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.

New audiobook release: Benjamin Franklin: Self-Revealed, Volume 1, by William Cabell Bruce

Today I am happy to highlight that William Cabell Bruce's work Benjamin Franklin: Self-Revealed (v1) has been completed. https://librivox.org/benjamin-franklin-self-revealed-vol1-wc-bruce/

This is an example of good things that just drop into your lap. Many moons ago I asked people "Which Founding Father is the most popular who isn't George Washington, isn't Benamin Franklin, isn't Thomas Jefferson, and isn't George Washington?", because in part this small handful of Founders is going to naturally have coverage. These are the Founders that the school systems cannot cover up. So from that standpoint these books are just going to get done anyways. There's no reason to specifically set out to get them done.

These Founders are also more well known than most others, so there's less of an educational value than, say, targeting for completion an audio book about Joseph Warren, Patrick Henry, or Benjamin Rush. Henry, being the most well known of the three aforementioned, is only really well known among a certain set of people. For the rest of America Henry might as well have only said 7 words in his lifetime.

This book by W.C. Bruce I have not read nor listened to. I didn't know it existed until about a week before it reached completion (found it randomly) and it is a Pulitzer Prize winning book. For most of you, winning a Pulitzer means that probably means the book is great. At a minimum, it is well-written and easy to follow, well composed.

Since the work relies heavily upon Franklin's own writings, it's probably fine. But it was written well into the progressive era (1918) so I personally am not the most enthusiastic about it. It's winning of a Pulitzer also gives me reason for caution since the Pulitzer was always political even from the beginning. These thoughts are all my own.

You can listen, you can choose to read the available and linked to e-text and read if you don't want to listen and in that way make up your own conclusion. I'm happy enough that the audio book exists and so here it is, for your listening.

New audiobook release: The Use of Knowledge in Society, by Friedrich Hayek

Hauling in a big fish here folks.

Today, the audiobook release has been completed for Friedrich Hayek's intellectual essay The Use of Knowledge in Society, which can be downloaded here:

https://librivox.org/the-use-of-knowledge-in-society-by-friedrich-hayek/

I have a lot of goals I wish to accomplish, but seeing the completion of this Hayek book as well as the Mises book that should be done soon, brings our Librivox books into view of a much more diverse crowd of consumers and that has a lot of value.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Use_of_Knowledge_in_Society

I am so happy and excited that this has been completed and is now available, I can't wait to go and listen to it myself. Hayek is one of my all time favorites.

New audiobook release: The Capture of Fort William and Mary

We have an amendment, the Second Amendment, because in part when the colonists had no say in how their own societies should be run and what they wanted most was self-government, Britain though it a good idea to confiscate. Mostly the confiscation centered around gunpowder, but there were along with it plots and schemes to take away actual weapons such as guns and cannons.

Today we have the story of The Capture of Fort William and Mary, which details a unique and fun chapter in pre-U.S. history in which the colonists said we are going to disarm you before you disarm us.

It's a short work, coming in at just over 1 hour total recording time for the entire book. Its more like a pamphlet, really. But it does highlight a distinct truth. Americans are fearful of weapons regulation by government because it has always led to (or coincided with) a domineering government, and that includes right here in our own country's unique and amazing history.

I hope everyone will take a listen. This story is not nearly as well-known as it need be, but now it is powered by its own audio book. I'm looking forward to listening to it too.

https://librivox.org/the-capture-of-fort-william-and-mary-by-charles-lathrop-parsons/

New audiobook release: A Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen's Captivity

In life, sometimes things just drop into your lap. This is one of those times. Today I am very happy to announce the full release of Major General Ethan Allen's work A Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen's Captivity

What is cool about this is that it is a solo work, meaning it is IMHO higher quality and easier to follow. Moreover, most of my personal efforts to try to recruit others have admittedly been a failure. But this one, it was just some random person who I don't have any association with saw it and recorded it. From my view, its completely random. But it still has all the great value nonetheless.

I don't know how many of you have ever been to Ethan Allen's home in Burlington Vermont, but there could be (I hope) some day where enough of these audiobooks have been produced that non-profit entities such as Allen's home realize these books exist and start to use and promote them to whatever effect or capacity that they can be. It's clearly a useful resource.

In any case, if you love American history as I do, here is now an audio book version of a book you probably didn't realize you needed to go through that now you can conveniently listen to at any number of times in your day.

New audiobook release: The Life of Frederick William von Steuben

The Life of Frederick William Von Steuben: Major General in the Revolutionary Army - tells the story of Baron Steuben, who had been an officer in the Prussian army. Considered one of the fathers of the United States Army, he had a leading role in improving the Continental Army during the American Revolution and turning them into a professional fighting force. https://librivox.org/the-life-of-frederick-william-von-steuben-by-friedrich-kapp/

How long ago did progressives start using American history to attack the Founding Fathers?

