WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary….
Clear History
byVanderleunonOctober 24, 2021
If your life on the web is running too s l o w, if your browsing and grazing at this site or that is just b o g g i n g d o w n, what do you do?
Like any good cybernaut, you look for the “techno-fix.”
There are, of course, many fixes to find. New connections, new computers, new hard drives, new browsers, new plugins, and more. But the first thing everyone should do is to take the cure common to all cyberspace slowdowns. You click on your browser menus and tell it to “Clear History.”
“Clear History” works wonders for your cyberlife. As you move within the web, your History grows, and the more History you hold the slower your web brain, your browser, thinks and acts. Thinking slowly and acting slowly may be wise in life, but it takes the zip out of your online drive.
When you “Clear History” your browser forgets all the places it has been, all the things that it has seen, all of what it has learned. All that bitsludge is wiped away and your browser’s internal brain is made as smooth as a baby’s bottom, as blank as a goldfish’s brain. Things run faster, you get loaded more quickly and will probably stay loaded longer. You flash but you don’t crash. Why would you? You’ve “cleared your history.”
I probably didn’t have to tell you to “Clear History.” You knew it. Pretty much everyone knows it. But this better browsing tip seems, like many other dubious cyberspace insights, to have oozed out into the real world, into the world dimensional.
And when 2D goes 3D there’s always a problem.
Applying cyberspace notions to the world at large, like believing the GoogleMaps is the territory, is usually a mistake, but people, being people, are always eager to make new mistakes. After all, “cyberspace” explains so much, doesn’t it? Cyberspace has become the new paradigm and controlling metaphor of our age, supplanting the use of the computer as the controlling metaphor back in the last quarter of the 20th century, much as the idea of the “clockwork universe” caught on at the dawn of the Enlightenment as the Age of Reason was driven forward on the escapement of the highest tech of that time, the clock.
As humans, we prefer that our “things” define us. It is always easier to explain ourselves through things than to explain ourselves outright. If mistakes are made, well, “Things didn’t work out.”
Of course, during these intellectually eviscerated times we can look back on the clockwork universe of the Enlightenment as a time when giants walked Europe’s Cathedrals of Thought; Newton, Descartes, Voltaire, Montaigne, Kant, Hume, Jefferson…. the list is, as you know, still dominant though it be mainly male, all dead and very white. They all rose up in the age of clocks but they, in a real and metaphorical sense, wound the clocks. They “had” time and they would never “Clear History.”
As much as these founders of our world valued time, they valued History more. Out of that time and that History, the Enlightenment swept across the world. When that wave receded it left many gifts on these shores, not the least of which was “The Declaration of Independence” and “The Constitution of the United States.”
The Declaration and The Constitution: These two artifacts of history were the quintessence of the most revolutionary ideas to arise in the mind of man since …. not fire or the wheel, but previous… previous…. long before… since standing up on the hind legs.
Standing up happened before we began to become what we are now.
Standing up happened before the ancestors of who we are were what they were.
Standing up was, in that time long before the dream time, the most revolutionary idea life had had since the eye.
Standing up on the savannas of Africa gave you something the other animals didn’t have. On the flat plains it made you the high ground.
Standing up you could reach the low-hanging fruit and see down where the prey hid among the high grass. Standing up let you see other animals that saw you as prey. Standing up above the grasses let you see out across the plains of that savannah.
Standing up gave you the long view.
Standing up was the start of your story. It gave you the long view out towards the horizons, the horizons that you would walk towards over the long epochs until you were a man and then when you finally received the First Light, more than mere man the scavenger. You became man the hunter; you became “that paragon of animals”; a blend of the satanic and the divine, knowing both the Will of God and your own Free Will. Which is when you found — in a New World, among a myriad of thoughts within your remembered history — the thoughts that became, in that time and of that place, the Declaration and the Constitution. And from these thoughts, expressed in these ways, you discovered, for the second time in your long history, fire.
In the same way that Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is the revelation to the ear of a single, great thought, so the Declaration which began the American Revolution, and the Constitution which codified and expanded on it, are the revelation to the mind of a single, great thought: All men are created equal and henceforth and ever after must live free or die.
With the creation and ratification of those documents, the American Revolution became, and has remained, the chief export of these states to the world. The Revolution that began here with those documents continues today well into its third century as the most successful revolution in the affairs of man since Christ walked and died upon the earth. In a very real way, much to the distress of millions here and abroad, the American revolution is conjoined and inextricable from the continuing revolution of Christianity which seems either to lead it on or follow in its train.
“America” — by which I do not mean the United States but that greater embodiment of the two most powerful ideas of History, “Christianity & Freedom” — is to those who stand against it, within and without these states, a terrifying presence. It terrifies them because it is, as once we sang it, “a terrible swift sword.”
“America” should terrify tyrants of all creeds. “America” means the finish on Earth, once and for all, of all that is not free. Not soon, and perhaps not for some time to come, but in the end the American idea, if not America itself, will prove to be as unstoppable as man standing up on his hind legs.
You say you want a revolution? Here it is and here it has been for more than two centuries. And it is not over.
The Enlightenment, the American Revolution, the Judeo-Christian tradition, and all the wars that have been fought and all the men that have died to found, sustain, advance and defend them, have many things in common for all the differences that arise around and within them. Chief among these is that they do not ever “Clear History.”
Now the entire enterprise has again come up against another great idea that burns in the minds of men, the idea of submission and slavery; that all men are created to equally submit to an unchanging theology that recognizes only the will of a patriarchal god, and preaches that the human will can only find its freedom in a constant, repeat five times daily, submission to an omnipotent caliph who has decreed the way of all things, now and forever, world without end always.
It is an ancient idea, an early-medieval cult of the Old Testament, made new by the disastrous totalitarian and collectivist experiments of the 20th century in which “Slavery is Freedom.” Like the religion of Freedom embodied in and carried forward by the American Revolution, this religion also does not “Clear History.” Instead, it imprisons man forever within a “Stopped History;” a history that stopped before the coming of the escapement clock; a stopped history that finally was stopped in Europe with the fall of Grenada in January of 1492. In August of that year, Columbus sailed out from Palos in Spain and took his three ships westward. For Islam, history had stopped in the same year America’s began.
More than 500 years later, Freedom faces its ancient enemy once again on a battleground that lies hidden across the globe. Like all ideas that set fire to the minds of men and die back to become a root fire smoldering deep underground only to flare up when the fire wardens and watchmen are withdrawn, Islam is resurgent.
