Il Professore enjoys some fine dining and sophisticated boozing at Maggiano's.
"Where everybody knows your name..."
The obligatory visit to Harvard, where, once in a while, and purely by accident, some learning takes place.
History in the midst of modernity.
San Adams was a real troublemaker. Those revolutionaries took extraordinary risks, and on a certain level they were getting bent out of shape about actions, like excise taxation, that wouldn't even raise an eyebrow these days. "Liberty" means different things to different people, and we've become accustomed to a very high level of taxation, regulation, and surveillance.
I pose with John Harvard. No doubt he's thrilled to see how woke his namesake institution has become. You have to admire his stoic attitude.
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Hi, friends! Long time, no see.
I'm back from Boston, and I learned a bunch about the city's critical role in the lead-up to the Revolutionary War. Those Bostonians were irascible! They would riot at the drop of a hat. Nancy Pelosi would have made short work of Sam Adams and Paul Revere, needless to say. Or maybe it's the other way around. I guess we'll never know. Anyway, Boston is a charming city -- very walkable and full of history and great architecture. I was hoping to see the JFK Presidential Library and Museum, but, like a lot of lefty meccas, it's been completely shuttered for reasons of pandemic virtue signalling. Maybe next time... I look forward to a return trip.
In the meantime, it's great to be back amongst my bosom buddies, and you can anticipate lots of insightful commentary in the days ahead -- mostly from you, but a little from me too.
To that end, check out this article on surging inflation. Is it just a flash in the pan, or could it produce serious political headaches for Democrats (and serious pain for ordinary Americans)? Some say the moment of truth is already here. Personally, I enjoy paying more for things. Makes me feel like a big shot!
https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/producer-price-index-may-2021
https://www.newsmax.com/us/poll-inflation-trump-biden/2021/06/15/id/1025197/
In other news, Don, Jr. is weighing in on who the 2024 GOP presidential nominee ought to be, assuming his father doesn't run. His answer is completely unsurprising, but says a lot about who's riding high these days among Republicans. It may even give us some insight into how DJT himself is thinking.
Dr.Waddy from Jack: Welcome back, welcome! Your indefatigable posting, linking and information has been much missed. Boston's history is compelling indeed. In the 1850s a reporter interviewed a veteran of the early Rev. War fighting in and near Boston. He said "Why did we fight? Son, we had always ruled ourselves and they meant that we should not!" Its still hard to understand but we know they did fight. I've faced a line of 800 redcoats (approx the same number as entered Lexington Green); they did not have those murderous 16 inch bayonets fixed; it was reenactment of course. But with those big grenadiers in their center,their mounted officers bawling out stentorian Brit commands, clanking metal, creaking leather and appallingly precise close order movement, it was terribly impressive. Yipe, it took GUTS and firm
ReplyDeleteconviction to leave the farm and face that! And they had to know that wouldn't be the end of it and it proved not to be when hundreds of Brit sail with close to 20,000 lobsterbacks and very much feared Hessians aboard stood into NY harbor in 1776. I do much fear eventual leftist effort to desecrate the monuments and sites of those days. That might prove too much for the reenactor community. As for the Civil War reenactors, I'm certain we would turn out in force were places like Gettysburg and Antietam (including Confederate memorials) to be threatened. How appalling to think it possible that such outrage could occur!
Dr.Waddy from Jack: A recent article described Mike Pence's campaign activities. He's wowing audiences with his eloquent attacks on the left's determination to force extreme socialism on us. I've always liked him and am convinced he embraces conservative values. He presents himself in a manner unlike President Trump but I'm certain that as President he would be equally disdainful of the left and fully cognizant of its existential threat to our real America. The article noted that some polls show DeSantis leading him now. President Trump, Pence or DeSantis; all are motivating prospects!
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the woke multitude makes of the American Revolution? Nothing much, I'd guess. Those protestations about liberty and equality would get a guffaw from the in-crowd these days.
ReplyDeleteOur tour of Boston got me wondering about that truism, "...we had always ruled ourselves and they meant that we should not!" There's an element of truth to it, of course. Royal supervision was growing more muscular in the 1770s, but is it fact that we lived for a century and a half under a policy of "benign neglect"? The Brits appointed our Governors, after all, who were far from powerless. They ran our military. They regulated our international trade. I wonder if the idea that we had always "governed ourselves" was a (felicitous?) conceit designed to justify rebellion.
Dr. Nick,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the photographs of your trip to Boston. The last time I was there was in 2009, with side trips to Plymouth and even then, Gay and fashionable Provincetown. That's where the Pilgrims originally landed.
As far as The American Revolution goes, one of my prize possessions is "The History of the United States, A Christian Perspective" by Dr. Robert Spinney over at Patrick Henry College in Virginia. I believe PHC might be one of the few non-Woke, Cancel Culture, and CRT colleges left.
