This is a tale of two countries.

The first country was built on a radical new promise of human equality and a guarantee of the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That country made it possible for even those born in the humblest and most meager circumstances to climb to the pinnacle of prosperity and achievement. It helped to save the world in a great global conflagration, fed and rebuilt the devastated nations of Europe, planted the first footprints on another world.

The second country was built on the uncompensated labor of human beings owned from birth til death by other human beings.

That country committed genocide against its indigenous people, fabricated a war in order to snatch territory belonging to its neighbor, put its own citizens in concentration camps. And it practiced the science of eugenics with such enthusiasm that it inspired advocates of mandatory sterilization and racial purity all over the world.

One was an obscure German politician named Adolf Hitler.

Obviously, the first of those countries is America.

But the second is, too.

This would not come as a surprise to any reasonably competent student of American history.

But that is a category that soon might not include students in Jefferson County, Colo. The good news is, they are not taking it lying down.

Read more:

Jefferson Countys assault on U.S. history