Islam thrives where men are oppressed either by governments or by economic systems that sustain ignorance, intolerance and exploitation beneath the trappings of democracy — from Beijing to Mexico City, from Russia to Rwanda. As a religion, many tyrants are pleased welcome and sustain Islam, especially when those tyrants come draped in the robes of the mullah.
Islam is a religion created to congeal and control the masses by removing, through rote learning and repetition, any idea that Freedom can be found outside of submission. Unlike the West which finds, again and again, that History can have no end, Islam finds that History does end, long ago, and the only task or “Restoration” in front of it is the restoration of that ancient age so that, at last and to the relief on many, History can have a stop in the steady state that is Islam.
Like Freedom, the release from History is another ancient yearning in the soul of man.
How happy it would be for most if History did not keep happening, if all things — no matter how confining — would simply stay the same from sunup to sundown, all through the night, from birth to death. What a bright world it would be if there was, at long last, a single system, a bright Utopia, in which all men were finally agreed and reconciled. How fortunate that endless age in which there was, finally, One World in which, through the infinite mercy of a perfect god or a perfect state, everyone had what they needed supplied by those with the ability.
This was the impulse that filled the global abattoirs of the 20th century whose bloody shadows are still seen today in the Third World, notably wherever the forces of Islam are predominant.
The Collectivist promise and pursuit of the Perfect World perfected only death. Its monuments, when not denied or paved over, are everywhere to be seen on the planet. It is a thing of such recent History, one so terrible that you would think it could not be easily “Cleared” by people who are the pure products of education in the West.
And yet we see, in our current political malaise, that there are many among us in these states who “Clear History” on a daily basis in order to keep their dark dream of a perfect world, a single world, a utopian realm, alive in the clear light of day. It is, as you can see today, even possible for these people to “Clear History” of a videotape of a woman having her throat cut and head severed in the name of Islam and to announce, yet again, that it is a religion of peace. With “Clear History” all erasures are possible.
This automatic ability to “Clear History” is a curious phenomenon. Something that is quite new.
Today’s “Clear History” is not the “Revisionism” common to the Marxist, Leninist, and Maoist of old, where history was remade with the destruction of texts, the alterations of photographs, the burning of books, and the issuing of the Party Line of the day to the faithful and the enslaved. “Clear History” is a complete and immediate blotting out of history en masse. It is accompanied by a careful retention of a fixed number of “historical facts” in a Curiosity Cabinet of Argument found in a dusty chamber filled with monuments to aged intellect; a go-to place where the only events of history worth keeping are those that buttress a reality that exists nowhere but must surely, in some future perfect day, come to exist everywhere.
For when you “Clear History” one of the things that go away in the real world are the books. And then you are left, not with History Books but that other ubiquitous element of cyberspace existence, Bookmarks.
The History of your browser tells me where you have been and what you have seen, but your Bookmarks tell me who you are and what you believe.
Mark Twain remarked, “You tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en I’ll tell you what his ‘pinions is.” Bookmarks are the corn pone from which your ‘pinions are baked, but if you have the kind of soul that has run “Clear History” on your life your ‘pinions are not likely to have any foundation in the long history of Freedom, but only yearn towards a Utopian tomorrow that never knows.
Much of the current disunity seen in our politics arises between those who ran “Clear History” in November of 2000, and those who saw History return with a vengeance in September of 2001.
One group is determined to deny History, expunge the Declaration, and shred the Constitution in pursuit of a utopia that’s buried in a global network of mass graves. Another group is composed of those who believe in the American idea and are determined let this new birth of freedom work its way across the world. Absent a defining historical event of global significance, this twain shall not meet. There is, of course, a third group of people who want to merely get on with their happy world untroubled by History, either cleared or present as a clear and present danger.
This last group is exemplified best, in my mind, by the young man who works as a night checker in my neighborhood market. He’s bright, quick, genuine and affable. He’s anything but dumb and is just passing through the market job on his way to other, larger things. I like him and have taken to a kind of banter with my frequent forays into this handy store. Saturday I was picking up something and we got to a bit of quick conversation in which I happened to quote the old saw of “Those who don’t remember history are condemned to repeat it.”
He replied, “Oh, I don’t know anything about history. I never paid any attention to it.”
“Well, you should,” I said, “because history is paying attention to you.”
I don’t think he got it, but I’ll still give him one of my history books the next time I’m in for a quart of milk. Twenty years of schooling and he’s got no History to clear.
Great essay on a fascinating, disturbing, topic. I am never able to understand why any, let alone so many, Americans, born into this gorgeous, apex society, prefer to destroy said society rather than to making a contribution to her further success. Although, that is dumb of me, I suppose, because the leftists I know do firmly believe they are improving our system. Grrrrr. That is the cognitive dissonance I cannot reconcile.
I’d be interested in the young cashier’s response to your gift of a history book.
James Wilson, I’d be interested in what some of those nuggets are that can easily be passed on as comments to young people.
I often tease the young cashiers in a silly way. When I am asked if I have the frequent buyer club card, I tell ’em, no, I would never want to be in a club that would have me as a member. … Groucho Marx…? And, to a one, they’ve never hoird of him..
ghostsniperOctober 24, 2021, 4:56 AM
Locks protect you from honest people.
Shotguns protect you from dishonest people.
The constitution was written for honest people.
It has no shotguns and dishonest people have murdered it.
Look at all the ways the constitution has been violated, because of the lack of shotguns.
The next, and last, amendment to the Constitution should be all about the shotguns.
With maybe a byline on where and how to store or dispose of the dishonest people in that regard.
Aaaa ghost, I see it differently. It IS the constitution which holds the left at bay. Those Framers, old Drunks and womanizers, were amazing men. I look forward to one day sitting and chat with them over a pint.
We The People will never allow, Govt, to dumb down the founding document. Just not going to happen.
VI
ghostsniperOctober 24, 2021, 10:12 AM
Where is the left being held at bay? Maybe I missed something. For 2 years they have been committing every crime you can imagine with little if any repercussions. Even the theft of the presidency itself.
As far as “will never allow”, they already did and will continue to do so.
I keep reading all over the place that the gov’t is fearful (afraid of us) of the citizenry (because of their trillions of guns?). In what kind of Twilight Zone does the attacker repeatedly attack the victim(s) he is fearful of?
Remember, GW Bush said, “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”.
My friend the law of the constitution is In forced daily throughout this great nation. It’s routine, we only here the alarming crap from MSM. In these United States there’s far more good going on then bad.
