Categories
defense & war general freedom ideological culture

These Difficult States

I’ve been a U.S. citizen for more than a quarter of the 250 years that there has been a United States.

Proud to be an American? Yes. Not because my country, or more specifically our government, has always been spectacular, or even in the right. I’ve taken a few lumps battling against the government. 

More than “proud to be an American,” which was admittedly an accident of birth, I’m proud of America. Even with all its faults, this country has been the greatest force for good, for freedom, for peace, for human dignity in the entire history of the world. 

Certainly, I get no personal credit for the revolution. I wasn’t around. I had no hand in writing the Declaration of Independence or the First Amendment. But I can recite parts. 

And defend them against modern foes. 

No blame goes to me for slavery — or any glory for ending it. Likewise, I didn’t storm the beaches of Normandy or plant the flag at Iwo Jima. I’m honored, however, to know men who did. Without those American kids, Europe and Asia would have been completely conquered by regimes of unspeakable evil. 

Those GIs were billionaires . . . saving truly billions of lives, physically and spiritually.  

We Americans — and the whole world — owe a grand debt to the ideals of the American Revolution and the blood and courage of Americans of yesteryear. One we can never fully repay. 

But we can pay it forward. By fighting to keep the Republic alive and well.

I think we all sense that these current times are those “that try men’s souls.” There are internal forces ripping at the fabric of our culture as well as militarized authoritarian forces on the march abroad. 

The first 250 years proved difficult; the next 250 may even be more so. But we say “The United States of America,” not “The United States of Easy.”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

PDF for printing

Illustration created with Nano Banana

See all recent commentary
(simplified and organized)
See recent popular posts

Categories
Thought

Dr. Edward P. Philpots

Voyager upon life’s sea:—
To yourself be true,
And whate’er your lot may be,
Paddle your own canoe.

Dr. Edward P. Philpots, Paddle your own Canoe; written for Harry Clifton; appeared in Harper’s Monthly, May 1854.
Categories
Today

July Third

On July 3, 1775, George Washington took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In 1952 on July 3, Puerto Rico’s Constitution was approved by the Congress of the United States.

Categories
general freedom ideological culture

Where Independence Happened

Semiquincentennia, July 4, Independence Day, United States

The semiquincentennial of the United States could be celebrated today, July 2, 2026.

It was on the Second of July in A.D. 1776 that the Continental Congress decided to remove itself from the sovereignty of the king in Great Britain, George III. The representatives from the breakaway colonies did this in the affirmative with Richard Henry Lee’s “Resolution of Independence.” Congress appointed a “Committee of Five” to draft a Declaration, which was accepted on July Fourth — the day we have come to celebrate Independence Day. 

But independence was not mere congressional fiat. It had been brewing in the states; at least six of the colonies’ royal governors had fled or been sent packing in the revolutionary summer of 1775.

In 1775, most colonies possessed

  • functioning legislative bodies making domestic policy decisions;
  • militias organized without royal direction;
  • courts operating with locally appointed judges;
  • trade regulation occurred despite Parliamentary acts.

And some colonies even raised taxes and spent money sans royal approval.

By late 1775, several colonies had taken major steps toward self-government. Virginians had created a new form of government, the “constituent convention,” independent of the Crown, in 1774. Colonial New Hampshire became the first to adopt a written constitution. South Carolina had adopted an interim constitution in March 1776. Weeks later, the Halifax Resolves explicitly authorized a vote for independence. On the Fourth of May, Rhode Island publicly rejected the King.

There’s a lesson here. The groundwork was not laid in Congress — much of it conceived and brought to fruition by men and women who are not in the history books. 

If we want to Make America Free Again, we have to lay a foundation.

In the states.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

PDF for printing

Illustration created with Nano Banana

See all recent commentary
(simplified and organized)
See recent popular posts

Categories
Thought

Beecher

When laws, customs, or institutions cease to be beneficial to man, they cease to be obligatory.

Henry Ward Beecher, Life Thoughts (1858), p. 34.
Categories
Today

Secession & Abolition

On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress un-tabled the Lee Resolution and voted to sever ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain.

One year later, to the day, Vermont became the first American territory to abolish slavery.

Categories
judiciary U.S. Constitution

Unpacking the Court

court packing, Supreme Court, Democratic Party, Republican Party, law, amendment

“Once again, the Supreme Court has shown that it’s not in the tank!” Dan Abrams exuberantly reminded his SiriusXM listeners yesterday. 

That is, the same High Court that Democrats have so harshly demonized as in President Trump’s pocket just handed him yet another defeat, striking down his executive order restricting birthright citizenship.

