New audiobook release: Poems of American Patriotism, by Brander Matthews

Good morning! Today's release is another book but as a collection of short poems its a little on the lighter side. At the time that I picked this one up I needed a few more works to have as actively being managed, but now here it is.

To be honest, this author had been unknown to me and still mostly is, but there are some interesting things in here with roughly 70 poems. I hope you can find some enjoyment.

https://librivox.org/poems-of-american-patriotism-by-brander-matthews/

The Federation of the World, an early puff piece on globalism

Sometimes, the best way to highlight an ugly fact is simply to let them speak about the things they love most. There were not many microphones in 1910, but that's ok we can make up the difference.

In 1910, Journalist Hamilton Holt wrote traces the history of getting to a place where international government is a mainstream idea. Some guys hundreds of years ago had some nebulous thoughts about it, among others mentioned are Kant, and also Hugo and Burritt, but Holt really spends most of the meat of his article discussing the much-less-theoretical. First, the Hague, and second, President Theodore Roosevelt's call for globalism.

A lot of people want to avoid this. It's really not avoidable. Globalism is as old as progressivism itself and goes right back to the two original progressive globalist presidents in the early 20th century, Woody and Teddy. The fact just is, and facts are stubborn things.

Hamilton Holt is pretty clearly in love with the speech Roosevelt gave in 1906 when he accepted his Nobel Prize lauding world government, and as a reminder you can read/listen to that speech here, along with listen to or read Holt's article here.

We cannot hide from the history of those who wanted to foist global government against us, we should not hide from it.

New audiobook release: Patrick Henry; life, correspondence and speeches, by W.W. Henry

Some people don't like it when I'm activist. But if I was just sitting around and only complaining, how would things like this get completed?

Today, a "big fish" has arrived. For many, Patrick Henry is the GOAT. All I can say is please download and please share. This work is free to access, it is open source in the public domain. Patrick Henry; life, correspondence and speeches

New audiobook release: Elementary catechism on the Constitution of the United States: for the use of schools

Today I am happy to show off another audio book release, Arthur J. Stansbury's Elementary catechism on the Constitution of the United States: for the use of schools, a book as it says, was always intended for young children in schools.

This book is written as a catechism form, which for those Christian readers need no introduction here, a catechism form is often used in religious instruction. The book's author, Arthur Stansbury was an American Presbyterian minister and newspaper reporter who was also a noted lithographer, poet, and children's author.

It's important to understand the context here. This is a book that was written in 1828 and was designed to be consumed by students in the late 1820s, 1830s and beyond which were all religious schools at that time. Government hadn't taken over schools yet. The process of the government takeover of schools wouldn't begin until about 1840 in Massachusetts, and federally at the turn of the 20th century. So these were schools which were eager to teach love of God, and at the same time, teach love of God's gift of individual liberty and the Constitution which was established to respect that God-given gift.

This book came to my attention through Wallbuilders, and you can see a video of David Barton briefly discussing this book here with his very old copy in hand.

From the LibriVox description:

Elementary Catechism on the Constitution of The United States was written in 1826 by Arthur J. Stansbury (1781-1865) a New York Presbyterian minister who was known for his sermons that discussed political events. It was written in a unique question and answer format for usage in grade schools to introduce the concepts of the US Constitution to elementary School children. He was unabashedly patriotic in his writings and sermons. This book is an important cultural marker written at the time of the Jubilee Anniversary (50 years) of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July 1826 was approaching. There was a great deal of interest in the US Constitution, more so given that two former U.S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on July 4, 1826-the day of the Jubilee, within hours of each other.

New audiobook release: The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science, by Ludwig von Mises

Ludwig von Mises is a man who needs no introduction, with ideas that need no introduction.

Today I'm happy to point out that The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science is now ready to go as a freely downloadable open source audio book. If you're a fan of either classical economics or Friedrich Hayek, an author we recently released for, then Mises is right up your alley.

What more can I do culturally? Realistically speaking what can I do?

From time to time, I like to re-evaluate things and see if there is something I am missing. Mostly, this is a lengthy process of elimination based off of the realities of life. I usually do this in quiet where nobody can see. But let's examine it openly this time.