Don’t let ‘em get you down with their chickens-shit-ese.
ghostsniperOctober 24, 2021, 5:06 PM
You’re sidestepping Dirk. I was very specific in what I wrote, and you disputed it with nothing to back it.
Gun law 1934 is in DIRECT violation of the constitution.
There are thousands of other instances.
I agree, the laws are arbitrarily created and enforced, again, in DIRECT violation of that parchment under glass.
We live in an imperfect world, a Republic, not a democracy. The constitution is administered by men, men who interpret it differently “ thinking Case Law”.
As for the gun Act, apparently, it’s not in direct violation of the law, it is still on the books.
That you, me, our broad circle of conservatives don’t like it, don’t agree with it, doesn’t make it unlawful.
Ghost, over the years like the past thirty, I don’t agree with a lot of what’s handed down by the courts, especially SCOTUS.
It is rare that We The People take the time to read the case as presented in their entirety, we make irrational choices, based on what we think, not the facts. Having spent twenty-five years in Enforcement, weekly in court, I’ve learned a thing or two.
I rarely have an opinion without reviewing the case the written case. I do, admittedly that’s an emotional response. Laws, as written, are an interesting process, example, Burglary, = entry into a “Dwelling” with the intent to commit a crime, burg 1,
Other examples. Anyway, an officer or agent uses the elements of the written law to make an arrest, probable cause. Yet words have different meanings, a different standing within the law. Think Black’s dictionary for the legal meaning.
When one goes to court to testify against the perp, an entirely different set of rules are given to the jury, “ Rules of Evidence” has zero to do with the law as written, and often is contradictory to a probable cause arrest.
The jury or the judge applying sentence will use ROE, to determine preponderance of the evidence. Which is 99%.
What I’m saying is, that there are rules within rules, that the majority of citizens don’t even know exist. I believe it’s intentional, written by lawyers, for lawyers.
In fact, my wife’s uncle was president of the California BAR association for many years. He and I still sit and I would be educated as to the ins and outs of the law. Very fortunate, most cops could care less, they write their cases based on Prob cause and don’t look back.
To summarize what I think I’m saying is: We The People RARELY know the entire story. And those who do take the time to understand, are then bit in the ass, by special rules, and how exactly they are applied.
Have you read Unintended Consequences! “ Ross”? That the very act you speak of should have never passed, should have never been reviewed at the highest levels. I believe this is accurate, after many many months of personal scrutiny. Yet here we are.
The systems are flawed!
I’ve lived all over the world, I would say this, about that. As flawed as the system is, I’ll take our system over any other system I’ve been around. Ghost, I still believe in these United States.
Dirk Williams
ghostsniperOctober 25, 2021, 10:00 AM
Black’s Law Dictionary is probably the most worn book on my extended shelf over the past 40 years. Laws within laws does not change the term “…shall not be infringed…”, it simply creates a toehold for criminals in the system.
THAT is specifically what I was directing my rant at. That there are no built-in safeguards within the constitution to provide penalty for any attempts at slurring the document.
I think you believe this system is still OK because you have not been victimized severely yet and you are willing to bend to accommodate. As the system ratchets more toward full blown tyranny you’ll have to figure out what side you’re on. I already know what side I’m on.
MICHAEL MALONEOctober 24, 2021, 8:59 AM
“I’d be interested in what some of those nuggets are that can easily be passed on as comments to young people.”
One that I find particularly clarifying, and certainly not something I thought up myself. Might have been Thomas Sowell or even some commenter here. To paraphrase:
“For nearly all of human history great wealth has been acquired by theft or conquest. Only with the emergence of individual liberty and capitalist has the accumulation of wealth been enabled by producing things, or providing services, that people want and purchase on a voluntary basis.”
I would add that the transition to a voluntary market economy has not been a smooth, undisrupted process, but then what has been?
Kevin in PAOctober 24, 2021, 9:14 AM
Some weeks ago, AD commenter, Ghostsniper offered very solid advice to young folks – SELF EMPLOYMENT. It’s a big one.
One that I would add is – READ. Not novels and not on FB, Twatter, or that crap. Read history, read economics, read philosophy, learn new things often and start by reading about them. Read about other cultures. Read about discoveries. READ!
ghostsniperOctober 24, 2021, 11:02 AM
Thank you Kevin, for remembering.
I’m going to take it a step further.
I remember being an employee, some 33 times, more than 30 years ago.
By age 31 I had had 33 jobs, ranging in length from 1 day (carpenter for a criminal asshole) to 4 years (army) and hated every single second of my time in them. Because I was on my own I always had to be able to pay my way and like everybody else schooled in the 60’s and 70’s that meant getting a job. The belittling process of filling out applications then enduring interviews and all the while hoping upon hope that you get the job cause, you need the fucking money!
When unemployed back then you always had multiple applications and interviews in the works and whichever one was better or called first that is where you went because, money! The employers always held 1 or 2 weeks back so that was always a critical time. Rents and all the other things you need money for just won’t wait but wait they will til you finally get that first paycheck.
For me, in the wait for that first check, was when I would realize I was in another dead-end job that while it paid me money was killing my life, my soul, and was run entirely by assholes. If the job was tolerable I tried to be the model employee in the hopes that I would move up the ladder to a position that was preferable and possibly more money. In the meantime I blended in, said all the right stuff to all the right people and wore my employee badge like a good employee. Always working for the weekend and when the weekend was over it was back to the miserable grinding stone. People would say, and I said it too, cause I was a good employee, “Don’t work too hard!”, and then we’d laff, laff, laff. Get to wok a few minutes late, leave a few minutes early, make lunch last a few minutes longer, etc. Anything to avoid the mentally crushing reality of employment slavery run by retarded massah’s.
Luck favored me on job 33 in that the employer hired me under the premise of a subcontractor. Say what? What is this subcontractor business? I never heard of it before. I would soon learn everything about it, and much much more.
Employer 33 did not steal a portion of my paycheck each week nor did he hold a week or 2 of my money. I worked 8-10 hours a day Mon-Sat and on each Fri he gave me ALL of the money I had earned. Wow. $5.50 an hour was pretty big at the time (1983) when I got ALL of it.
The first thing I learned as a subcontractor was that I could do work for many people rather than just one. I was working as an architectural designer (AD) with this employer and I found out that there were a lot of people out there wanting to hire AD’s for private projects and they were paying much more than I was earning at my main job. So I started doing side jobs and as long as I performed supremely at my primary job my employer wasn’t concerned. I took on all work that came my way and didn’t turn anything down. People were pleased with my work and referred me to other people.