There are a lot of people out there who think I have a lost my marbles for coming to the conclusion that a large percentage of books written prior to the 1900s are the only books you can trust when it comes to American History. What people fail to understand, is that the 1619 Project is actually not new. Sure, it's relatively "new" to use racial issues as the focal point, but manipulating U.S. history to advance progressivism goes back to the Progressive Era itself.

In his book "American inquisitors; a commentary on Dayton and Chicago", Walter Lippmann wrote the following: (page 67)

In 1917 the United States for the first time in its history became the associate of Great Britain in a great war. A part of the American people objected openly to this association. A still larger part, while they did their duty loyally, nevertheless detested the war, and believed in their hearts that the United States had been inveigled into it by the cleverness of British diplomats. The patriotic tradition which they had learned from their school textbooks disposed them to suspect all political contact with Great Britain.

To offset this latent distrust of our associate in the war, a great corps of historians was mobilized, partly under government auspices, who proceeded then and there to revise the whole American historical tradition by obliterating and explaining away the memories of the Revolutionary War. This willingness on the part of well known historians to manufacture a new patriotic tradition to suit the political necessities of 1917 was resented. The prestige of scholarship was injured. It was made plain that history is something that can be cut and shaped to suit the purposes of the moment.

Nevertheless, in the wake of these propagandist historians there came a school of critical and honest historians. Once the authority of the patriotic legends had been dissolved, the opportunity of the critical historians presented itself. American school history, particularly in its bearing upon Anglo-American relations, began to be rewritten, first by those who wished to create a new, a pro-British legend, and then by those who wished to do away with all legends and to tell the truth which objective research had found.

After the war was over, after the peace treaty had been rejected, after the country had violently reverted to normalcy, the popular reaction against the revision of the patriotic legends got under way. No distinction was made, of course, between the revision carried out as propaganda in the interest of the Allies, and the revision carried out by scholars in the interest of the truth.

When I say that 100% of the people reading this were exposed to progressive propaganda while they were in schools, I'm not kidding. Unless you happen to be old enough that you were school age in the 1800s, which is at this point statistically impossible, these issues all go way back prior to the 1960s even. What you read when you were in school was 40% or 70% of the way toward the 1619 Project. It may not have all been a lie, but it was a lot of lies or even mostly lies. I can't tell you how many people I've met who think that "I went to school in the 1950s, I was taught the truth." No. You didn't. What was in the schools in the 1950s was a lie too.

It's important to understand, Walter Lippmann was a progressive. So when he writes "the revision carried out by scholars in the interest of the truth", he means "the revision carried out by scholars in the interest of the progressive truth." This quoted section refers to 3, that's three groups of historians. The original knowledge of the Founders, which he sneers his nose at as promoting "patriotic legends", then there's the government backed propagandists, then there's the new progressive truth tellers. That's three groups of historians. This is crucial to understand. When the progressives who wanted World War I used history to "make progress" were finished, they didn't just flip the switch and go back. No no, they continued to "make progress" and they said "here is the new truth". We progressives already "obliterated and explained away the memories of the Revolutionary War", so over the long term let's not give up our position. We now own this. Let's now tell our own truth. Back then it was only a distortion with subtle attacks, moreso than today's overt attacks, but that doesn't matter. The degree of attack is still an attack on our Founders knowing who progressives are and what they represent.

That's why we are where we are today. The Founding Fathers stink and the Founding Fathers are bad people and the Founding Fathers suck - because of over a century's worth of mud thrown at them by progressives who knew that even back in the 1920s, if there was ever going to be a truly "progressive" United States, those Founding Fathers must, MUST be abolished.

And here we are. The progressives have more patience to achieve their purpose than you or I could ever understand.

May I interest you in an audio book? I'll never charge you for it. I gladly hit these progressives for free.

New audiobook release: America's Retreat from Victory; The Story of George Catlett Marshall, by Sen. Joe McCarthy

Today, with great enthusiasm I can let everybody know that the audiobook recording for America's Retreat from Victory; The Story of George Catlett Marshall, by Senator Joseph McCarthy, (as of yesterday) has been completed!

It is high quality, great care was put into its creation, and since this is a free and open source item I would encourage all to give this to as many people as you can think of. If you have X/Twitter, Facebook, email, snail mail, whatever you have. Make sure you give it to others. What astounds me is how quickly this was strong-armed to completion. Very impressive!

America's Retreat from Victory; The Story of George Catlett Marshall

There is a free lunch after all!