Posted on 04/20/2016 10:58:52 AM PDT by jazusamo
A federal employee of the National Park Service who offers guided tours of Independence Hall in Philadelphia -- the birthplace of the Constitution -- stunned a group of tourists this week by telling them the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were the product of "class elites who were just out to protect their privileged status."
Mary A. Hogan, a federal employee making in excess of $95,000 per year in salary and benefits, provided a tour Monday afternoon at Independence Hall laced with factual inaccuracies and disparaging comments about the Founders and the Constitution.
Hogan, who goes by the name Missy, told a tour group at Independence Hall that "the Founders knew that when they left this room, what they had written wouldn't matter very much" according to multiple people in the tour group with whom I spoke. Hogan told the group that the "most important part of the Constitution written at Independence Hall was the ability to change it."
Hogan also inaccurately told the tour group that "King George III paid more attention to Parliament" than the colonists "because they were right there and could remove him from office." Parliament did not possess the power to remove the king from office in the 1770s, and does not possess that power today.
Hogan's LinkedIn page says she is the "chief of operations" at the National Park Service in Philadelphia.
"It is astounding how many times the first draft of that Constitution protected slavery," Hogan told her tour group Tuesday afternoon.
The text of the Constitution in 1787 did not mention slavery even once.
The only oblique reference to slavery is in Article I, Section 2. There, the Constitution refused to give southern states political power based on slaves inhabiting those states. Instead, the Constitution diluted the power of slave states by counting slaves only at a rate of 60 percent in allocating seats in Congress. Southern states wanted slaves to count 100% toward apportionment of seats. This "three-fifths" provision hurt slave-holding states, it did not "protect" them.
Hogan was reported to have said in an interview:
It is imperative that the interpreter has the ability to breech sensitive issues. At the same time I realize that it is as difficult as it is important. The interpreter needs to present the facts. It is important that the interpreter not put his/her own 21st century spin on it. Try to keep your own emotions in check when discussing these issues and allow visitors to draw their own conclusions. Interpreters must have faith in the visitors. The interpretive process relies on trust and communication between the visitor and the interpreter. It is necessary that the interpreter accept that some visitors will be offended. One of the most important attributes of an interpreter is bravery and a willingness to dive into the deep end of these subjects.I realize that it’s a lot easier to do a program on Benjamin Franklin than it is on Oney Judge, but it’s our duty to also tell the lesser known stories about our park and engage it from a multidimensional viewpoint.
Hogan is listed as a GS-12 employee on the federal pay scale and earns at least $95,000 in salary and benefits.
Well I suggest some one go on the tour and contest her remarks and query her on her facts in front of the other touristas
A GS FREAKIN’ 12!....................
“Mary A. Hogan, a federal employee making in excess of $95,000 per year in salary and benefits”
She's making probably the top 1% of the top 1% of people in the world. She has the gull to vilify the Founding Fathers that created a nation that allows her to enjoy that kind of income!
Incredibly ungrateful. She should trade places with someone in a Third World country who has to walk 6 miles to get water every day.
What a disgusting, putrid, vile display of extreme Socialist ignorance.
“Hogan is listed as a GS-12 employee on the federal pay scale and earns at least $95,000 in salary and benefits”
She probably gets locality pay also and depending on her step (steps range from 1-10 depending on time in grade) she may make considerably more.
“Southern states wanted slaves to count 100% toward apportionment of seats.”
Actually, the Southren states only wanted to count slaves as people for apportionment, but did not want to give the slaves they counted the Right to Vote.
Seems a bit contradictory on the part of the South.
I would of only taken so much of that kinda crap. I woulda called her out on it and we could of had a ‘discussion’ right then and there.
If I ever did breech my silence to her I would probly have to be bailed out of re-education camp before it is all over with.
She doesn't even follow her own supposed rules.
I know AT LEAST 1000 times as much about History, the Constitution, Truth and Reality as this Communist liar.
Could I have her job?
I'll take a 25% pay cut. She can work at McDonalds.
Yep, it blows me away that a GS 12 is a tour guide.
$95,000 to be a docent?
Wow, old people do that for free.
THIS is why the federal government is in debt.
Fire her ass.
NOW!
Apologies for the profanity, but some folks deserve no less than the best.
:-)
More likely she'll end up as a supervisor in DC.
Missy was a grade A student,
I’d bet.
See a jackal..Shoot it...Only cure...
She looks like janeane garofalos little sister
Facts?!
FACTS?!?!?!
She wouldn't recognize a fact even if she were able to understand it.
Besides, facts are like Kryptonite to Progressive Fellow Travelers like her.
Surely, there are some IQ requirements for this job.
Perhaps make it be that you have to have a rudimentary understanding of the United States, the Constitution and have an IQ above 30.
It reads as though the writer went on the tour, heard all the inaccuracies and prejudiced statements, then just left the park, without making their displeasure known to anyone.
I understand while on a guided tour, one just wishes to complete what they’re doing and leave without creating a scene. Sometimes people like Missy deserve to be respectfully called out in public, and if she gets upset, too bad.
Vapid, robotic, pre-programmed dead stare in the eyes. Left leaning liberal DNA markers? Coincidental resemblance to ‘eat crow’ Janeane Garofalo?
2 minutes and change. :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