While working as I had been for that first year I was doing a lot of thinking, about my work, and how to be better at it. I was constantly paying attention, learning how to listen and speak to people more successful than me, and constantly improving. Soon, about 1.5-2 years after getting the subcontracting job, I realized I was making more money at my side gigs than at my primary job. In effect, my primary job was costing me money.
I told my employer I need more money and he boosted me to $6.50 but the novelty soon wore off and I was thinking the same thing all over again. During all of this I was taking classes at nights and weekends and doing side job for architects and engineers to get accreditation for a future goal. I was also listening to inspirational tapes by people like Earl Nightingale, Zig Ziglar, and a host of others. I was eating this shit up with a big ol’ pudding spoon. See, my mind wasn’t caged by stultifying singular employment any longer, so it soared in all directions at once. This was, for me, a major step in freedom, the freedom of the mind!
Now, when I heard some say, “Don’t work to hard.”, I saw that person through different eyes. They were a mere employee, a slave, doomed to be stupid and worked to death for the rest of their life. I had no time for such nonsense. Many of my “friends” were left behind in the intellectual ghetto’s they couldn’t break out of no matter what I said to them. I couldn’t let them drag me backwards. New friends came along the way, with a similar mindset to mine. Movers, shakers, self employed people that are used to getting lots of stuff done every dam day. I had a new wife, then I had a son, and both of them depended on me, they gave me additional drive.
I worked 100+ hour weeks for 5 years straight before I took anytime away from my work. My wife and son and I went to Disney World for 2 days. Then it was back to work. It wasn’t work to me. It was so much more. Work sounds like drudgery, something that you don’t really want to and prefer doing something else. The word “work” was redefined for me, now meaning “opportunity”.
Beyond the work, or opportunity, something else happened. My mind expanded 10 fold, 100 fold, unlimited. Before, when I was in school, and when I was an employee, my mind was limited by invisible forces. Neither was I encouraged to think. Until age 31 I was pretty much a child. I didn’t know that at the time as I thought I was a grown adult in all ways. But now I realize that I was driving around inside a body with the parking brake on and all the windows were deeply tinted and soundproof. I was a product of my environment and I was a slave.
Sometimes I think about the amazing opportunity that crossed my path 30+ years ago that was the catalyst for who I am today. If not for that very fortunate circumstance, of meeting subcontract employer number 33, I would probably continued as I had been, and never gotten the opportunity to taste the closet thing to true freedom a person in this world can. All you really have is your time and when most of it is controlled by others you aren’t really living, you are merely surviving. You can be so much more, but only if you think you deserve it. So, SOAR!, or, “Don’t work too hard”, your choice.
Kevin in PAOctober 24, 2021, 11:46 AM
“All you really have is your time and when most of it is controlled by others you aren’t really living, you are merely surviving. You can be so much more, but only if you think you deserve it. So, SOAR!, or, “Don’t work too hard”, your choice.”
Absolutely correct.
Each one of us has a certain allotment of time in unknown quantity. Use it wisely, for you will never get it back. It is your one and only life. Don’t waste it.
Boat GuyOctober 25, 2021, 2:41 AM
When you find your calling, it may still be “work” but you can soar in it. My best situation found me rising with the thought “I get to go to work today!” .
I no longer have a “job” now I just work. I am busier than ever and compensated in many ways
Kevin in PAOctober 24, 2021, 9:09 AM
An absolutely brilliant piece, Gerard. Thank you. It was a refreshing read for this Sunday morning.
“Twenty years of schooling and he’s got no History to clear.” Wow. Yes, you’ve got to start somewhere. I would put it to him that “if you don’t know your past, you can’t know your future.” (Bob Marley) and also suggest that after his “twenty years of schooling” he should be put on the day-shift….or maybe Bob Dylan was incorrect. 😉
A trademark of Islam, Communism and totalitarian dictators everywhere is always the attempt to deny history (aka historical fact, aka TRUTH). Ah, but they never learn. History will not be denied. Truth eventually is revealed. Dictatorships end badly. And God will not be mocked.
To Ghost’s comment -“The constitution was written for honest people.
It has no shotguns and dishonest people have murdered it.”
I tend to think the Founders had in mind that an informed, active, and engaged citizenry would be the “shotgun” of which you speak. Sadly, the nature of modern man’s existence is such that staying properly informed and engaged is apparently too burdensome for the average citizen/voter. Hence politicos of all stripe take full advantage of the lack of demand for accountability from citizens….and here we are.
Also, do not forget that T. Jefferson, in a letter to Madison, responding to the latter’s concern about the Shay’s Rebellion, Jefferson said “the tree of liberty should be replenished from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants alike.” In a somewhat shocked reply, Madison queried T.J. on his thoughts of how often was this “time to time” thing, and Jefferson replied, about every 20 years or so!
So, the remedy is there. It’s available, but it is very unpalatable to most, especially since the War Between the States, aka – the American Civil War (War of Northern Aggression) was lost by the seceding party.
To dirk’s comment – “We The People will never allow, Govt, to dumb down the founding document. Just not going to happen.” Sorry, but that train has left the station.
The above-mentioned altercation between the secessionist and the statists clearly decided that the founding principle of the right to leave the agreement / terminate the contract would not be allowed.
Moving forward to other examples; What exactly does “shall not be infringed” mean if statute can override fundamental law?
Or, how about this one – How can the congress abrogate its proscribe duty and establish the so-called “Federal Reserve Act” (there is nothing federal about it and there are no reserves), thereby placing United States monetary policy in the control of an international banking cartel and subsequently subverting the monetary system set forth by the Founding Documents? Refer to Art. 1 Sec.10 Cl. 1.2.1 – No state shall “make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.”
The answer: They can do anything they want, as long as no one objects and holds them accountable, by any means necessary.
And so, my friends, those words on paper – the revered Constitution for the United States, are nothing more than words on paper that slick lawyers will pervert and distort to suit their own aims….until men of action hold them accountable.
It has been all shits and giggles for a couple-three generations and now the end of the eternal prosperity rainbow is near. Politicos are great at blowing big bubbles and making promises of good times forever.
Nothing lasts forever. Only children believe that.
In times of reasonable comfort and stability, very few consider what hard times might look like. They simply can’t imagine. I believe Western Civilization in general and America in particular is headed to that place where life is not so easy and struggle is the norm.
