Kentucky Senate candidate Nate Morris has delivered a comprehensive takedown of the left’s increasingly popular “land acknowledgment” ritual, arguing that the practice relies on historical distortions designed to undermine American legitimacy.
Morris, a multimillionaire businessman and former CEO of one of Kentucky’s largest software companies, released a video explaining why these acknowledgments represent yet another attempt to weaken America from within through deliberate mischaracterization of history.
The facts are straightforward. America’s territorial expansion occurred through legitimate means that were standard for the era. Alaska was purchased from Russia. The Louisiana Purchase was acquired from France through legal transaction. Millions of acres were obtained through negotiated treaties, signed agreements, and recognized diplomatic processes.
The left wants Americans to believe the nation was “stolen.” This is historically inaccurate. Territory was fought over and conquered, which is precisely how borders have been established throughout human history. Yet progressives insist on judging America by standards that no other nation in history could meet.
Consider how European borders shifted through millennia of warfare. Examine how Asian territories changed hands through conquest. Study how Middle Eastern boundaries were redrawn countless times. America’s territorial expansion was comparatively civilized and legally structured.
Morris also highlighted the left’s selective ignorance regarding Native American history itself. The tribes progressives claim to honor were not passive victims living in harmony. The Apache and Sioux were warrior nations. The Comanche were cave dwellers in Wyoming until they acquired horses and proceeded to conquer vast territories across what would become the United States.
This is not a value judgment but historical reality. Different peoples fought for control of land, as humans have done since civilization began. Pretending otherwise serves no purpose except to delegitimize American sovereignty.
The peculiarity of land acknowledgments becomes apparent when examining who performs them. These individuals make grand statements about occupying stolen land, yet none of them leave. The gesture is performative virtue signaling without substance or sacrifice.
Anyone claiming America was “stolen” rather than “conquered” is either historically illiterate or deliberately attempting to rewrite history for ideological purposes. The territory was fought over and ultimately settled by ancestors who believed in private industry, law and order, and manifest destiny.
Morris is running to replace former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, positioning himself as part of a new generation of Republican leadership willing to confront progressive narratives directly.
Interestingly, even some Democrats recognize the political toxicity of these performances. Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville publicly criticized the Democratic National Committee after it opened a Minneapolis meeting with a land acknowledgment, calling such gestures electoral liabilities.
Carville understands what many progressives refuse to acknowledge. Average Americans recognize land acknowledgments as empty theater that accomplishes nothing while insulting the nation’s founding and history.
The 2024 elections delivered a decisive rejection of this type of progressive posturing. Republicans swept races across the country while Democrats who embraced woke symbolism over substantive policy faced voter backlash.
Land acknowledgments represent the broader problem with contemporary progressive politics. They prioritize performative gestures over practical governance. They demand Americans feel perpetual guilt for historical events that occurred under circumstances progressives refuse to honestly examine.
Morris is correct that this trend represents an attempt to weaken America from within. When citizens are taught to view their nation’s founding as illegitimate, they become less willing to defend its interests or preserve its institutions.
The solution is not complicated. Americans should learn accurate history, including both achievements and failures, without the ideological distortions that serve contemporary political agendas. Territory was conquered, treaties were signed, and a nation was built. These are facts, not matters of opinion subject to revision based on current political fashion.
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