ACTIVE PASSIVE RESISTANCE IN AN ERA OF WOKISM

 

The midterm elections of 2022 are over, and pollsters were wrong again. Instead of a “red wave” of renewed GOP dominance, it was more of a red trickle. Once again, we are told that conservatives are not talking to pollsters or just plain lying, thus skewing their results. (it seems to me that if this is true, the skewed results would favor the Democrats, but I am digressing here.)

So, the main question for me is why are conservatives not talking to pollsters, or for that matter, not putting candidate signs on their front lawns or political stickers on their vehicle bumpers? I can immediately think of several reasons why.

First, it is being called foul names. Whether you are a youth on a field trip in Washington DC being a called a racist by media networks, a suburban white woman voting Republican being compared to a cockroach by a national political commentator, Trump voters being placed in a basket of deplorables by the opposing presidential candidate or concerned parents attending and speaking at school board meetings being tagged as domestic terrorists, we conservatives are always open to being labeled with disgusting descriptors.

Second, the doxing and canceling can occur. Business owners may be boycotted and picketed if they are not “woke.” Although unlawful, protesters gather at Supreme Court justice’s homes attempting to influence their votes. Addresses of parents may be leaked to the public by school board members over political differences.

Third, conservatives can be physically attacked. And, of course, progressive liberals, also.  Regardless of grievances, violence us unacceptable.

Therefore, during these hostile political seasons we can take a few simple actions-

1.     Do not place political signs on our lawns.

2.     Do not place political bumper stickers on our vehicles.

3.     Do not post political items on social media.

4.     Do not talk with pollsters.

5.     Do not share your political views with anyone you do not know and trust.

6.     Do not wear political attire.

7.     Vote our consciences as often as possible.

8.     Everyone we meet or communicate with, regardless of differences,  is worthy of dignity, courtesy, and respect.,

The above eight actions are good for a short-term strategy, but conservatives need to possess a long-term strategy for dealing with wokism and political correctness in a world gone crazy. In this essay I am offering ideas for Christian conservatives to develop a strategy for the long-term. I also share ideas from others.

First, develop a theological perspective as a foundation for your active passive resistance. We are strangers and sojourners on this planet. Earth is our temporary abode and Heaven will be our permanent home. Only Jesus, not the Republican Party or any other political movement, can save us. The tweet from actress Patricia Heaton following the 2022 election is worthy of our consideration-

"For those of you who are Christians and who feel disappointed or despairing of the election results, it is a blessing to be reminded that our security does not rest in men or governments, which are finite and will eventually crumble, but in God alone who is ever sustaining.”

 

Second, do not take actions against progressive liberals in kind  if what you feel is abhorrent when taken against you. Public name calling and violence of any kind is not permissible for Christians. Defend yourself appropriately if attacked verbally or physically but not reply in kind. Rebuke other believers if they are reacting in non-Christlike actions.

Third, focus on your Christian growth. Rick Warren, retired senior pastor of Saddleback Church in southern California, lists six ways for us to prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ which will radically alter politics and history as we currently know-

1.     Clean out the garbage in our lives. (James 1:20-21)

2.     Stay connected to Christ. (1 John 2:28)

3.     Use trouble to stay spiritually strong. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

4.     Practice loving everyone. (James 2:8)

5.     Invest in the bank of Heaven. (Luke 12:33)

6.     Use the gifts God gave us to reach others. (2 Peter 2:15)

Fourth, if possible, find ways to collaborate  with progressives in your communities on issues such as poverty, illiteracy, police misconduct, environment, etc.  Be alert to insure both methods and results are congruent to biblical beliefs and values.

Fifth, read to be aware of the resources and options available to you.. To start, I recommend an article by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a book by  John Howard Yoder, a book by Eric Metaxas, a book coauthored by Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon and three books by Rod Dreher-

·       “Live Not By Lies” by Solzhenitsyn is a powerful warning to the West that lies, or enforced ideologies, imposed on others is, as a commentator states, “(gives an) illusion that human nature and society can be reshaped to predetermined specifications. Solzhenitsyn was a Russian dissident imprisoned in the former Soviet Union and eventually exiled to the West.