…and well, I’ll comment on all 3 preceding comments by adding Jaynie in.
“leftists I know do firmly believe they are improving our system. Grrrrr. That is the cognitive dissonance I cannot reconcile.”
I don’t think it is dissonance. They are true believers in the collectivist idea. They are quite often ruled more by their emotions than factual knowledge. Hence, they are ignorant of economics, history, the demonstrable cause and effect of bad policy, etc., but they are so swayed by emotional pleas for climate justice (I’m still trying to figure that one out), social justice, racial equity and all the rest. In other words, it’s all about their feelings of fairness, of doing the right thing, and that makes them superior in their own minds.
RESIST.
START BY TELLING THE TRUTH.
Boat GuyOctober 25, 2021, 2:54 AM
I’m with you, Kevin. I some time ago found that telling the truth was the simplest and best course of action.
The secesionists may have lost because they had not cleaned their own house first. Attributed to Gen Longstreet was the comment ” We should have freed the blacks and then fired on Fort Sumter”.
People assume that because we have not yet held the criminal class accountable that we never will. I think this to be erroneous. Time will tell.
TerryOctober 24, 2021, 2:21 PM
Great and timely post and comment thread.
I want to keep this comment short due to time restraints. My wife and I are history buffs. My wife inherited thousands of books from her mothers collection that filled their home from floor to ceiling including the double garage and attic. Some are now stored in a 45′ long semi van trailer, others in a 40′ semi van trailer and stacks upon stacks in a warehouse we own.
My wife’s mother was the daughter of a German chemist who escaped the NAZI’s in the 1930’s to avoid Hitlers coming hell. The point here is, his daughter and son were from excellent genetic material.
Many of the books we have gone through are in english and are extremely rare (valuable) items and many of those are history books.
We being buffs of history are particularly interested in American history and have read many excellent books on the subject.
For someone interested in American history, you do not need to search out rare books. A superb current book on American history is available here:
This book will or should instill an appetite for more education on the subject of where we as current day Americans came from and how absolutely fantastic the founders were.
The USA is the greatest nation in the world’s history. Read history and you too will believe this fact if you do not already.
ghostsniperOctober 24, 2021, 2:40 PM
Very good.
I hope you’re protecting them books from mildew.
Dehumidifier.
And insects.
Traps and flypaper strips.
TerryOctober 24, 2021, 4:30 PM
We are attempting to protect the books as best we can. Storage area is high elevation in Nevada. Very low humidity and few insects. Some books (a few hundred) are in a more serious storage at our home in Idaho. We really need to find the time and start seriously cataloging these books. The task will be daunting due to the huge number of books. One of the trucks we rented to move books from the house in Sacramento, CA to our place over the Sierra Nevada mountains did not have sufficient engine power. I had to use 1st gear to get over the HWY 50 pass. V-10 Ford van and 5 MPH.
I was one pissed off “trucker”. When we had all this load packed in a trailer, I opened one of the boxes the books were stored in and removed the first volume my hand grasped. Never heard of it or the author. My wife suggested I look it up on the web. Used book seller listed this exact book at a value of $1200 in “good” condition. I do not remember the title but know it is in the home library here on a shelf with other collectors books.
Needless to say my appreciation of what my wife insisted we haul out of Sacramento and to Nevada, changed dramatically . . .
I am leery of even handling some of these books due to their age and possible reduced structural integrity.
ghostsniperOctober 24, 2021, 5:15 PM
That stuff will be gold in the future Terry.
Kevin in PAOctober 25, 2021, 1:59 AM
I second that recommendation to read Fischer’s Book – Paul Revere’s Ride.
The book offers insights into the events leading up to that famous ride…. and yes, great appreciation for the men that gave us the greatest country ever known to man.
Boat GuyOctober 25, 2021, 3:03 AM
I’ll pile on to the endorsement of “Paul Revere’s Ride”and recommend Fischer’s “Washington’s Crossing” as well. As I read and appreciate the legacy and example we have inherited, I am strengthened and encouraged that we can do as well. Can we do any less?
I understand (I believe) what hardships likely lie ahead, but again, can we do any less?
gwOctober 24, 2021, 4:18 PM
Very insightful, some profound points.
Auntie AnalogueOctober 24, 2021, 5:54 PM
“A person without memory is either a child or an amnesiac. A country without memory is neither a child nor an amnesiac, but neither is it a country.” – Mary Astor (1906-1987)
Kevin in PAOctober 25, 2021, 2:01 AM
Oh that’s a good one, Auntie!
SWVaguyOctober 25, 2021, 4:51 AM
For some reason, I’m reminded of a quote from Moscow on Hudson. Robin Williams’ character at one point gets annoyed at one of his acquaintances. “In Moscow, we have to fight for a crumb of freedom. Here, you shit on it.”
iggyOctober 25, 2021, 4:49 PM
Well, it started out OK.
Just to reveal the obvious – the Declaration of Independence was revolutionary; the CONstitution was/is counter-revolutionary. The CONstitution was adopted in a criminal manner, ie not in accordance with the law of the land, the Articles of Confederation. The CONstitution restored the banksters control; the so-called division of power, the much vaunted checks and balances was simply substituting “president” for king, “CONgress” for parliament, and “supreme court” for well – supreme court.
Nothing new there.
To loosely quote Lysander Spooner “The constitution has either permitted the government we have to exist, or been powerless to prevent it. In either case it is unfit to exist”.
Oh yes “judeo-Christian”? There is no such thing, and there never was. Christ came to earth NOT to tell the pharisees & saducees – you guys got it, keep on keepin’ on – no, he pointed out that their actions and belief system – the traditions of men, was not of GOD, but of their father the devil.
Judaism is not of the Bible, it is of the talmud – traditions of men. Please, look it up – try the Jewish encyclopedia for starters.
Christ said that those who would not have him did not have the father, GOD.
Christ is regarded as the greatest “anti-semite” to exist; anti-semite being a non-nonsensical term; semite meaning a descendant of Shem, which also included Ishmael.
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
If your life on the web is running too s l o w, if your browsing and grazing at this site or that is just b o g g i n g d o w n, what do you do?
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
Great essay on a fascinating, disturbing, topic. I am never able to understand why any, let alone so many, Americans, born into this gorgeous, apex society, prefer to destroy said society rather than to making a contribution to her further success. Although, that is dumb of me, I suppose, because the leftists I know do firmly believe they are improving our system. Grrrrr. That is the cognitive dissonance I cannot reconcile.
