“’Who controls the past,’ ran the party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past,’” wrote George Orwell in his book “1984.” Oklahomans are attempting to stop the revisionist left from fiddling with the history books. The Oklahoma legislature has approved a bill to stop funding Advanced Placement U.S. history classes on the basis that the curriculum is too left-wing.

There are two camps in this debate. There are those of us who believe that America is fundamentally good, and that good reality should be passed on to our children. Then there are those who believe America is fundamentally bad, or even worse, “neutral.” Those people also wish to pass their belief on to our children.

The primary complaint against the AP curriculum is that it focuses solely on the bad and unimportant, while purposefully excluding the good and important. I’m against censorship in any form. I firmly believe that if history is taught in its entirety, every rational human will see that America is a good nation of good people. What the revisionists want is not a teaching of history in its entirety, but a teaching of selective history meant to enforce a specific worldview. Of course not every detail can be taught in grade school classes, so the question becomes, “what’s most important?”

The new classes and textbooks seem to emulate well-known Marxist Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States.” The socialist worker’s version of history always follows the same template. There are the “oppressors” and then there are the “oppressed.” The great moments in history arise when the “oppressed” come into conflict with the “oppressors.” To the lefties, America is one such “oppressor.”

It’s true that there were many bad things about the past, but there were also many good things. I’d hate to drag everyone back to reality, but there are many bad things about the present. In recent times, we’ve only succeeded in swapping one bad thing for another and extinguishing the good things all together.

There’s nothing wrong with teaching about American atrocities, but a fair account should be given. What modern textbook teaches children about the atrocity of the American welfare state? Which textbook teaches children about the bankrupting of our nation and the millions of lives that have been ruined due to social welfare programs?

For proof, see the documentary “Being Innu.” The documentary tells the story of Native Americans in Canada who are totally provided for by the state, but who also suffer the highest suicide rate in the world.

This is not a recent change to our history curriculum. The anti-American emphasis has been around for at least 40 years. Public schools have become left-wing daycare centers of the state. And it’s not just history that gets drenched in the leftist worldview, it’s every field of study.

I have before me an anthropology textbook written by Professor Kenneth J. Guest entitled “Cultural Anthropology A Toolkit For A Global Age.” I bring up this example to show how rampant leftism is in our allegedly unbiased textbooks. On the 342nd page, Guest relates to us the work of Patty Kelly, a cultural anthropologist who did fieldwork in a Mexican brothel called Zona Galactica. Guest writes, “At the Zona Galactica, Kelly found that some women were satisfied with their jobs. They could set their own hours, decide their own rates and choose what services they would provide.” Sweet, sweet freedom.

Guest continues, “Overall, Kelly found that these women held more open-minded and practical attitudes about sexuality than even their middle-class Mexican female counter parts.” Well, a prostitute would be more open-minded about sex, wouldn’t they? Excuse my rudeness, I meant to write “sex worker,” not “prostitute.” Autocorrect.

The textbook reaches the epitome of dark comedy when Guest tells us, “… Kelly built a particularly strong relationship with Lydia …” The next paragraph reveals, “Sadly, Lydia died of HIV/AIDS shortly after Kelly’s fieldwork stay …” Oh, but it gets worse. After Lydia’s death, her fellow prostitutes pool their money to buy her a coffin. Guest assures us, “… it is these moments of community and solidarity that exemplify the lives of sex workers in the Zona Galactica.”

Guest ends by praising those who advocate decriminalization of prostitution in the U.S. Call me conservative, but maybe sex work isn’t so great. Guest’s textbook is just one example of many. There’s a severe left-wing bias in academia and it bleeds into almost every textbook I’ve ever read.

The left will ultimately win and their “facts” will be taught. Children will learn about the sexual inequality of colonial America, and in so doing they’ll be ready to shed the yoke of the capitalist oppressor. Although, as I write this I hear a noise that brings a smile to my face. It’s the sound of our ancestors howling with laughter.