What We Are Thankful For

November 22, 2012 | Filed Under Alexander Hamilton, Ben Franklin, Business, Capitalism, Declaration of Independence, Democracy, Founders, Government, History, Holiday, James Madison, Jobs, John Adams, Revolutionary War, Sam Adams, Slavery, Thanksgiving, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Like most conservatives, I felt Election Day was the end of the United States of America. I am not convinced going forward that it isn’t, either. But on this day of giving thanks for what we do have, it would be a mistake not to be grateful for the things with which we have, in our good fortune, been blessed. There are things that we should and must be thankful for.

What are those things? What should we be thankful for? Well, certainly there are all manner of things we should be thankful for as individuals. Our loved ones, friends, perhaps our health and good fortunes. But, as a nation, there are many things to be thankful for, even if those things seem fleeting. Granted, there are many things other than what I list below that we should be thankful for. I have no intention of claiming this list is comprehensive.

So, first and foremost, as a nation we should be thankful for our founders’ vision of a nation created on the premise of self-government, freedom and liberty.
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The Making of Rev. War Movie, ‘Let it Begin Here’

October 24, 2012 | Filed Under Declaration of Independence, Founders, George Washington, History, John Adams, Revolutionary War, Sam Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

I’d love to see this…

Let it Begin Here is an epic short film projected on an innovative and unique screen system in a specially designed theater equipped with multi-sensory audio & special effects that put you in the action of the moment. Experience “Let it Begin Here” in person at the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum in Boston, Mass. Or visit us online at www.bostonteapartyship.com

No, Left-Wingers, the ‘Founders’ Did NOT Approve of Mandates or Obamacare

April 16, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Founders, Government, Government, Corruption, Health, History, House of Representatives, John Adams, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, Nanny State, Obamacare, President, Regulation, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Every few weeks leftist supporters of Obamacare will float the “fact” that our founders passed the first “national healthcare law” claiming that this supports Obamacare. The truth is, though, the history they claim supports them doesn’t in any way prove that the founders would approve of mandates in general or Obamacare in particular.

This failed historical analogy is once again seen this month in the prattling of one Einer Elhauge, a fellow who claims himself the title of a professor at Harvard Law School. If his recent article in The New Republic is any indication of the level of history he teaches students, we have yet another example of our failed state of higher education.

Elhauge makes two failed analogies to history in his support of Obamacare. One is the 1792 law that required men to own a firearm. This law passed by many members of our founding generation — with only four opposing the mandate — proves, Elhauge claims, that mandates were not something the founders would oppose.

Elhauge’s claim is facile, of course. After all, we had no standing army at the time (in fact the founders were vehemently against a standing army) and the whole of the people in the form of the militia were the army.

So, requiring people to own firearms was, at the time, observing the Constitutional mandate to protect the nation. Helthacre is not something in the Constitution and cannot be construed as such, so Elhauge’s extrapolating military matters to Obamacare is absurd o its face.

Then there is the sailor relief act that lefties have been harping on for several years now claiming that it supports Obamacare. This, too, is a facile comparison cynically and illicitly used to explain away Obamacare.
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Atheists Lie And Do So On a Billboard!

October 31, 2011 | Filed Under Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Hamilton, Atheism, Bible, Christianity, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Founders, George Washington, History, James Madison, John Adams, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Religion, Revolutionary War, Thomas Jefferson, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Talk about making a mistake everyone can see! Atheists in California have done a disservice to their own crusade to spread atheism by launching a new billboard campaign that ascribes a false quote to Thomas Jefferson. That’s right, they’ve essentially become liars for atheism.

In Costa Mesa, California a group of atheists calling themselves Backyard Skeptics have unveiled a billboard to sell atheism to the general public that features a quote they claim came from Thomas Jefferson, the Third President of the United States.

“I do not find in Christianity one redeeming feature,” the billboard “quotes” the president as having said. “It is founded on fables and mythology,” this quote concludes.

That would be a stinging rebuke of Christianity, indeed… were it true. Unfortunately for this little atheist group it seems that their quote is a fake quote the group found on the Internet and assumed was real.
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No, John Adams Did Not Pass the First Obamacare Law

July 6, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Federalism, Founders, Government, Government, Corruption, Health, History, John Adams, Liberals, President, Regulation, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Every few weeks for months now leftist bloggers have been happily touting the “fact” that our second president, John Adams, passed the first “national healthcare law” one that supposedly forced Americans to buy a form of healthcare. Unfortunately for them, this is simply untrue and comparing John Adams’ sailor’s relief act to Obamacare is misleading at worst and an apples to oranges comparison at best.

But even as today’s leftists want to use this old sailor’s act as poof that nationalized healthcare has precedent, and even as they are wrong, the history does serve us well as an example of the follies of nationalized healthcare. Curiously enough, it’s a lesson that the leftists don’t seem to mention in their laudatory pieces on John Adams’ law.

The law in question is the “act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen,” passed in 1798.

This law mandated owners of sailing vessels to pay a per-sailor tax to the federal government so that members of the merchant marine could find temporary healthcare when they got sick. The act informed the nation that the president is “hereby authorized, out of the same, to provide for the temporary relief and maintenance of sick, or disabled seamen, in the hospitals or other proper institutions…”

Now, the modern American left points to this and, squealing with glee, claims that this was the first “healthcare mandate.” They imagine that this law was the first version of Obamacare and that this is somehow precedent for Obama’s modern, socialist power grab.