I’d be interested in the young cashier’s response to your gift of a history book.
James Wilson, I’d be interested in what some of those nuggets are that can easily be passed on as comments to young people.
I often tease the young cashiers in a silly way. When I am asked if I have the frequent buyer club card, I tell ’em, no, I would never want to be in a club that would have me as a member. … Groucho Marx…? And, to a one, they’ve never hoird of him..
Locks protect you from honest people.
Shotguns protect you from dishonest people.
The constitution was written for honest people.
It has no shotguns and dishonest people have murdered it.
Look at all the ways the constitution has been violated, because of the lack of shotguns.
The next, and last, amendment to the Constitution should be all about the shotguns.
With maybe a byline on where and how to store or dispose of the dishonest people in that regard.
Aaaa ghost, I see it differently. It IS the constitution which holds the left at bay. Those Framers, old Drunks and womanizers, were amazing men. I look forward to one day sitting and chat with them over a pint.
We The People will never allow, Govt, to dumb down the founding document. Just not going to happen.
VI
Where is the left being held at bay? Maybe I missed something. For 2 years they have been committing every crime you can imagine with little if any repercussions. Even the theft of the presidency itself.
As far as “will never allow”, they already did and will continue to do so.
I keep reading all over the place that the gov’t is fearful (afraid of us) of the citizenry (because of their trillions of guns?). In what kind of Twilight Zone does the attacker repeatedly attack the victim(s) he is fearful of?
Remember, GW Bush said, “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”.
My friend the law of the constitution is In forced daily throughout this great nation. It’s routine, we only here the alarming crap from MSM. In these United States there’s far more good going on then bad.
Don’t let ‘em get you down with their chickens-shit-ese.
You’re sidestepping Dirk. I was very specific in what I wrote, and you disputed it with nothing to back it.
Gun law 1934 is in DIRECT violation of the constitution.
There are thousands of other instances.
I agree, the laws are arbitrarily created and enforced, again, in DIRECT violation of that parchment under glass.
We live in an imperfect world, a Republic, not a democracy. The constitution is administered by men, men who interpret it differently “ thinking Case Law”.
As for the gun Act, apparently, it’s not in direct violation of the law, it is still on the books.
That you, me, our broad circle of conservatives don’t like it, don’t agree with it, doesn’t make it unlawful.
Ghost, over the years like the past thirty, I don’t agree with a lot of what’s handed down by the courts, especially SCOTUS.
It is rare that We The People take the time to read the case as presented in their entirety, we make irrational choices, based on what we think, not the facts. Having spent twenty-five years in Enforcement, weekly in court, I’ve learned a thing or two.
I rarely have an opinion without reviewing the case the written case. I do, admittedly that’s an emotional response. Laws, as written, are an interesting process, example, Burglary, = entry into a “Dwelling” with the intent to commit a crime, burg 1,
Other examples. Anyway, an officer or agent uses the elements of the written law to make an arrest, probable cause. Yet words have different meanings, a different standing within the law. Think Black’s dictionary for the legal meaning.
When one goes to court to testify against the perp, an entirely different set of rules are given to the jury, “ Rules of Evidence” has zero to do with the law as written, and often is contradictory to a probable cause arrest.
The jury or the judge applying sentence will use ROE, to determine preponderance of the evidence. Which is 99%.
What I’m saying is, that there are rules within rules, that the majority of citizens don’t even know exist. I believe it’s intentional, written by lawyers, for lawyers.
In fact, my wife’s uncle was president of the California BAR association for many years. He and I still sit and I would be educated as to the ins and outs of the law. Very fortunate, most cops could care less, they write their cases based on Prob cause and don’t look back.
To summarize what I think I’m saying is: We The People RARELY know the entire story. And those who do take the time to understand, are then bit in the ass, by special rules, and how exactly they are applied.
Have you read Unintended Consequences! “ Ross”? That the very act you speak of should have never passed, should have never been reviewed at the highest levels. I believe this is accurate, after many many months of personal scrutiny. Yet here we are.
The systems are flawed!
I’ve lived all over the world, I would say this, about that. As flawed as the system is, I’ll take our system over any other system I’ve been around. Ghost, I still believe in these United States.
Dirk Williams
Black’s Law Dictionary is probably the most worn book on my extended shelf over the past 40 years. Laws within laws does not change the term “…shall not be infringed…”, it simply creates a toehold for criminals in the system.
THAT is specifically what I was directing my rant at. That there are no built-in safeguards within the constitution to provide penalty for any attempts at slurring the document.
I think you believe this system is still OK because you have not been victimized severely yet and you are willing to bend to accommodate. As the system ratchets more toward full blown tyranny you’ll have to figure out what side you’re on. I already know what side I’m on.
“I’d be interested in what some of those nuggets are that can easily be passed on as comments to young people.”
One that I find particularly clarifying, and certainly not something I thought up myself. Might have been Thomas Sowell or even some commenter here. To paraphrase:
“For nearly all of human history great wealth has been acquired by theft or conquest. Only with the emergence of individual liberty and capitalist has the accumulation of wealth been enabled by producing things, or providing services, that people want and purchase on a voluntary basis.”
I would add that the transition to a voluntary market economy has not been a smooth, undisrupted process, but then what has been?
Some weeks ago, AD commenter, Ghostsniper offered very solid advice to young folks – SELF EMPLOYMENT. It’s a big one.
One that I would add is – READ. Not novels and not on FB, Twatter, or that crap. Read history, read economics, read philosophy, learn new things often and start by reading about them. Read about other cultures. Read about discoveries. READ!
Thank you Kevin, for remembering.
I’m going to take it a step further.
I remember being an employee, some 33 times, more than 30 years ago.
By age 31 I had had 33 jobs, ranging in length from 1 day (carpenter for a criminal asshole) to 4 years (army) and hated every single second of my time in them. Because I was on my own I always had to be able to pay my way and like everybody else schooled in the 60’s and 70’s that meant getting a job. The belittling process of filling out applications then enduring interviews and all the while hoping upon hope that you get the job cause, you need the fucking money!
When unemployed back then you always had multiple applications and interviews in the works and whichever one was better or called first that is where you went because, money! The employers always held 1 or 2 weeks back so that was always a critical time. Rents and all the other things you need money for just won’t wait but wait they will til you finally get that first paycheck.
