Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
The Ends Justify the Memes
Sometimes I’m kind of amazed by what the Democrats can get away with. Like this little meme here to the right. I’ve seen it a few times on my Facebook feed in a few different forms. They all follow the same theme: Executive orders like the one Obama just signed are awesome, because look, Eisenhower used them to desegregate schools. Check and mate, Republicans.
Of course, these memes depend entirely on one’s ignorance of history, willful or otherwise.
School desegregation had little to do with executive orders save in one, specific instance. Desegregation was initiated at the federal level by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education. I know this because back when I argued against judicial activism, my progressive friends used this as their Ends-Justifying-Means Hammer. In fact, anyone could know this because a Google search on the history of desegregation will generally highlight this as the big moment. In 1955, a second case — Brown v. Board of Education II — declared that federal district courts had jurisdiction over lawsuits to enforce the desegregation decision, and mandated desegregation proceed “with all deliberate speed.” The Civil Rights Act was signed into law on September 9, 1957. Eisenhower gets a small mention.
Eisenhower did indeed issue an executive order, but its purpose and purview was far more limited than the meme would suggest. As desegregation proceeded, a few recalcitrant Southern states tried to assert themselves. A federal court ordered the Little Rock school board to comply with desegregation. Defying both US courts and US law, Governor Faubus of Arkansas placed the National Guard around Central High School to prevent integration. Eisenhower met with the governor, instructing him to obey the law, and Faubus agreed to allow the so-called Little Rock Nine to attend under the protection of the National Guard.
Instead, Governor Faubus removed the Guard entirely. When the nine black students attempted to go to school, riots ensued. Faubus didn’t lift a finger to stop them. Finally, the mayor of Little Rock asked the federal government for assistance. Only at this point did Eisenhower step in, on September 23, 1957, with Executive Order 10730. It sent in troops to maintain order, protect the students, and defuse the situation. It had a narrow remit, designed to redress a very specific and immediate emergency. I mean, what sort of president would sit around while people in a major American city rioted – oh, wait …
Note the dates as well. Eisenhower’s executive order was issued after the Civil Rights Act (which had been passed 73-27 in the Senate and 289-126 in the house) and well after Brown. Contrary to the suggestion of the meme, desegregation had the support of all three branches of the government. The president is sworn to take care that the laws be faithfully executed: Eisenhower discharged that oath.
The history of desegregation is extremely well-studied, as well-documented as any event in history could be, and known to anyone with even a passing familiarity with American history. Again, go ahead and do a search on this. I can wait. Seriously, I won’t know if you’ve paused in my post. A plethora of websites treat the history of desegregation. Book after book has been written about it. This is not exactly one of those deeply obscure periods subject to vigorous debate among historians. It’s so easy to do a search on desegregation and Eisenhower’s role in it that it shouldn’t take anyone more than 30 seconds.
At this point, Obama’s supporters are just making things up out of thin air to justify anything the President does. It’s as if they aren’t even trying any more.
And here’s the thing: 
They know they don’t have to. A handful of my friends have already posted this as if it’s a great argument. They know they don’t have to try. Their self-selecting Facebook echo-chamber will believe anything they say.
It may be a long day for me on Facebook.
Published in General, History
Breathing exercises. You’ll need them. Or alcohol.
I have a friend who sends out lots of unsubstantiated, making-the-rounds e-mails. She always asks me to let her know if it’s true or not. So yeah–people are lazy and would rather just pass along something that sounds good.
Must be calm, lest I become the Credible Hulk.
Copied for future Facebook posting.
Well, it’s Facebook. I find political posting on Facebook is more about scoring points and winning applause than it ever is about gathering facts, forming an argument, and verifying one’s sources.
Excellent rebuttal.
-E
You will find that even people who should know better are simply willing to believe anything they hear, especially on social media, so long as it confirms their biases. It is the disease in the body politic that leads to the dysfunctional governments we elect.
Supporting the 14th Amendment, opposing the 2nd, it’s all the same . . . right?
It’s like a weird, hyper-realized confirmation bias. We no longer ignore data outside our bias, we downright change it to meet our bias.