For example, I'm not a billionaire. I'm lucky to have more than $1000 in the bank at a lot of times which does perhaps put me ahead of a lot of people, but the reason I mention the money means I don't have a future creating a movie. So culturally, this isn't something I can do. I also don't have an exceptional idea for a movie so my motivation to do some cross-country stint, leaving my family behind while raising excitement and awareness and money is a non-starter.

Ok, maybe something less expensive is the best bet. Music certainly doesn't require cubic money like making a movie does, but musical instruments aren't exactly cheap and setting up a proper built-for-music sound room does not sound appealing. Further, my interests would not make for great listening. Also, I do not even sing in the shower nor do I currently play any instruments so the years of experience required for either side of the music just isn't there. A movie is out, and music is out.

Now, I could write a book. But I have questions as to if what I would write would be totally new and unique when compared to two really good books already out there that I am aware of, both of which were not very well received. My main interest is in the beginnings and evolution of Progressive ideology which could make for a book that would be loaded with footnotes. But is there actually an reason to do this when it isn't something anybody wants? The first of those books is Theodore and Woodrow, but the real star of the show was produced by the scholars at Hillsdale College. That book is called America Transformed: The Rise and Legacy of American Progressivism and it is a tour-de-force that lays down some very irrefutable evidence about the evils of progressivism, as well as progressivism's origins.

If nobody is going to trust Hillsdale, I don't have a chance. They aren't going to trust me when they're looking at the book shelf or Amazon dot com. Writing a book is definitely out, plus the origin book I would want to write exists (in a lot of ways) anyways. There is nothing for me to do here.

How about a blog! Surely that would work. Except, you're reading my blog right now which I don't use all that much anymore. When big-tech went rogue and political I watched my readership numbers dwindle due to the censorship. Now I mainly just use the blog for occasional musings and as a clearing house to announce new audio books. So the blog has lost its value when nobody will see it anyways no matter what I put on here. Which gets to the last one:

Audio books. In the last year, I've fostered the creation of about a dozen collaborative audio books. I say fostered, because I had to change my role at LibriVox for the time being. I lost my ability at home to do my own recordings in the short term (which has already been longer than I had hoped for) and at the soonest opportunity I do plan to get back to recording again. However, with roughly one new audio book a month I think I'm doing really well. As for my reach? It is not uncommon for a new audio book to get 10,000 downloads/listeners in the first few months as the books get established.

I never got numbers like that with the blog.

And recording audio books only cost me a microphone and some minor sound deadening for a nominal quality boost. Not a bad investment at all for a very measurable return on my personal time, giving me great value.

So, realistically, I'm in the best or most strategic place I can currently be in.

But wait! What about as an influencer with a YouTube VBlog/VLog? Or Rumble. Nah. Takes too much time and I get more hits through LibriVox anyways. Why would I accept less when I already have more?

Well, there you have it. If you think I overlooked an item, feel free to suggest it. Perhaps I'll re-evaluate in a few years or something. Now do I think I'm moving the Himalayan mountains or anything? Nope. I'm simply looking for what one single person can do, what's the maximum that I personally can do to have an impact on the culture. Through a process of elimination, I think I have reached the available height.

Liberal media are desperate to get you to believe the Trump - Roosevelt narrative. But who really buys this kabuki theater anyways?

For many years, Rush Limbaugh was fond of the phrase "phony baloney, plastic banana, good time rock'n roller." He used this often times as descriptors for people, but he also used it for events and other things.

This storyline about Trump and Theodore Roosevelt? That's definitely phony baloney with a very strong helping of plastic bananas. Check out this clowning article from The Atlantic: The Wannabe Tough-Guy Presidency

Ok, here's how you can sum up the Theodore Roosevelt Presidency, in three simple words. This is as simple as it gets. You ready?

Destroying the Constitution.

That's it. And it's accurate as heck too. Destroying the U.S. Constitution. That's what Theodore Roosevelt was all about during his tenure. But what about the Trump Presidency? This is as simple as it gets. You ready?

Saving the Constitution.

Now you see why I call the whole thing kabuki theater? You see what's clowning about this ridiculous premise that they are proposing? Now I could go further, I could summarize the Trump presidency by saying "he did what was best for the people." See, that's pretty good. But what about Theodore Roosevelt? Here's what's accurate to say, "he did what was best for the government". Again we run head-long into why Trump Roosevelt comparisons are hype.