·       Yoder’s The Politics of Jesus is a theologically rich book for Christians to learn from Jesus to lead apolitical lives to effectively deal with power, status, and right relationships. Yoder was a Mennonite theologian who taught at Notre Dame and Baylor, among other schools.

·       In Letter to the American Church, Metaxas describes disturbing parallels between the German Church of the 1930s and the Dietrich Bonhoeffer as well as William Wilberforce. Metaxas is a leading biographer of Bonhoeffer.

·       Resident Aliens is the first of two books by Methodist theologians Hauerwas and Willimon who taught at Duke. As resident aliens Christians live in a colony surrounded by a contemptuous secular society. This first volume discloses the theological foundation for resident aliens. The second book details practical ideas for believers to use.

·       That Where Resident Aliens Live is a manual of practical ideas for Christians to live out their faith.

·       Crunchy Cons is the first of a trio of books on this subject by Dreher, a journalist of the Orthodox faith tradition who currently lives and works in Hungary, A conservative (con) eating granola (crunchy) is Dreher’s metaphor for conservative Christians not wedded to the Republican establishment but seek out allies, regardless of partisanship, to deal with mutual concerns. The book is built around a Crunchy Con Manifesto-

o   We are conservatives who stand outside the conservative mainstream

o   Modern conservatism has become too focused on money, power, and the accumulation of stuff

o   Big business deserves as much skepticism as big government

o   Culture is as important as politics and economics

o   A conservatism that does not practice restraint, humility, and stewardship- especially of the natural world- is not fundamentally conservative

o   Small, Local, Old, and Particular are almost always better than Big, Global, New, and Abstract

o   Beauty is more important than efficiency

o   The relentlessness of media-driven pop culture deadens our senses to authentic truth, beauty, and wisdom

o   The institution most essential to conserve is the family

·       The Benedict Option alerts American believers that we now live in a Post-Christian nation. Dreher states that we will  be entering a Dark Age that will plunge the entirety of Western Civilization into decadence and dissolution. Thus, he calls Christians to embrace the Benedictine Order as a strategy to combat the moral chaos around us. Like Saint Benedict following the fall of Rome in the sixth century we can retreat to form small monastic communities founded on order, hospitality, stability, and prayer to save civilization.

·       Live Not By Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents is Dreher’s way of expanding upon Solzhenitsyn’s essay to add detail on the characteristics of “soft” totalitarianism and how Christians can effectively resist with the family as the primary resistance cell.

 

There are three models of living as active passive resisters in our contemporary culture. Each model is an option for believers based upon our unique personalities, the set of spiritual gifts God has given us, and God’s calling upon our lives.

1.     Resident Aliens- This model has the most adherents. Christians are scattered throughout the wider secular culture and are employed mainly in secular jobs and primarily send their children to secular schools. Resident Aliens meet on Sundays for worship and Bible study and perhaps attend other church activities throughout the week.

2.     Intentional communities- Some Christians intentionally choose to live close together for mutual support while engaging with the wider secular culture. More children in this model attend private religious schools or are homeschooled. Historic examples of intentional communities include the Clapham Sect of south London from 1790s- 1840s which included William Wilberforce and fellow reformers and the Koinonia Farm founded in southwest Georgia in 1942 by Clarence Jordan and associates.

3.     Monastic communities- A fewer number of Christians will choose to almost completely withdraw from their culture and live together for mutual support and worship and prayer throughout the week.. While Catholic believers take holy orders to live in same-gender monasteries Protestant monasteries can take various forms and shapes. Children in this model tend to be homeschooled.

Deciding on which option to choose can be a demanding and complex one for some believers and easy for other Christ followers. God, in the end, grants us the freedom of choice in this regard. Let us choose wisely.

 

 

 

 

ON REPARATIONS FOR SLAVERY

 One of the ideas presented recently by the Progressive movement in the United States is a renewed emphasis on the United States government paying descendants of African Americans legally enslaved in our nation before the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. And some go as far to advocate reparations for descendants harmed by Jim Crow laws in various states until these laws were outlawed by the Civil Rights Act of 1963 and subsequent federal legislation. In this essay I will briefly examine a framework for reparations as well as some historical examples of reparations the Federal and state governments have paid for past injustices. I will then predict how a reparations system in the United States would work in the United States with the unintended consequences of reparations.