For me, in the wait for that first check, was when I would realize I was in another dead-end job that while it paid me money was killing my life, my soul, and was run entirely by assholes. If the job was tolerable I tried to be the model employee in the hopes that I would move up the ladder to a position that was preferable and possibly more money. In the meantime I blended in, said all the right stuff to all the right people and wore my employee badge like a good employee. Always working for the weekend and when the weekend was over it was back to the miserable grinding stone. People would say, and I said it too, cause I was a good employee, “Don’t work too hard!”, and then we’d laff, laff, laff. Get to wok a few minutes late, leave a few minutes early, make lunch last a few minutes longer, etc. Anything to avoid the mentally crushing reality of employment slavery run by retarded massah’s.
Luck favored me on job 33 in that the employer hired me under the premise of a subcontractor. Say what? What is this subcontractor business? I never heard of it before. I would soon learn everything about it, and much much more.
Employer 33 did not steal a portion of my paycheck each week nor did he hold a week or 2 of my money. I worked 8-10 hours a day Mon-Sat and on each Fri he gave me ALL of the money I had earned. Wow. $5.50 an hour was pretty big at the time (1983) when I got ALL of it.
The first thing I learned as a subcontractor was that I could do work for many people rather than just one. I was working as an architectural designer (AD) with this employer and I found out that there were a lot of people out there wanting to hire AD’s for private projects and they were paying much more than I was earning at my main job. So I started doing side jobs and as long as I performed supremely at my primary job my employer wasn’t concerned. I took on all work that came my way and didn’t turn anything down. People were pleased with my work and referred me to other people.
While working as I had been for that first year I was doing a lot of thinking, about my work, and how to be better at it. I was constantly paying attention, learning how to listen and speak to people more successful than me, and constantly improving. Soon, about 1.5-2 years after getting the subcontracting job, I realized I was making more money at my side gigs than at my primary job. In effect, my primary job was costing me money.
I told my employer I need more money and he boosted me to $6.50 but the novelty soon wore off and I was thinking the same thing all over again. During all of this I was taking classes at nights and weekends and doing side job for architects and engineers to get accreditation for a future goal. I was also listening to inspirational tapes by people like Earl Nightingale, Zig Ziglar, and a host of others. I was eating this shit up with a big ol’ pudding spoon. See, my mind wasn’t caged by stultifying singular employment any longer, so it soared in all directions at once. This was, for me, a major step in freedom, the freedom of the mind!
Now, when I heard some say, “Don’t work to hard.”, I saw that person through different eyes. They were a mere employee, a slave, doomed to be stupid and worked to death for the rest of their life. I had no time for such nonsense. Many of my “friends” were left behind in the intellectual ghetto’s they couldn’t break out of no matter what I said to them. I couldn’t let them drag me backwards. New friends came along the way, with a similar mindset to mine. Movers, shakers, self employed people that are used to getting lots of stuff done every dam day. I had a new wife, then I had a son, and both of them depended on me, they gave me additional drive.
I worked 100+ hour weeks for 5 years straight before I took anytime away from my work. My wife and son and I went to Disney World for 2 days. Then it was back to work. It wasn’t work to me. It was so much more. Work sounds like drudgery, something that you don’t really want to and prefer doing something else. The word “work” was redefined for me, now meaning “opportunity”.
Beyond the work, or opportunity, something else happened. My mind expanded 10 fold, 100 fold, unlimited. Before, when I was in school, and when I was an employee, my mind was limited by invisible forces. Neither was I encouraged to think. Until age 31 I was pretty much a child. I didn’t know that at the time as I thought I was a grown adult in all ways. But now I realize that I was driving around inside a body with the parking brake on and all the windows were deeply tinted and soundproof. I was a product of my environment and I was a slave.
Sometimes I think about the amazing opportunity that crossed my path 30+ years ago that was the catalyst for who I am today. If not for that very fortunate circumstance, of meeting subcontract employer number 33, I would probably continued as I had been, and never gotten the opportunity to taste the closet thing to true freedom a person in this world can. All you really have is your time and when most of it is controlled by others you aren’t really living, you are merely surviving. You can be so much more, but only if you think you deserve it. So, SOAR!, or, “Don’t work too hard”, your choice.
“All you really have is your time and when most of it is controlled by others you aren’t really living, you are merely surviving. You can be so much more, but only if you think you deserve it. So, SOAR!, or, “Don’t work too hard”, your choice.”
Absolutely correct.
Each one of us has a certain allotment of time in unknown quantity. Use it wisely, for you will never get it back. It is your one and only life. Don’t waste it.
When you find your calling, it may still be “work” but you can soar in it. My best situation found me rising with the thought “I get to go to work today!” .
I no longer have a “job” now I just work. I am busier than ever and compensated in many ways
An absolutely brilliant piece, Gerard. Thank you. It was a refreshing read for this Sunday morning.
“Twenty years of schooling and he’s got no History to clear.” Wow. Yes, you’ve got to start somewhere. I would put it to him that “if you don’t know your past, you can’t know your future.” (Bob Marley) and also suggest that after his “twenty years of schooling” he should be put on the day-shift….or maybe Bob Dylan was incorrect. 😉
A trademark of Islam, Communism and totalitarian dictators everywhere is always the attempt to deny history (aka historical fact, aka TRUTH). Ah, but they never learn. History will not be denied. Truth eventually is revealed. Dictatorships end badly. And God will not be mocked.
To Ghost’s comment -“The constitution was written for honest people.
It has no shotguns and dishonest people have murdered it.”
I tend to think the Founders had in mind that an informed, active, and engaged citizenry would be the “shotgun” of which you speak. Sadly, the nature of modern man’s existence is such that staying properly informed and engaged is apparently too burdensome for the average citizen/voter. Hence politicos of all stripe take full advantage of the lack of demand for accountability from citizens….and here we are.
Also, do not forget that T. Jefferson, in a letter to Madison, responding to the latter’s concern about the Shay’s Rebellion, Jefferson said “the tree of liberty should be replenished from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants alike.” In a somewhat shocked reply, Madison queried T.J. on his thoughts of how often was this “time to time” thing, and Jefferson replied, about every 20 years or so!
So, the remedy is there. It’s available, but it is very unpalatable to most, especially since the War Between the States, aka – the American Civil War (War of Northern Aggression) was lost by the seceding party.
To dirk’s comment – “We The People will never allow, Govt, to dumb down the founding document. Just not going to happen.” Sorry, but that train has left the station.
The above-mentioned altercation between the secessionist and the statists clearly decided that the founding principle of the right to leave the agreement / terminate the contract would not be allowed.