Unfortunately for our friends on the left, a closer look at this ancient law fails the test as support for Obamacare.
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John Adams’ Reminiscences of the First Independence Day

July 3, 2011 | Filed Under Declaration of Independence, Founders, History, John Adams, RightPundits.com, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

John Adams was one of the truly indispensable men among our founding fathers. He was the man that wrote one of the first fully written out Constitutions in human history when he wrote the Constitution of Massachusetts. He wrote a seminal book on government that helped inform the founders of our nation, he was an ambassador to France and other European nations, he was our first vice president, our second president, and more.

In fact, Adams was at the center of one of the incidents that set the tone for our national character. When the Redcoats responsible for the Boston Massacre were put under arrest, John Adams stepped forward to represent the Redcoats in court. Many of his fellow patriots were amazed at this offer, some even incensed at Adams for doing so. But Adams said that the rule of law was far more important than merely making points with the home crowd and the Redcoats deserved to have competent representation…

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

(Video) I Was a Guest on NRA Radio’s ‘Cam And Company’ Show

December 16, 2010 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Guns, History, James Madison, John Adams, Judges, Law, Liberals, Police, Revolutionary War, Supreme Court, Thomas Jefferson, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

I was a guest on Cameron Gray’s National Rifle Association radio program “Cam and Company” last night.

I was on the program to discuss my article about Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s wrong-headed interpretation of the Second Amendment as one that doesn’t really protect the individual’s right to bear arms.

My article under discussion was: “Supreme Court Justice Breyer: Founders Were For Restricting Guns… Why Breyer is Wrong.”

It was a great segment, I have to say.

Publisher’s Warning Label: That Constitution and Declaration is No Longer Valid Thinking

June 10, 2010 | Filed Under Alexander Hamilton, Books, Capitalism, Congress, Constitution, Democracy, Economy/Finances, Federalism, Founders, Free Speech, George Washington, Government, James Madison, John Adams, Liberals, Revolutionary War, Thomas Jefferson, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

A Virginia-based publisher has decided that the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and other founding books are likely offensive and they want their readers to understand that these old documents are no longer valid ways of thinking. And so the publisher, Wilder Publications, has put a warning label on its reprints of America’s founding documents and books to shield American’s delicate sensibilities.

The warning label reads, “This book is a product of its time and does not reflect the same values as it would if it were written today. Parents might wish to discuss with their children how views on race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and interpersonal relations have changed since this book was written before allowing them to read this classic work.”

The warning labels appear on copies of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, the Articles of Confederation, and the Federalist Papers, as well as other founding books and documents the company reprints.
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John Adams & The i-Tunes Pre-Amp

March 24, 2010 | Filed Under History, John Adams, Matthew J. O'Connor | Comments Off

-By Matthew J. O’Connor

One of the most insightful and vivid books covering the formation of our Republic as experienced through the eyes of one of the greatest patriots and founding fathers, is a book simply entitled, “John Adams” written by David McCullough, published in 2001 by Simon & Schuster. The book has rightfully gained much acclaim due to author McCullough’s ability to make our Country’s founding come alive through rich detail and clarity as seen through the eyes of one of its principle founders, making the book read like a suspenseful novel.

John Adams was a country lawyer residing in the colony of Massachusetts who carried himself with honor and conviction and as McCullough describes right away in the book, “John Adams was not a man of the world. He enjoyed no social standing . . . there was no money in his background, no Adams fortune or elegant Adams homestead…”
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Publius Podcast: The Mount Vernon Statement, A Poor Man’s Manifesto… VERY Poor

March 1, 2010 | Filed Under Alexander Hamilton, Ben Franklin, Conservatives, Constitution, Elections, Founders, Freedom, George Washington, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, History, James Madison, John Adams, Podcasting, Publius' Forum, Republicans, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The newest Publius Forum podcast: The Mount Vernon Statement doesn’t work as a rallying cry, but here is an idea that might…

The Mount Vernon Statement, A Poor Man’s Manifesto… VERY Poor

February 22, 2010 | Filed Under Alexander Hamilton, Ben Franklin, Budget, Capitalism, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Federalism, Founders, Free Trade, George Washington, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, History, House of Representatives, James Madison, John Adams, Liberals, Patriotism, Republicans, Rights, Senate, Taxes, Tea Party, Thomas Jefferson, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

A group made up of some of the biggest names in contemporary conservatism got together a few days ago and crafted what they are calling the “Mount Vernon Statement,” a manifesto of sorts meant to give direction to today’s conservative movement. Put succinctly, it fails to fill the bill.

Taken as a whole this statement is fine as a short history lesson. It explains pretty clearly what the founders had wrought when their basic work was done with the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. But as a statement of principles that might guide today’s discussion I do not think the letter works.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that this effort is harmful. In fact, I think every young person should read it for its explication of our historically conservative American principles. The problem is that this thing doesn’t seem to speak directly to what we are facing today like a statement that perhaps aims to become boilerplate should.
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