A Framework for Reparations

Rhonda Howard-Hassmann, professor at Wilfrid-Laurier University in Ontario Canada, provides a framework for consideration of reparations by listing nine conditions by which the payments for reparations will be much easier-

1.     The number of victims is relatively small.

2.     The victims are easily identifiable.

3.     Many of the direct victims are still alive.

4.     The injustice took place during a relatively short time period.

5.     The perpetrator is known.

6.     The injustice is easily identifiable.

7.     The injustice offends values of equality, personal safety, and/or the right to own property.

8.     There is a symbolic victim around whom advocates for reparations can rally.

9.     The amount of reparations asked for is not so large that the public will find it unreasonable.

As comprehensive the conditions listed by Howard-Hassmann are, I find it incomplete. To avoid using contemporary customs and standards to view much earlier ears of historical customs and standards as a basis for grievance to ignite advocacy for reparations I add a tenth condition-

10. The conditions for injustice must be understood in light of the customs and ethical standards when the conditions were normative and not considered unjust in light of contemporary views.

THistorical Examples of Reparations

There are several historical examples of reparations to which advocates of reparations point to demonstrate the reasonableness of reparations. The first example is the fate of Japanese Americans living on the west coast of the United States at the beginning of World War ll.

Thousands of Japanese Americans lived in California, Oregon, Washington, and the Territory of Hawaii in 1941-42. Viewed in the larger historical lens of the “Yellow Peril” fears of Euro-Americans for decades prior to World War ll, the next series of events seem almost a natural, yet regrettable, climax of these fears.

War fears of spying and sabotage exuberated the situation. The Army general commanding the West Coast defenses requested the removal of Japanese-Americans. His request was supported by civilian leaders in the western coastal states, one of the most notable being Governor Earl Warren of California. President Franklin Roosevelt approved and issued an executive order that resulted in 120,000 Japanese-American citizens to forfeit their properties and be relocated to internment camps in isolated parts of the American West.

The detainees in these camps were under armed guard so these Americans were for three years denied fheir freedoms to property, association, and travel as practiced by their fellow citizens. Unfortunately, these camps are often referred to as concentration camps giving rise to a possible close relationship to the brutal death camps of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan during the same time period.

Japanese Americans in these camps were not tortured or murdered. While indeed hindered by racism, cruelty, and frozen winters, they demonstrated the can-do spirit so often demonstrated by immigrants- they build houses of worship, schools, sumo wrestling pits, and kabuki theaters. The high school at the Heart Mountain Camp near Cody Wyoming fielded a football team that in 1943 had an undefeated season against teams from surrounding towns.

Young men in these camps were also patriotic despite the actions of their government. Many voluntarily enlisted in the US Army and were assigned either to the 442^nd Regimental Combat Team or the 100^th Infantry Battalion of the Hawaii National Guard. Both units distinguished themselves in the European Theater of Operations. In particular, the 442^nd RCT became the most decorated Army unit in the war. Unfortunately, back at the home front, others in the camps were drafted and many of those young men who refused to serve were imprisoned for draft resistance.

Reparation advocacy for Japanese Americans grew after World War ll which culminated in the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Over 80,000 Americans of Japanese descent, symbolically led by US Senators Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga, each received a check for $20,000 for a total of about $1.6 billion. This reparation made all of the first nine conditions as listed by Howard-Hassmann and in addition, met the tenth condition I listed as German Americans and Italian Americans were not likewise interned for possible security concerns in such a massive way.

The second example occurred in Florida. In 1923, the predominantly African American community of Rosewood was entirely destroyed by white aggressors and the residents driven out permanently.

On May 4, 1994, a two-year campaign resulted in then-Governor  Lawton Chiles signing a bill to compensate survivors $1.5 million as well as allotting $500,000 to cover property damage inflicted in the attack on Rosewood and a  fund for descendants and other minorities. The scholarship is still available today.

“It was not money they truly enjoyed,” said Sherry Dupree, who runs the Rosewood Heritage Foundation in Gainesville. “These people were old…most of it went to health care.” The state reparations met or all of the Howard-Hassmann conditions as well as my addition.

