By MELISSA DIPENTO
In her letter to Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, 16-year-old Amy Myers writes that she is a “typical high school student.”
What the Cherry Hill East sophomore did; however, was not exactly typical.
So, Myers challenged Bachmann to a public debate.
Her April 29 letter to Bachmann included, “I have found quite a few of your statements regarding the Constitution of the United States, the quality of public school education and general U.S. civics matters to be factually incorrect, inaccurately applied or grossly distorted,” Myers said. “The frequency and scope of these comments prompted me to write this letter.”
Myers, the Op-Ed editor of the Eastside, East’s school newspaper, said she has been outraged by how Bachmann has informed the public about historical events.
Myers said she was particularly perturbed by Bachmann’s retelling of the “Shot heard ‘round the world.”
The line is from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Concord Hymn” and is recognized as marking the beginning of the American Revolutionary War and the battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775.
“She said it was in New Hampshire–that’s where the shot was heard ‘round the world. It was in Massachusetts. I was 13 and I knew that,” Myers said.
Myers also said Bachmann, who was the first Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota in 2006, misrepresented the Founding Fathers.
“She said the Founding Fathers worked tirelessly to remove slavery, but the majority of them had slaves, except Adams,” Myers said. “Washington had slaves, Jefferson had slaves, Madison and Monroe.”
Myers said her political interest peaked after watching All the President’s Men, a 1976 film about how Woodward and Bernstein unearthed the details of Watergate, in her high school journalism class recently.
Myers said she can’t remember a time she wasn’t talking about presidents and history. She said her family has always had an interest in keeping up with politics.
Myers’ father, Wayne Myers, said his father, David Myers Jr., previously ran for mayor in Cherry Hill.
“He was running against Bernie Platt, Harold Haas, Maria Barnaby Greenwald and another. This was not during the election when Platt became mayor, this was well before that,” Wayne Myers said.
Myers said she plans to continue to keep her eyes on the people wielding political power in Washington. That, plus running for class president and dreaming about going to Harvard Law School someday.
Bachmann, Myers said, has yet to take her up on her offer for a public debate.
“She hasn’t gotten back to me. We even mailed it with a receipt, to make sure to she got it,” Myers said.
See the full letter here:
