To Our North Carolina Legislators

I am writing to express my great concern over the NC Department of Cultural Resources (NCDCR) promoting a license plate to advertise what is essentially a government-sanctioned view of the War Between the States, in which they interestingly utilize the Northern term, “Civil War.” While it is commendable that this State agency wants to encourage citizens to become more aware of the valor and sacrifices of North Carolinians in that war for independence, it is not the purview of government to interpret history – this is commonly associated with Soviet or other totalitarian regimes.

As the North Carolina Legislature has not commissioned a War remembrance committee, the NCDCR has taken it upon itself to promote its own internal version of events. As such, this State agency of government employees is subject to political whims and manipulation which invites historical revisionism and misinterpretation at taxpayer expense. It is far better to leave our history to private historians and organizations that do not receive government funding, and the NCDCR and legislators could have encouraged various private research and historical organizations to provide remembrance programs during the Sesquicentennial. This would have been most appropriate. Again, our history is far too important to be interpreted by government bureaucrats, and the value of privately-funded histories is attested to by the plethora of North Carolina histories over the years written by authors not funded by tax dollars.

The North Carolina Sons of Confederate Veterans and United Daughters of the Confederacy, the North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission, and many other privately-funded websites and research organizations have already instituted programs to commemorate the Sesquicentennial – leaving no logical reason why the NCDCR would need to spend tax dollars to promote their particular view. Unfortunately, the NCDCR has already demonstrated its revisionism and political manipulation of known facts with its association with the 1898 Wilmington Reparations Commission, chaired by former Rep. Thomas Wright, and no doubt other government interpretations of history.

Please review this unnecessary proposal which does nothing but promote a revisionist, government view of North Carolina history, and the hard-earned tax dollars of North Carolinians should not be used for any such endeavor. The valor, honor and sacrifices of brave North Carolinians should be remembered honestly and factually, and shorn of any modern political whims and revisionism.

Most sincerely,

Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
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To Our North Carolina Legislators