U.S. History

When most people speak of the founders of the United States, Thomas Paine rarely comes to mind. However, few men were more influential in rallying the American colonials to independence.

President Trump has deployed naval vessels off the coast of Venezuela, citing its escalation of the war on drugs. However, the true motivation for Washington’s involvement in the region is more likely related to disputed oil claims affecting well-connected energy companies.

Discussions about black suffrage following the Civil War usually are focused upon black voting rights in the South. However, during that same time, northern states passed laws limiting black suffrage, something that often escapes the history books.

The restoration of the Reconciliation Monument at Arlington Cemetery is welcome news for those that realize the historical significance of this monument. Peace and reconciliation are always better than waging war.

In this week’s Friday Philosophy, Dr. David Gordon reviews The Woke Revolution: Up From Slavery and Back Again by H.V. Traywick, Jr., and finds Traywick’s observations have much credibility.

The popular game, Rock-Paper-Scissors, operates according to a firm set of rules. However, when government sets the rules or refuses to properly enforce rules, then so-called limited government simply turns into a government power play.

American Indian reservations have some of the worst poverty rates in the nation, which increases calls for even more federal government intervention. However, it is the intervention itself that is creating the poverty in the first place.

Few presidents—if any—in our lifetimes have done as much damage as George W. Bush did in his eight years in office. Unfortunately, a number of pundits are trying to rehabilitate his disaster of a presidency to contrast him to President Trump.

Tom DiLorenzo reviews Patrick Newman's Cronyism: Liberty Versus Power in Early America, 1607–1849. The book posits that early American history is best understood as a struggle between mercantilist elites seeking to plunder the people and libertarians advocating economic freedom.

Modern historians no longer seek historical truth but rather analyze history through series of politically-based narratives. But what happens when those narratives are effectively challenged? Mainstream historians then simply ignore the results and simply repeat what they have been saying.