A people who do not understand their past are ill-equipped to understand, and deal wisely, with their present and their posterity's future.
The colonists who came through danger to these shores in the 17th Century understood what lack of religious freedom meant; they understood what it was like for themselves and their kin to labor and have the fruits of their labors confiscated; they had understood the denigration associated with not being able to express deeply-held convictions and religious beliefs; and they longed to be free from the burdens of oppressive government.
At any rate, they came to America, and without any government in that vast wilderness to command them, to advise them, to restrict them, they played out their role in what has been called "the making of America," or, by others, "the miracle of America."
Just think of it: from 1620 or so until 1775, individual colonists who survived the harsh conditions in their new land had established an economy that was feeding the Old World.
If any do not believe that, they have not read Edmund Burke's Speech of Conciliation . . . delivered before the British Parliament in 1775.
Every Democrat and Republic leader today needs to read Burke's summary of the unheard-of economic achievements of that British Colony known as "the Americans."
What does all this have to do with Trump and the reluctant Republicans and the resistant Democrats?
Well, if they understood how and what the Years 1775 and 1776 meant, and how that band of strangers in a relatively new society dealt with the situation they found themselves in, and how they responded to courageous and outspoken fellow citizens who appealed to their love and desire for individual freedom and prosperity, then perhaps we could break this cultish and stupid ideology which self-identifies as being "Progressive," when, in fact, it is the most oppressive ideology to take root in the minds of American citizens! It is so oppressive that if allowed to continue, such authoritarian and group-think control will destroy the Constitutional Republic the men and women of 1776 and 1787 left to us and all of humanity.
"“Posterity! you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it.” - John Adams, letter to Abigail, his wife
When I was a child I loved listening to the stories my mother would tell me about our family’s history of escaping English soldiers coming after our ancestors in Ireland. Apparently the King had sent his men after them and had given the order to arrest them and take them back to England. When my ancestors were told the soldiers were coming they left their dinner on the table and fled. There was a ship docked and waiting for them. The ship’s name was the Speedwell, the ship that followed the Mayflower. My mom, God rest her sole, had a locket one of the women had worn around her neck throughout her journey. Touching that small piece of silver was a very powerful, tangible connection to our past. I have shared my mom’s stories with my own daughter, in an attempt to give her some appreciation of what her ancestors went through to give her a better life.
“Just think of it: from 1620 or so until 1775, individual colonists who survived the harsh conditions in their new land had established an economy that was feeding the Old World.”
How the heck did they do all that without a Government safety net???/sarcasm;)