Both Democrat and Republican exit polls during this primary season have been clear on one issue: people are angry. They are angry because they don’t think Washington represents them. They are angry because they think their vote doesn’t count. They are angry because they don’t believe the establishment will change course. And they are angry because the political class in both parties is out of …more
I called Franklin D. Roosevelt a “Fascist Fraud” in my The Politically Incorrect Guide to Real American Heroes. Why? Because the New Deal program and its implementation contained the essential elements of national socialism. This was pointed out in the 1930s, but World War II erased any lingering trace of this kind of thinking. To oppose Roosevelt became paramount to treason. In the meantime, the …more
There is a prevailing myth perpetuated by nationalists since the late 18th century–Hamilton, Marshall, Story, Webster, Lincoln–that the Union predated the States and therefore is indissoluble. This has become the accepted narrative of early American history. The Pledge of Allegiance has codified that narrative. But it is simply not true, and the historic record proves it to be a sham. I quote from the Providence …more
Originally published at the Abbeville Institute. Today we celebrate the birthday of the log cabin born, rough-hewn, rail-splitting, bare-knuckled, “pock-faced, stoop-shouldered, slab-sided assistant storekeeper,” lewd, vulgar, uninspiring, “ordinary Western man” from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln’s life and image is a series of irreconcilable dichotomies: He had no military experience worth noting—he waged war on wild onion fields during the Black Hawk War and cleaned up …more
Who were the first Americans? Forty years ago, historians, archeologists, and anthropologists would have answered conclusively that the first Americans arrived from Eastern Asia via a land bridge across the Bering Strait around twelve thousand years ago. These were the Clovis peoples, an early American people essentially discovered by former slave George McJunkin in 1908 after he uncovered a prehistoric bison skeleton and an early …more
The palace of Versailles is one of the most recognized landmarks in Western Civilization. Built by Louis XIV, it is a striking artistic and architectural achievement, rivaled only by the marvels of antiquity. Yet, the palace is also a prime example of government waste and corruption and the problems of political and economic centralization. The French economy crumbled following two expensive wars in the 18th …more
The historian Andrew C. McLaughlin in 1932 wrote that the British imperial system was characterized “by diversification and not by centralization….The empire of the mid-eighteenth century was a diversified empire” with power “actually distributed [among] and exercised by various governments.” British colonies, including Ireland, “had long existed” as “bodies, corporate, constituent members of the Empire,” each with its own constitution and a government “with many …more
Both Kevin Gutzman and I have offered a substantial reading list for our constitutional history course at Liberty Classroom, but for those who have not had the time to delve into some of the volumes, I thought I would offer a few quotations from two of the books I recommended for the course, both by Raoul Berger. Berger was arguably the most important and misunderstood …more
Dana Milbank’s recent op-ed in the Washington Post titled The Weakest Generation? is a telling, though misguided, view of Generation X. As a good nationalist and proponent of state action, Milbank thinks that sacrifice to a state led cause—war or social justice through unconstitutional expansion of central power—defines the mettle of a people. “When we were prepared to sacrifice for the country after the 9/11 …more
Perhaps anyone that follows Tom Woods knows that he is a fan of Jethro Tull, probably the biggest fan I have ever encountered (I only know two, so that probably isn’t saying much). Regardless, I thought it might be fun for some of the other faculty to let the LC public know what we like, listen to, read, watch, etc. I am a fan of …more
Most Americans recognize a few of the Founding Fathers—Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Adams, Franklin—but what about some of the important but forgotten men who have been lost to time? They have great stories that need to be told. Here are ten whose fantastic lives are in many ways better than fiction.
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