It is an effective poster, I must say, for all its shaky connection to the truth. I found the following chart on the web that also adds fuel to the fire the Democrats are fanning:
That TPM chart is misleading as well. It’s not the number of Executive Orders a president issues but its content. Most of them are boring and mundane setting up interagency committees, ordering one agency to cooperate with another, even sending home federal workers for a half day on Christmas Eve.
It’s when they try to use them to rewrite law or subvert the constitution that matters.
I saw one of those yesterday, shared by my dear favorite former high school history teacher. Saddens me, because in her heyday, she would have ridiculed such shallow misreadings as “lazy scholarship” that could lead to disastrous misinterpretations of events. She was always to the left of me, politically, sure, but she would have never let any student get away with such lazy thinking. Back then anyway.
Very well done, C.U..
Regarding history and gun control, I would love to see a conservative address the fact that if the black population of the southern states had not been effectively disarmed, history would be very different, indeed. Would the KKK have been so brazen and successful if it knew the intended victims had the means for self-defense? Would it even have been possible for Jim Crow to become law?
Another response would be similar–shamelessly copied in look and feel–imagery showing FDR and his Executive Orders stealing privately held gold and locking up Americans because of their ethnic heritages.
Eric Hines
It would be a better analogy if Ike had some tears running down his face.
Thank you for this and for all the comments.
Aside from the excellent analysis you provide- well done on the headline.
hit and run comment, but in cases like this, where seeming equalities arise between clearly constradictory stances, I use the Lincoln Rule: The differentiate between seemingly valid interpretations of the Constitution, look to the Declaration for itnent, not case law.
This column embodies one of the key purposes of Ricochet.
We can come here to arm ourselves with truth to go back into the world to set the record straight; a world whose educational system is being undermined in part by one-liners in unchecked Internet memes.
Terrific job, C.U. Douglas.
I’m actually hoping to encounter that meme on my wall today, so I can shoot it down with your post.
Yep. it’s a great title. And any professional songwriter will tell you a good hook is worth its weight in gold.
And if only what happened on Facebook stayed on Facebook. Memeserism has seeped out and seems to me to infect and corrupt the broader culture.
The formal executive orders signed by the president are the tip of the iceberg. The federal regulatory process generates thousands of rules (orders) ” as the Secretary may determine.”
FDR ran the government from his wheelchair in the White House with nascent bureaus. The agency heads had not yet attained the arrogance to govern over their own signatures and relied on the popularity of the president and a supine congress to legitimize dictatorial exercise of powers.
I have become vehemently opposed to political memes and arguments on Facebook. If a friend engages in that sort of thing, he becomes unfollowed. That’s the case with people on the left or right. The only exceptions are “famous” Facebook friends, such as J-Pod, whom I follow in order to get their political perspective.
Strong post. More like this, please.
Nice post, well presented and informative. Also, I fear, irrelevant. The whole point of a meme is to present a quick, pithy point in an amusing manner and then move on. They flood the feeds, and rebuttals are ignored or forgotten.
Say that someone posts this meme on Facebook, and I copy and paste your post in reply. The rebuttal is right there, but what will happen to it. The folks that agree with the meme will probably not engage with the reply; they’ll either ignore it as long-winded blather or right-wing propaganda or or just tl;dr. The folks that doubt the meme may agree with the rebuttal, but again, often tl;dr. The folks who don’t have an opinion or could be swayed in some way also aren’t going to necessarily change their minds. The rebuttal won’t carry all that much weight (and tl;dr).
And a month down the road? The one thing that will stick, if it sticks, is that Eisenhower used an executive order for a good purpose. They might remember that someone posted something qualifying it.
And in the memetime, there’s been a flood of others.
I’m really starting to hate social media.
Cute
I didn’t notice your clever title at first. My mind just filled in “means.”
I have not seen the Occupy Democrats meme on Facebook, but I have seen this one, from the Modern Libertarian, shared by Being Classically Liberal (a great Facebook poster):
What’s your solution, then?
Eric Hines