Here’s a history lesson three Colorado Board of Education members learned the hard way: Don’t try to change public school history books to better suit your conservative ideology. If you do, you’ll be out of a job.

In Jefferson County, Colorado, voters made that clear on Tuesday, when they chose to oust three conservative board members after growing tired of the constant attempts to subvert children’s education. The three members – Ken Witt, Julie Williams and John Newkirk – had a reputation for attempting to whitewash American history and remove all the uncomfortable parts. All three had been swept into office during the heady Tea Party years, but like many other ultra-conservative politicians around the country have found, voters who once thought the Tea Party was a great idea quickly grew tired of the novelty of having a bunch of right-wing fanatics in office....

The last straw was an attempt – popular among conservatives around the country – to rewrite American history to pretend none of the bad stuff ever happened. This, in their aggressively jingoist eyes, was a patriotic duty. Apparently so to was the new emphasis on undermining science. According to the curriculum drawn up by the conservative school board:

Theories should be distinguished from fact (everything scientific is a theory). Materials should promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights. Materials should not encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law. Instructional materials should present positive aspects of the United States and its heritage. Content pertaining to political and social movements in history should present balanced and factual treatment of the positions.