Reparations for Slavery

I will now turn to the question of reparations being paid to the descendants of slavery in the Unites States using the framework conditions listed earlier in this essay to reach a determination for payment,

Condition #1- The number of victims is relatively small- NO. There were four million slaves in the United States per the 1860 census. Descendants today would reach “Abrahamic” numbers. For example, persons who identify as African American are about 12 percent of the current US population or about 40 million people.

Condition #2- The victims are easily identifiable- NO. All the direct victims of slavery are deceased. Of the approximate 40 million African Americans in the US today, not all are descended from slaves for several reasons. In 1860, there were 0.5 million free Blacks in the US, many of which had never been slaves. Then and now many African Americans are descended from other than American Blacks. For examples, Barack Obama’s father was Kenyan (his mother was a White from Kansas) and the parents of Kamala Harris were from South Asia and the West Indies. Finally, many Americans who do not identify as Black have some ancestors who were. For example, my ancestors were overwhelming European (99.1%) and at the same time I have some ancestors who were West African (0.7%).

To properly identify descendants of slaves who would be eligible for reparation payments would require a massive effort. We cannot rely upon the “Elizabeth Warren method” of ancestry identification by using family stories only. Proper identification of eligible recipients will require legal documents and records as well as DNA testing. One unintended consequence of the identification could result into major government overreach into our privacy.

Condition #3- Many of the direct victims are still alive- NO. None of the direct victims of slavery are still alive.

Condition #4- The injustice took place during a relatively short time period- NO. American slavery existed from 1619- 1865, a period of 246 years.

Condition #5- The perpetrator is known- YES, There are multiple perpetrators- African tribes, Great Britain (until 1776), United States (after 1776), and various colonial and state governments.

Condition #6- The injustice is easily identifiable- YES. Injustices included imprisonment indefinitely without trial, loss of property, torture, and other various punishments without due process.

Condition #7- The injustice offends values of values of equality, personal safety, and/or the right to own property- DIVIDED. In terms of contemporary values- YES. In terms of values for most of the period of slavery- NO.

Condition #8- There is a symbolic victim- PERHAPS. Howard-Hassmann suggests that perhaps Michelle Obama could be chosen since both her grandfathers were grandsons of slaves.

Condition #9- The amount of reparations requested is reasonable- NO. If 30 million Americans were approved to have legitimate ancestry and each descendant was paid $20 thousand, the amount in reparations would be $600 billion dollars.  

Condition #10- Is slavery considered immoral by both the wider culture from 1619-1865 and from 1865 to the present day- NO.

 

So, the conditions laid out in the framework provide us with a mixed record. While I believe that the reader believes, along with me, that American slavery system with tis fixation on the inferiority of African and other dark-skinned peoples was immoral and unethical way of relating with others. Even so, American slavery lasted over two centuries, we have no direct victims, descendants of slaves today would be difficult to identify, and the process of reparations would generate a massive shift of wealth unprecedented in our history so that the process would be rife with corruption and abuse. Therefore, I do not support future reparations for slavery.

And what do I mean by “future” reparations? What I mean that reparations by another name have been or have already been paid. I desire to emphasize three key points:

1.     Blood has been shed  to end slavery. The Civil War cost us a total of 620,000 lives at a conservative estimate- 330,000 from the North and 290,000 from the South. The end of slavery cost us a whole generation of young men. Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural address explains,

“Fondly do we hope ~ fervently do we pray ~ that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

2.     Beginning with the Great Society initiated by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965,  billions of dollars have been distributed to Blacks (and others) through federal and state welfare programs. Granted, this distribution of monies was not intended to be reparations, but in all practicality, the monies served the same purpose. Social commentator Christopher Caldwell in his book The Age of Entitlement speaks to the expense involved,

“Civil rights transformed the country not just constitutionally but also culturally and demographically. In ways few people anticipated, it proved to be the mightiest instrument of domestic enforcement the country has ever seen. It can fairly be described as the largest undertaking of any kind in American history. Costing trillions upon trillions of dollars (emphasis mine) and spanning half a century, it rivals, in terms of energy invested, the peopling of the West, the building of transcontinental railways and highways, the maintenance of Pax Americana for a half century after World War ll, or for that matter, any of the wars the country has fought, foreign or civil.” (p.9)

And, finally, I believe slavery reparations would be unconstitutional according to the equal protection section of the Fourteenth Amendment.