Anyway, this is an outstanding history, in my opinion. Spinney thinks that The Revolution might have also been a Civil War. He also suggests that compared to France, Russia, and China that "America did not experience a revolution in 1776-1783."
Guess I better hide my copy of this history before it is seized and burned by the "Woke Police." Ha!
Dr. Nick
ReplyDeleteIt would probably be better if Trump did NOT run again. However, if he does, he has plenty of Red Hot supporters out there. I have this feeling that more than a few Republicans will be running with or without a Trump blessing. We might be in for some interesting surprises down the road. There might even be people we have never heard of before now, coming on the scene, and actually eclipsing Trump. Anything can happen in politics and does.
Dr. Waddy et alfrom Jack: Your apparent questioning of the sincerity and the veracity of that old vet's statement is plausible and supportable. It opens my mind again to the question: what could have motivated them to take such appalling risk? The militia turnout on the day of Lexington and Concord was astonishing. Farming was and still is so labor intensive; it was a serious thing to leave it, perhaps forever. Perhaps the colonists believed that after the measures the King's government had recently taken, especially shutting down the port of Boston, that much worse was in store should they not take a stand. Considering its early phases, when perhaps most of the colonists sought restoration (under the Crown) of rights they were entitled to by British citizenship, it could be called a civil war. But it could also be argued that,aside from independence, it wrought changes (eg a written Constitution and Bill of Rights) as significantly different from British practice as to be termed revolutionary. Certainly, though, if France, Russia and China are held to be prime exemplars of revolution, perhaps a less drastic term defines our, ehh, disagreement.
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddyand Ray from Jack: It may be that our Rev.War was a clash of two wi!ls, opposite and convinced of their righteousness. First: George III, still possessing much executive control. He may have thought: " Yes, we and our antecedents may have chosen to exercise not complete authority over colonial govermeng government,what so eer form it might take, re
ReplyDeletecognizing our vast and hazard distance. But since the so termed French and Indian War, which cost our Crown and our soldiers' blood dearly,we have determined a needto preemptively protect our colonies from tbe sti!! present French and savage tbreat.
nd
bazzrdous!h
Dr.Waddy andRay from Jack: OK, but colonists may have regarded additional taxes and Brit troops ( a rum lot , yes) in their homes, an imposition. Firebrands like Samuel Adams, who may have harbored dissolutionary intentions anyway, may have seized on this and !ack of representation in Parliament,
ReplyDeleteas a justification for open rebellion, which was manifested at Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill.
Ray, you've seen a lot more of Taxachusetts than I have!
ReplyDeleteYes, the Revolutionary War did have many of the characteristics of a civil war...which makes one wonder how easily the Loyalists (and their fellow travelers) found it integrating into the newly-independent USA. Sure, some left for Canada and other havens, but most stuck around. Luckily, memories are often short! Why, just try to find a German who was gung-ho for Hitler!
Ray, if Trump runs, I have no doubt he'll have challengers on the GOP side, but every poll indicates he'd make quick work of them. Even if that's so, I suspect the party would find another Trump nomination to be a wrenching experience. Liz Cheney is a bore, but she's also an advance guard, if you will, for a lot of Trump-haters in the GOP who've held their peace up to now. If Trump runs again, it could get ugly. Someone like DeSantis would be a lot better for party unity, in my view.
Jack: you ask some great questions about how "revolutionary" our revolution was. That's way above my pay grade, sadly. It is interesting, though, how many conflicts of yore were founded on the premise of restoring some sort of status quo ante, rather than founding an entirely new order. The latter aspiration seems like a form of self-indulgence that only post-enlightenment know-it-alls would ever venture.
You can certainly see things from George III's perspective. I mean, the French and Indian War was pricey. It wasn't unreasonable to ask the colonists to pony up.
I'm hoping that DeSantis does run.
Deletetest from jack
ReplyDeleteRay from Jack: I'm very encouraged by the way some Christians in education and scholarly writing are using the moral authority of the faith to counter morally vacuous PC and its malign and presumptuous ancillary doctrines.
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy and Ray: And how about that Scotus decision affirming that even Christians are due equal protection of the laws in practicing their faith. Its a sweet victory in an existential conflict!
ReplyDeleteRay, the real question is: would someone like DeSantis run even if Trump throws his hat in the ring too? I doubt many Republicans would be eager to run against Trump. He's a rock star.
ReplyDeleteJack, we'll take any victory for religious liberty we can get! SCOTUS was able to conjure a constitutional right to gay marriage out of thin air, though. I'm still smarting from that decision.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: "post Enlightenment know it alls" certainly are the plague of our polity and society, though most of them are reflexively so and know nothing of the Enlightment. I know you have concerns about the lasting effects of the Enlightenment; on balance was it a positive or negative development? More and more I see such concerns as very plausible.
ReplyDelete