Adams, with later contributions from other members of the Committee of the Second Continental Congress that drafted the Declaration. Jefferson ultimately penned the final version that the Congress debated and approved, incorporating proposed changes. Also, as president, his embargo policy in 1807 led to the first significant economic depression in U.S. history, and he left the presidency two years later, viewed more as a villain than a hero.

Biographers David Herbert Donald and Stephen B. Oates note that Abraham Lincoln was NEVER called “Abe.” Even his wife and sons referred to him as "Mr. Lincoln.” He experienced severe depression, which often left him incapacitated and suicidal. Among his four sons, he was closest to his third son, William Wallace Lincoln, who was said to bear the most remarkable resemblance to him. Willie died of typhoid fever at age 11 in the White House on 20 February 1862. After Willie’s death and Lincoln’s assassination, Lincoln had his son disinterred six times to view him. Notably, his eldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln—named after the father-in-law Lincoln disliked—was in the audience at Ford’s Theatre on 14 April 1865, instead of in the presidential box with his parents.

According to biographers Edmund Morris and Nathan Miller, Theodore Roosevelt never charged up San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War. He charged Kettle Hill three miles away at the command of General William Rufus Shafter, who, in his own words, did not “want that Yahoo anywhere near the real action.” The Rough Riders were a volunteer military unit formed by T.R., not one authorized in any way under the authority of the U.S. Military. He also gave away his infant daughter Alice to his eldest sister, Mamie, to “raise as your own”, and she did not return to her father’s family until she was four years old, not at the behest of her father, but of her stepmother, Edith Carow Roosevelt. Father and daughter were never close, so Alice did everything she could to embarrass her father during his two terms as president.

This is who these men truly were, without the myths that generations of Americans have added. These facts don't diminish their achievements; instead, they enhance them, demonstrating how these men overcame their human flaws to leave a lasting impact on our nation. Other legends, falsehoods, and myths about America's past also deserve closer examination for accuracy; yet, they too are mythologized. Nonetheless, the American ideal often promotes the notion that the nation was founded by heroic saints with perfect morals, noble knights who saved the country’s destiny as the world’s sole superpower.

Because we need such a cult, especially during these difficult times, we see people across the political spectrum distort our national history to serve their own ends rather than learn the vital lessons it offers. Maybe if we took our history education seriously, teaching the blunt and harsh facts with honesty and clarity—such as the Holocaust of Native Americans, the brutality of human chattel slavery, the ongoing marginalization of women as second-class citizens, and the exploitation of workers under unregulated capitalism—this country would be a less troubled place, inhabited by a united people who are aware of their past but confident about their future.

But it cannot be achieved as long as we prefer to believe in the comforting cult of Americana rather than the true promise of the American dream. We are a flawed people who somehow created a more perfect nation, and we will not be allowed to keep it if we continue to believe in the cult of Americana.