These concerns along with the privacy and corruption concerns stated  earlier would make slavery reparations, now or in the future, impossible to legislate, organize, and implement, now or in the future.

Bonus

The complexity of this issue was seen in a televised interview between CNN commentator Don Lemon and Hilary Fordwich, a Brit royals expert. Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom had just died during the past several days and King Charles lll had gaine the throne. Lemon asked Fordwich if  this would be a  good time for the UK to consider paying reparations for the slavery of its past. Fordwich replied this is indeed a good time for consideration of reparations since Britain had been the first nation to abolish slavery. (She was wrong- Haiti had been the first nation to do so,)

Then she caught her stride, For reparations to be paid, she said, one needs to consider the beginnings of the supply chain- the African tribes which supplied slaves to the Europeans. Then Fordwich told Lemon that after the descendants of the tribes paid reparations then payment would need to be considered for the descendants of the two thousand sailors and marines of the Royal Navy who died from disease or injury while on duty to stop the slavers. Lemon was not expecting this line of argument so when Fordwich ended her reply, Lemon concluded with “Good discussion” and stopped the interview.

 

 

 

UNLIKELY WAR HERO

 

Several days ago, I was watching some YouTube presentations on military history when I heard of the US Navy gunboat USS Wake being captured by the Japanese in Shanghai harbor in December 1941. Curious, I began researching this naval vessel.

 

 

The USS Wake was originally the USS Guam. The ship was built in 1927 at Shanghai and was turned over to the US Navy shortly thereafter. USS Guam was assigned to the Yangtze River Patrol of the Navy’s Asiatic Squadron to protect American interests along that four-thousand-mile-long river. The ship had two cannons and eight machine guns for protection. To appreciate the ship’s mission and life aboard I highly recommend that the reader watch the movie Sand Pebbles starring Steve McQueen focusing on the fictional USS San Pablo. One could also research the USS Panay and the Japanese attack on it in 1937 (!) or even the USS Liberty and the Israeli attack on that ship (!!).

In January 1941 because the Navy was building a new USS Guam, the China gunboat was renamed the USS Wake (for Wake Island, a small mid-Pacific US possession). Throughout 1941 as American relationships with Japan soured, the US Navy had almost completely left China except for the USS Wake and its skeleton crew of one officer and 14 sailors, eight of which were radio operators. The Wake was now a floating communications intelligence center.

On December 8, the ship and crew were captured by the Japanese as they invaded Shanghai. Japan renamed the gunboat and used it for their own river patrols. After World War ll the Nationalist Chinese again renamed the ship and used it until captured by the Communist Chinese who eventually destroyed the vessel. The USS Wake had the distinction of being in the service of four different nations as well as being the only US warship of being captured by Japan during the war.

During my research I learned that the last commander of the USS Wake was Lieutenant Commander Columbus Smith who was described as an “old China hand.”  I immediately thought that the officer had a curious name, so I dug deeper and found a story more exciting than the ship he commanded.

On February 14, 1890, Columbus Darwin Smith (yes, his real full name) was born to Henry Marshall Smith, a physician, and Emily Delilah (Barnes) Smith In Atlanta Georgia. He was probably named after his grandfather Columbus Darwin “Lum” Smith and some of his uncles (father’s side) included Gustavus Adolphus, Martin Luther, Jefferson Randolph, and Andrew Jackson- all first and mille names, of course. Little is known of his early life but one could surmise by the time Smith graduated from high school he was well read, had a love of adventure, and possessed a superb memory which served him well in his adulthood.

High school graduation propelled Smith to sea as an ordinary seaman. He rose through the ranks to be a master sailor and become a captain of a merchant sailing ship in the Caribbean. When the United States entered World War l the Navy gave Smith an officer’s commission and command of a submarine chaser warship. He loved it!

