Please take a moment this weekend to think about (or talk with your children who are old enough to understand) what this country means and how it was established by the Founders as an Empire of Liberty; as they understood it. The Freedoms that they fought for established a Republican tradition that stands ...
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I am embarrassed to admit that I myself did not even remember until today that the Anniversary of one of the most important World War 2 events had just passed. The largest amphibious landing in history and one that almost failed. Yet the warriors of our second Great Generation (I tend to count ...
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If you do a simple Google search for "
founding fathers not christian" you will find a slew of blogs, publications, and whatnot that offer their take on the issue of Christianity and the Founding. These opinion pieces, such as the one I am writing here, offer quotes from Founders such as: Thomas ...
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Wishing you a happy Memorial Day!
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From DAY ONE, and I mean from day one, I discuss with my students the fact that America is unique in that it is a nation where the "collision of cultures" of different races in such a short period of time has probably never been seen before in the history on human kind. ...
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I came across this and thought I would share:
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I was reading this the other day and found that our society is forgetting so much about its "Exceptionalism" and part of it is in what Franklin is preaching below! Do you know what I mean?
“The Way to Wealth” (1758)
“Friends,” says he , “and Neighbours, the Taxes are indeed very heavy, and if ...
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One of the leaders in Teaching for Social Justice is William Ayers, who is a Distinguished Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Ayers was also a member of the Weather Underground in the 1960s/70s, who participated in acts of terrorism including planting a bomb in the Pentagon.
In ...
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The prompt for this week's discussion in one of my graduate classes and based on the numerous readings was: "If you had to select one defining moment, challenge, social cause, technological achievement, or political struggle that marked the start of the century what would it be and why?"
Some great discussions thus far and ...
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I arrived at school this morning early. I did not sleep well, I felt, well frankly, on the down low and tossed and turned all night. I stayed up last night and watched the mockery that is the United States House of Representatives. This is not change and "ethics" at work, it was ...
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How do I connect the title of the post...
Henry A. Kissinger was sworn in on September 22, 1973, as the 56th Secretary of State, and since that moment was one of those politicians whom people have loved to hate. Just do a
Google search and there are all kinds of interesting websites; one even shows ...
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Elvis would have been 75 today, happy birthday to the King of Rock and Roll! My mother was a huge Elvis fan and I have to admit I own a couple of his songs on my iPod. Anyway, to another shining example of American Exceptionalism (and tragedy), Elvis Presley. That he borrowed indiscriminately - ...
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I was called out in an email by a reader (this is not an attack as I respect this reader and hence why I am not revealing their identity) who asked me about my belief in American Exceptionalism and my
respect for Gordon S. Wood. The reason being, Dr. Wood's in his most recent - ...
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“I always wanted to become a citizen of the United States and when I became a citizen it was one of the happiest days in my life. I think about the United States and I am a lucky person to live here. When I came to America, it was the first time I was free. It ...
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I took the week off to get some things accomplished that I needed to, so my apologies for a lack of posting, but I have been taking daily assessments of the blogosphere and noted a few things which I will comment on now.
There has been some
controversy over the History Channel’s upcoming Sunday evening program, ...
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It looks like Mr. Dreyfuss had a nice day recently at Gettysburg as he continued his
crusade championing American civics and history instruction. Last Friday thousands showed up for the keynote Dedication Day speaker and Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss. After giving what appears to have been a well received speech on American ideals and virtue, ...
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Some historians and wanna be historians love to do the "I told you so" in regards to American history. They love to point out how Lincoln was not the Great Emancipator, Washington did tell lies, and that Jefferson not only owned a bunch of slaves, he fathered children by one of those slaves. Indeed, all of ...
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A week or so ago the Pew Global Attitudes Project
released a study titled "The Pulse of Europe 2009: 20 Years After the Fall of the Berlin Wall" that centered on the attitudes in Eastern Europe and Russia about the collapse of Communism. The results are fascinating and led me to consider something after reading ...
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Recently Clint Eastwood, famed Hollywood actor and now director / producer, was interviewed for a cover story by
GQ Magazine. When asked about America today, he had some rather "pointed" comments. I have enjoyed his recent films: Flags of our Fathers; Letters from Iwo Jima, Million Dollar Baby, ect. I don't know what his political ...
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Whether you appreciate Reagan or not. Whether you think he had much to do with the Berlin Wall coming down or not, his "Tear Down This Wall" speech is historic and prophetic. In honor of the anniversary of the "fall" of the Berlin Wall and the flourishing of freedom in Eastern Germany:...
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