I'm not a big fan of political postings on Facebook. They drive me nuts. I'm not that into politics. It's not that I'm against a spirited political discussion, it's just that everybody just seems to be unable to tell the difference between spirited and "eff you and the horse you rode in on!"

So I started making rabid political postings of my own, framed as if I don't know anything about politics, The joke being as I study American political history, I make rabid and vitriolic posts related to the era I'm studying, all prefaced by "I've been studying our political system in order to join in on all the political posting fun here on Facebook. Please be patient as I am still in the beginning phase of this process. That being said, here we go...."

For example…

My first post was, "WTF Whigs?! Seriously?!"

My second post was, "Bull Moose Party? More like Bull S**t Party!"

You get the idea.

I really have no opinion about the Whigs or The Bull Moosers. Not even in hindsight. Although from what I understand, they both threw pretty rockin' conventions. I mean, Andrew Jackson threw a raging kegger on his inauguration day!

In the White House!!!

I received some 'likes" from enlightened folks that understood the joke and knew that I hadn't really worked myself into a tizzy about Henry Clay and "Economic Protectionism."

This morning I posted the following: "Who does Thomas Jefferson think he is?! Wasting our money on all that land in...where is it? Louisana? Seriously, what the hell are we going to do with 820,000 square miles of empty land?!?"

Simple enough premise. I even intentionally misspelled Louisiana to truly capture the tone of what passes for intelligent discussion on The Facebook these days. I mean who in their right mind would ridicule and denigrate quite possibly the greatest stroke of luck EVER in the history of nation building and Manifest Destiny? Right?

Especially 200 YEARS AFTER THE FACT!

Still, one kind soul took pity upon my "ignorance" of the Louisiana Purchase and gently explained it to me, even including a Wikipedia (a bastion of accuracy) link as well.

Obviously I had crafted my rube-like persona too well. I had mistakenly believed that the first paragraph of the post would tip off everyone that I was being sarcastic.

But no.

I suspect that I accidentally touched on a sore spot with this man. Quite possibly I stumbled into a grievance that has been passed down, father to son, for generations. Who knew that to this very day there were people who are still pissed and claim that the Louisiana Purchase violated the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso of 1800, and quite possibly the very Constitution of The United States.

As I said, I'm not that into politics.