When the war ended Smith reentered the civilian merchant marine becoming a first mate and captain of several freighters in the Pacific, the last route being the Japan- Hawaii circuit. In the late 1920s Smith gave up the ocean trade to become a master pilot and navigator on the Yangtze with his headquarters in Shanghai. Along the way he learned the Mandarin dialect and also Japanese.

With war fever high in November 1941 the admiral commanding the Navy’s Yangtze Patrol summoned Smith to his office to offer another officer’s commission to Smith if he would take command of the USS Wake. If he accepted Smith understood that by doing so he would be the ranking US naval officer in China because all other naval assets were in the process of leaving the country. Smith readily accepted the admiral’s offer. He was in command a week before war began. Not only was the USS Wake the first (and only) US warship captured by the Japanese but Smith was the first American officer taken captive.

Smith’s tenure as a POW was ironic, dangerous, and adventurous. In early 1942, Marines who had surrendered at Wake Island in 1941 arrived at the prison along with their naval commander, Commander Winfield Scott Cunningham. How ironic! Cunningham’s war efforts were considered heroic as the outnumbered Marines he commanded on Wake Island had sunk at least one Japanese warship and severely damaged several others. The aborted first landing attempt was the first Japanese defeat of the war. And Smith commanded the ship which was the Island’s namesake had been overtaken so suddenly by the enemy that not a single shot had been fired.

Smith and other officers suffered deprivations, near starvation, and regular torture. Once he demanded of his torturers why their methods were so barbarous. The Japanese curiously considered Smith’s question. Their reply was that since the Japanese race was superior therefore all other races were inferior so then their methods could not be barbarian.

Smith and several others escaped their prison in 1942 but were quickly discovered and returned for trial as deserters from the Japanese army! Smith was sentenced to ten years imprisonment even though his own defense counsel had argued for Smith’s execution!! Finally in 1944 Smith and two others successfully escaped and traveled 700 miles inland to freedom. Smith and his companions were flown to India. He able to contact his wife Rita to inform her that the government report of his death I was 1941 was erroneous.

Smith was promoted to captain but left the navy at war’s end to return to Shanghai to serve as the city’sport director. He died on November 18, 1966, in San Francisco and is buried in Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno California.

 

 

 

 

OKLAHOMA SOONERS FOOTBALL 1950- 2022

 

One entertaining book that caught my attention in high school was about the first fifty years of Oklahoma Sooners football. In the 1890s the University of Oklahoma was founded in the frontier town of Norman about a decade or so before statehood. Apparently two men were talking in a barbershop when one asked, “Why don’t we get a football team at the university?” And so they did in 1895.

The team was first called the Rough Riders in honor of Theodore Roosevelt and his 1^st Volunteer Cavalry Regiment nicknamed the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War of 1898. Then they were known as the Boomers with a name change and finally the Sooners. Both Boomer and Sooner echo back to the famous 1889 land run. Boomers were the folks who followed the rules and the Sooners were the ones who broke the rules by coming early. So, Oklahoma’s athletic teams are named after land thieves. (I like it!) Also, the school fight song “Boomer Sooner” is based on Yale’s “Boula Boula”, and Boomer and Sooner are the names of the ponies who pull our famous Sooner Schooner wagon around the field after every score.

To have great football teams the university needs great rivals. Historically, the Sooners have had two. Oklahoma State University (OSU) in Stillwater, about 70 miles north of Norman, was originally Oklahoma A & M until about 1959. It was only natural OSU became our in-state rival. The situation with the University of Texas at Austin (UT), about 350 miles south of Norman is slightly more complex. If I remember correctly from the book our rivalry sprung from a David (OU) versus Goliath (UT) hatred.

So, throughout the years with conference realignment after conference realignment OSU and UT have remained constant rivals for my OU Sooners. The Sooners have played OSU Cowboys (formerly the Aggies when they were A & M) 117 times with 91 wins, 19 losses, and 7 ties. Our games with the UT Longhorns over the years  have proved to a closer series rivalry with 49 wins, 62 losses, and 5 ties.

Our current season under rookie head coach Brent Venables is almost over. The Sooners lost to UT and defeated OSU. The outcomes of these games began me thinking about how many times OU has lost to both OSU and UT in the same season. That was the genesis for this essay.