“It’s a very conservative court. I disagree with some of the rulings, I agree with others,” continued Abrams. “That’s not the question. The question is . . . questioning the legitimacy of the court.”

Calling that a “problem,” he added, “that’s what we’ve seen liberals doing again and again and again.”

Even to the point of advocating court-packing, arguing that when Democrats ever win back the White House and Congress, they should add enough new justices to gain an immediate majority. As Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ) puts it, Democrats are looking “to reform the court and bring it back into alignment.”

If you ask me, a judiciary independent enough to be out of political “alignment” is a good thing. But the number of Supreme Court justices is not constitutionally prescribed; Congress could alter it at any time.  

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the birth of these United States, we should recognize what a gift our justice system is. With all of its flaws, it’s still the envy of the world. 

We need a constitutional amendment to set the number of justices. Leaving to Congress the option of remaking the Court every time partisan control changes in Washington is . . . corrupting. 

And let’s do that before we edit the 14th Amendment to end birthright citizenship for those entering the country illegally . . . as well as Chinese nationals and others practicing “birthright tourism.”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

PDF for printing

Illustration created with Nano Banana

See all recent commentary
(simplified and organized)
See recent popular posts

Categories
Thought

H. L. Mencken

The legislature, like the executive, has ceased to be even the creature of the people: it is the creature of pressure groups, and most of them, it must be manifest, are of dubious wisdom and even more dubious honesty. Laws are no longer made by a rational process of public discussion; they are made by a process of blackmail and intimidation, and they are executed in the same manner. The typical lawmaker of today is a man wholly devoid of principle — a mere counter in a grotesque and knavish game. . . . If the right pressure could be applied to him he would be cheerfully in favor of chiropractic, astrology or cannibalism.

H. L. Mencken,  (1880-1956) American writer and journalist, “The Library,” The American Mercury (May 1930), a book review of The Dissenting Opinions of Mr. Justice Holmes (1930).
Categories
Today

A Presentation

On July 1, 1858, a joint reading at the Linnean Society of London of papers by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace debuted a new explanation of speciation and biological evolution.

Linnean Society records record that eminent scientists Charles Lyell and Joseph Dalton Hooker “communicated” the papers of the two breakthrough theorists:

  • An extract from Darwin’s unpublished manuscript (written in 1844, part of his Essay).
  • An abstract of Darwin’s 1857 letter to Asa Gray, outlining his theory.
  • Wallace’s essay, “On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type” (written in 1858).

Though attended by about 30 prominent intellectuals and scientists of the day, conspicuously not in attendance were either Wallace (who was in the East Indies) or Darwin (whose son Charles Waring Darwin had died two days earlier).

The event proved to be one of the more significant scientific presentations in the history of western civilization.

Categories
general freedom ideological culture social media voluntary cooperation

World Loving Cup

World Cup, America, patriotism, National Pride, American Dream, American People

“I am loving that the World Cup has brought to our shores all these people,” comedian Bill Maher told his Real Time audience on Friday, “who are doing Americans the service of reminding us — just when we needed it on our big 250 birthday — that actually this place is kind of awesome.”

What Maher celebrated could be seen on social media, mostly. One German fan — and the first many American X users have encountered — is @FreddyLA7; his success is instructive, saying that he hasn’t “met a single unfriendly person.” If you follow his account, or many others like his, you’ll see a lot of stadium shots and talk of soccer wins and losses, but the real gems are among the many about American culture, vistas, and (of course) the food. 

And because the World Cup is being held in 16 cities across the continent, Freddy and his fellow across-the-water fans have seen a lot.

“I’m absolutely in love with small town America,” he says in a post about “Island Pond in Vermont. They have a population of 750 people but there was quite a lot going on. They had a flea market, a nice deli, and a beautiful lake with people out on their boats.”

His enthusiasm has hit the television news shows, too, one quoting his ten-out-of-ten rating of Waffle House, and his pledge to return.

Maher shared numerous stories from foreign visitors, including one Australian man who complained, “I feel like I’ve been lied to my entire life about America . . . if you log onto the news everything’s bad, everything’s terrible. It’s not. It’s absolutely f*cking amazing.”

Yes, the “news” is a problem — especially the national sources, biggest stations and papers. But bracket out politics. Then what you see is a diversity of geography, still-vibrant markets, and friendly people in cities, towns, and rural communities all over. 

And the sneaking idea that America is still great.

Again.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

PDF for printing

Illustration: Youtube Screenshots

See all recent commentary
(simplified and organized)
See recent popular posts