If today’s activist Left had their way, you wouldn’t recognize America’s history. The good, the bad, the complicated — all of it would be wiped away until we’re left with a sanitized scrapbook of whatever fits this month’s progressive narrative. The latest proof? Their outrage over the restoration of the Reconciliation Monument at Arlington National Cemetery.

Erected in 1914, the monument was never about glorifying slavery or defending the Confederacy. It was about something far more difficult — healing. It depicts both Union and Confederate soldiers, not clashing in battle, but sharing in the common cause of a unified nation. Its message: even after the bloodiest conflict in our history, we found a way to reconcile.

But fast-forward to 2025, and that nuance is lost on the outrage industry. When Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the monument’s restoration, MSNBC panels lit up with accusations of “whitewashing history” and “elevating traitors.” On Twitter (or X, depending on which logo you’ve got), the self-appointed moral guardians demanded it be torn down for good. To them, context is irrelevant — it’s either pure or it’s poison.

Here’s the reality the Left refuses to face: you cannot “heal” a country by erasing its scars. The Civil War happened. It was brutal, ugly, and costly beyond comprehension. And yet, out of that bloodshed came a commitment — however imperfect — to remain one nation. The Reconciliation Monument embodies that story. Removing it doesn’t erase the Confederacy; it erases the evidence that reconciliation was ever possible.

Progressives often talk about “truth-telling” and “healing,” but those words ring hollow when the only truth they’ll tolerate is their own and the only healing they’ll accept is amputation. Monuments like this challenge us to wrestle with complexity. Was every Confederate soldier a villain? Was every Union soldier a saint? History doesn’t answer in absolutes — but today’s Left demands it does.

By restoring the Reconciliation Monument, the message is clear: we don’t move forward by pretending the past didn’t happen. We move forward by remembering it all — the triumphs and the shame — and learning from it. That’s how a country matures. That’s how a people grow. The Left’s version of “progress” would have us forget. Real progress insists we remember.