I decided to go with 1950 and onwards. 1950 was the year of my birth and even more importantly for the Sooners, OU since 1950 has been recognized by the NCAA as having more victories than any other major football school. Since 1950 OU has played OSU 73 times with 60 wins, 12 losses, and 1 tie. During the same timeframe OU has played UT 74 times; the extra game was in 2018 when the teams played in the regular season and also in the Big 12 Championship Game. During this period OU had 37 wins, 34 losses, and 3 ties.

The data shows what I expected- that the times In which OU lost to both OSU and UT in the same season were few, three- 1965, 1997, and 1998. And the data showed more-

1.     All three seasons were losing seasons- 1965 (3-7-0), 1997 (4-8), and 1998 (5-6).

2.     Both coaches involved- Gomer Jones (1965) and John Blake (1997 and 1998)- had previous ties with OU. Jones had been as assistant for 17 years and Blake had been both a player (defensive lineman) and defensive assistant.

3.     Jones retired in 1965 and became the school’s athletic director until 1971 and Blake was fired in 1998 for the records of his teams.

Note to Coach Venables and future head coaches at OU- losing to UT is not a crime and losing to OSU is serious, but losing to both in the same season is a rarity that marks the end of one’s coaching at OU

 

 

TASK FORCE BAUM: PATTON'S FAILURE IN LEADERSHIP

General George Patton was no stranger to controversy. Perhaps the best battlefield commander the US Army had during World War ll, Patton always seemed to hold opinions he needed to share with others that few of them appreciated, especially his commanders. While the two incidents of him slapping soldiers in Army field hospitals in Sicily are well known, his ill-conceived raid on a POW camp in Himmelberg Germany in March 1945 is not well known and should have gotten Patton fired on the spot by General Eisenhower, the supreme allied commander in Europe. The raid cost the lives of at least 30 soldiers and was a total failure.

To understand Task Force Baum, one must return to North Africa in 1943 where Lieutenant Colonel John Waters was captured by the Germans and in 1945 was being held in the Himmelberg camp.  Patton wanted Walters rescued because Waters was Patton’s son-in-law and this rescue raid had to be planned in almost total secrecy so that Patton’s battlefield superior, General Omar Bradley, or Eisenhower would not learn of the plan and veto it.

To get the soldiers and equipment needed for the raid, Patton turned to one of his best tank officers, Lieutenant Colonel Creighton Abrams for assistance. Abrams was commander of Combat Command B of the 4^th Armored Division with two tank battalions and supporting artillery at his disposal. Abrams’s request to use one entire battalion in the raid was overruled by Patton, so Abrams had to settle on a kluge of units and vehicles. To command the task force Abrams wanted to use one of his battalion commanders but he was ill. In turn, the sick officer recommended his S-3 (operations) officer, Captain Abraham Baum. Thus, Task Force Baum was formed with the following order of battle- 11 officers, 303 enlisted men, 16 tanks, 28 half-tracks, and 13 other vehicles. In addition, Baum had a superior officer from Patton’s staff assigned to the task force as an observer; in reality, the officer’s mission was to identify Waters and “manage” him throughout the rescue.

On the evening of March 26, the task force began its planned 50-mile march to Himmelberg from south of the German-held city of Aschaffenburg just inside the German state of Bavaria. The Americans ran into immediate trouble due to a lack of intelligence- inadequate maps and the intensity of German resistance. Several tanks were lost, and a German reconnaissance aircraft flew above the task force during daylight the following day, March 27 to alert the regular German army and the paramilitary civilian defense forces to Baum’s location.

Their poor intelligence became readily apparent when Task Force Baum reached Himmelberg POW camp late in the day. Reduced to barely half of his original vehicles, Baum only had enough of them to carry back 300 US soldiers. Unbeknownst to the allies, the number of POWs in the camp was in the thousands due to relocation of allied POWs from the east and from the Battle of the Bulge several months earlier. Upon arrival, task force soldiers were fired upon by German guards and in the ensuing skirmish, several allied POWs were injured by gunfire because their gray uniforms resembled the Germans. Fearing he could be blamed for further injuries the German camp commander asked Waters to negotiate a ceasefire with the task force. Upon exiting his assigned barracks Waters was shot and severely injured. Nevertheless, a truce was arranged.