Moving forward to other examples; What exactly does “shall not be infringed” mean if statute can override fundamental law?
Or, how about this one – How can the congress abrogate its proscribe duty and establish the so-called “Federal Reserve Act” (there is nothing federal about it and there are no reserves), thereby placing United States monetary policy in the control of an international banking cartel and subsequently subverting the monetary system set forth by the Founding Documents? Refer to Art. 1 Sec.10 Cl. 1.2.1 – No state shall “make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.”
The answer: They can do anything they want, as long as no one objects and holds them accountable, by any means necessary.
And so, my friends, those words on paper – the revered Constitution for the United States, are nothing more than words on paper that slick lawyers will pervert and distort to suit their own aims….until men of action hold them accountable.
It has been all shits and giggles for a couple-three generations and now the end of the eternal prosperity rainbow is near. Politicos are great at blowing big bubbles and making promises of good times forever.
Nothing lasts forever. Only children believe that.
In times of reasonable comfort and stability, very few consider what hard times might look like. They simply can’t imagine. I believe Western Civilization in general and America in particular is headed to that place where life is not so easy and struggle is the norm.
…and well, I’ll comment on all 3 preceding comments by adding Jaynie in.
“leftists I know do firmly believe they are improving our system. Grrrrr. That is the cognitive dissonance I cannot reconcile.”
I don’t think it is dissonance. They are true believers in the collectivist idea. They are quite often ruled more by their emotions than factual knowledge. Hence, they are ignorant of economics, history, the demonstrable cause and effect of bad policy, etc., but they are so swayed by emotional pleas for climate justice (I’m still trying to figure that one out), social justice, racial equity and all the rest. In other words, it’s all about their feelings of fairness, of doing the right thing, and that makes them superior in their own minds.
RESIST.
START BY TELLING THE TRUTH.
I’m with you, Kevin. I some time ago found that telling the truth was the simplest and best course of action.
The secesionists may have lost because they had not cleaned their own house first. Attributed to Gen Longstreet was the comment ” We should have freed the blacks and then fired on Fort Sumter”.
People assume that because we have not yet held the criminal class accountable that we never will. I think this to be erroneous. Time will tell.
Great and timely post and comment thread.
I want to keep this comment short due to time restraints. My wife and I are history buffs. My wife inherited thousands of books from her mothers collection that filled their home from floor to ceiling including the double garage and attic. Some are now stored in a 45′ long semi van trailer, others in a 40′ semi van trailer and stacks upon stacks in a warehouse we own.
My wife’s mother was the daughter of a German chemist who escaped the NAZI’s in the 1930’s to avoid Hitlers coming hell. The point here is, his daughter and son were from excellent genetic material.
Many of the books we have gone through are in english and are extremely rare (valuable) items and many of those are history books.
We being buffs of history are particularly interested in American history and have read many excellent books on the subject.
For someone interested in American history, you do not need to search out rare books. A superb current book on American history is available here:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32080.Paul_Revere_s_Ride
This book will or should instill an appetite for more education on the subject of where we as current day Americans came from and how absolutely fantastic the founders were.
The USA is the greatest nation in the world’s history. Read history and you too will believe this fact if you do not already.
Very good.
I hope you’re protecting them books from mildew.
Dehumidifier.
And insects.
Traps and flypaper strips.
We are attempting to protect the books as best we can. Storage area is high elevation in Nevada. Very low humidity and few insects. Some books (a few hundred) are in a more serious storage at our home in Idaho. We really need to find the time and start seriously cataloging these books. The task will be daunting due to the huge number of books. One of the trucks we rented to move books from the house in Sacramento, CA to our place over the Sierra Nevada mountains did not have sufficient engine power. I had to use 1st gear to get over the HWY 50 pass. V-10 Ford van and 5 MPH.
I was one pissed off “trucker”. When we had all this load packed in a trailer, I opened one of the boxes the books were stored in and removed the first volume my hand grasped. Never heard of it or the author. My wife suggested I look it up on the web. Used book seller listed this exact book at a value of $1200 in “good” condition. I do not remember the title but know it is in the home library here on a shelf with other collectors books.
Needless to say my appreciation of what my wife insisted we haul out of Sacramento and to Nevada, changed dramatically . . .
I am leery of even handling some of these books due to their age and possible reduced structural integrity.
That stuff will be gold in the future Terry.
I second that recommendation to read Fischer’s Book – Paul Revere’s Ride.
The book offers insights into the events leading up to that famous ride…. and yes, great appreciation for the men that gave us the greatest country ever known to man.
I’ll pile on to the endorsement of “Paul Revere’s Ride”and recommend Fischer’s “Washington’s Crossing” as well. As I read and appreciate the legacy and example we have inherited, I am strengthened and encouraged that we can do as well. Can we do any less?
I understand (I believe) what hardships likely lie ahead, but again, can we do any less?
Very insightful, some profound points.
“A person without memory is either a child or an amnesiac. A country without memory is neither a child nor an amnesiac, but neither is it a country.” – Mary Astor (1906-1987)
Oh that’s a good one, Auntie!
For some reason, I’m reminded of a quote from Moscow on Hudson. Robin Williams’ character at one point gets annoyed at one of his acquaintances. “In Moscow, we have to fight for a crumb of freedom. Here, you shit on it.”
Well, it started out OK.
Just to reveal the obvious – the Declaration of Independence was revolutionary; the CONstitution was/is counter-revolutionary. The CONstitution was adopted in a criminal manner, ie not in accordance with the law of the land, the Articles of Confederation. The CONstitution restored the banksters control; the so-called division of power, the much vaunted checks and balances was simply substituting “president” for king, “CONgress” for parliament, and “supreme court” for well – supreme court.
Nothing new there.
To loosely quote Lysander Spooner “The constitution has either permitted the government we have to exist, or been powerless to prevent it. In either case it is unfit to exist”.
Oh yes “judeo-Christian”? There is no such thing, and there never was. Christ came to earth NOT to tell the pharisees & saducees – you guys got it, keep on keepin’ on – no, he pointed out that their actions and belief system – the traditions of men, was not of GOD, but of their father the devil.
Judaism is not of the Bible, it is of the talmud – traditions of men. Please, look it up – try the Jewish encyclopedia for starters.
Christ said that those who would not have him did not have the father, GOD.
Christ is regarded as the greatest “anti-semite” to exist; anti-semite being a non-nonsensical term; semite meaning a descendant of Shem, which also included Ishmael.