Little Libertarian Compound on the Prairie
How my genealogy quest for pioneer ancestors was corrupted by made-up stories
The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves matter. As an amateur genealogist, my goal is to hold up a mirror to myself and to my clients so that our stories are true stories.
Capitalism is propped up by simplistic stories that deliberately hide the truth: Rich people create jobs. Trickle-down economics works. All government regulation is bad. Taxation is theft. No one wants to work anymore. Immigrants are stealing your jobs. Private schools are better. Toll roads are better. Privatized water is better. Americans are exceptional. Americans are the good guys.
We believe because we love a simple story.
Recently, I learned some unsettling news about one of my own favorite foundational stories: the TV show Little House on the Prairie. I call it one of my stories because as a child I internalized the values of the Ingalls family and appreciated Pa Ingalls as America’s dad alongside my own dad.
Little House has lived more or less unquestioned in my mind ever since childhood. The values I learned from the show are that we Americans (I prefer the term United Statsians because all people from North, South, and Central America are Americans, but in…