A lot of ne'er-do-wells will quickly retort that I'm just jaded, or have crooked agenda of some kind. Alright, how about a test then. During the Trump Presidency, one of the defining moments was the response to COVID-19. What did Trump do? Did he listen to all of the media begging and begging him to centralize power in the government and take total dominion? Or did he rely on federalism and make sure the states did the best they could to deal with the situation?

Trump chose federalism. Contrast this with Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt hated federalism, he hated the states and said so publicly, and if he had a COVID he would've loved it and would've used it to expand the bureaucracy. Am I making that up? No, I'm really not. Roosevelt had a crisis on his hands, one that has certain similarities to COVID. It wasn't a pandemic, it was food. Tampering with people's health or tampering with people's food is a good way to freak people out, and clearly, food and health are closely related.

So what happened at the outset of the publication of a book titled "The Jungle"? Did Theodore Roosevelt rely on the genius of federalism? Did Theodore Roosevelt rely on the goodness of the individual states? Did he stand firm to defend the honor of the U.S. Constitution?

Nope. You know what he did. Roosevelt expanded the bureaucracy. The FDA was born out of a crisis, and as you know progressives see a crisis as a terrible thing to waste.

If having a crisis in food caused Roosevelt to expand the bureaucracy, a crisis of a pandemic would've resulted in the same. Never ending bureaucracy. That's just how progressives think. That's just the way progressives are wired. It's a brain defect, they can't help themselves but to make the size and scope of the federal government larger wherever it can be acceptably grown larger.

But why phony baloney? Why plastic bananas? Well, on the surface, Trump and many presidents have similarities. Trump is energetic, Obama was energetic. Oh, you didn't expect that? See, that's "surface level", it is not a descriptor of any philosophies or proven track record of actual governance. You'll notice, the Atlantic barely scratches the actual four years of Trump's presidency. Now why is that? It's because when you compare a sea urchin to a porcupine, all of the similarities end at the phony baloney, plastic banana, good time rock'n roll surface level. These three items do not require deep analysis:

Both men got shot. That doesn't tell me anything about governing philosophy or proven track record.

Both men are/were energetic. Still not seeing anything about governing philosophies.

Both men are from New York. Ok, Atlantic. Really? Please, it doesn't get any more phony baloney, plastic banana surface level than this.

Getting away from the simple surface, the Atlantic article does actually touch on a handful of things from Roosevelt's philosophy, one of which I do find shocking. The Atlantic actually writes this following line which in fact blows up the entire article. It wrote:

Below the surface level, their political ideologies could not be further apart. Roosevelt was a progressive.

Why didn't the elephant in the living room entirely squash the article then? Because facts don't actually matter. Theodore Roosevelt was a progressive, and Donald Trump has proven to be a progressive defeater. But so what? Why can't we persist the narrative anyways? The kabuki must go on!! The Atlantic admits that Trump is a fan - not of Roosevelt, but of McKinley, and has designs on eliminating the progressive income tax that Roosevelt gave us in favor of more tariffs. But the shocker is that The Atlantic actually puts pen to paper(font to word processor if you really prefer) and admits that Teddy Roosevelt was a globalist.(and Trump is not)

Now, mind you, they don't use that word because they likely view it as a loaded word/phrase. But make no mistake, they admit it. They point out that Roosevelt was very interested and was the original "internationalist" which is actually condescending because I know better. I recorded the speech Roosevelt gave to the Nobel committee where is very succinctly states that it would be a "masterstroke" if the world powers would form a "League of Peace" - a sort of a competitor to the League of Nations which he was not fond of. He supported globalism, he just didn't support Wilson's plan of globalism.

And of course, as you know, Trump doesn't support any kind of any plan at all of globalism and has no plan for globalism of his own ready for the offer. Unlike Theodore Roosevelt who did.

Had Theodore Roosevelt been the 45th President, alive in 2019/2020, he absolutely would've imposed a vaccine mandate and he would've loved every minute of it. Statists are just going to do what statists are known for doing.

But I would like to hear from anybody on this. How does one reconcile that a progressive defeater like Donald Trump is exactly the same in philosophy and governance as a progressive statist like Theodore Roosevelt?

If you only have an interest in the surface level stuff, that phony baloney plastic banana good time rock'n roll content where sea urchins are exactly the same as porcupines(on the surface, they are. Covered with spikes.), well, don't forget. Theodore Roosevelt did shoot a lion.