Baum then found himself in an almost impossible situation. Camp conditions had become dire to the preceding harsh European winter. Each POW only had enough food for 1100-1700 calories daily (a minimum of 2000 calories daily was necessary) and many had lost 50-60 pounds. Heating the many barracks was nearly impossible, with only 20 degrees heat throughout the cold winter and spring days. Therefore, too many POWs were too ill to be moved. And that now included Waters.

Baum’s decision was that only field grade (majors and above) US officers could be transported back to the Aschaffenburg area. Any other POWs could follow the task force vehicles on foot if they so desired. Task Force Baum begin its return journey during the evening hours of March 27. The US force encountered stiff German attacks more destruction of vehicles, and almost complete encirclement.

Finally, Baum ordered his troops to abandon the convoy, and everyone was for himself. About 6-32 soldiers returned to the US lines (reports vary). 32 were killed, and all the others were either missing or captured- many of the captured had also been wounded or injured.  Baum himself was shot in the groin while attempting to escape and was placed in the same POW camp hospital as Waters. His last act before being captured was to hide his dog tags because they identified his religion- Jewish.

The responsibility for the failure of Task Force Baum lies totally with General Patton. His poor leadership and disregard for the lives and welfare of men under his command during this incident should have led Patton to be relieved of his command of the Third Army. Consider the following factors:

1.     Eisenhower and Patton were old friends. Patton romanticized war and if anyone should have realized this raid was part of Patton’s attempt for further glory, that person would be Eisenhower.

2.     Both Eisenhower and Patton had served under General Douglas MacArthur at various times in their careers. Jealousies and rivalries ensued, especially on Patton’s part. In January 1945 MacArthur as theater commander in the Philippines had authorized a POW rescue mission that saved 500 Americans from probable execution by the Japanese. Army Rangers and Filipino Scouts carried out their assignment with good maps, intelligence, and coordination. Patton was jealous of MacArthur’s achievement and wanted to order something similar. But Patton was not the theater commander in Europe, Eisenhower was.

3.     Task Force Baum did not have good maps, intelligence, or coordination. The soldiers in the task force fought gallantly but were not trained for rescues. Planning was limited to 24 hours from conception to execution. In contrast, the Philippine rescue was well-planned and even had air support. However, no air or artillery support for the Himmelberg raiders.

Patton did receive an oral reprimand from Eisenhower. If you would have been Patton’s commander in March 1945 what would you have done?

 

George Patton died in December 1945 from complications from an auto wreck. The controversy even surrounds this incident- was it an accident or an assassination?

Creighton Abrams stayed in the Army, was promoted to general, and eventually commanded all US forces in Vietnam in the last years of the war.

Abraham Baum left the Army after the war and died at the age of 91 in California.

John Waters was told by Patton that he did not know that Waters was in the camp. Waters survived, remained in the Army, and was eventually promoted to general. Until their deaths, Waters and Baum were friends.

FOOTBALL & THE 80-YARD RUN

Autumn is my favorite season of the year. Autumn brings cooler air and football. As an alum of the University of Oklahoma I am an avid Sooners fan. Not much winning this season for my Sooner gridiron heroes. The team last Saturday suffered their worst loss ever to those hated Longhorns from the University of Texas. The score 49-0 says it all- or perhaps nothing at all. It all depends upon one’s perspective.

The same Saturday as my Sooners lost to Texas my grandson’s high school team defeated a team from a very small town in Kansas 42-0. It would have been 49-0, I am sure, if the officials had not used a running clock in the final quarter. Are football scores indicative of the character of the players, the quality of their academic education they are receiving, or the overall success of the schools they attend. Of course, not. But our culture acts like it does.

The Sooners, like all other Division 1 (or whatever they call themselves today) football powers measure success very simply- 1) have a winning record, 2) go to bowl game, 3) win the conference championship, 4) be eligible for the national championship, and/or be ranked in the top ten at season’s end. To accomplish these ends, Dl powers hire coaches, pay them millions of dollars, and expect instant results through their nation-wide recruiting efforts and their technical expertise of the game that they can transmit to their players. Thousands of fans pack stadiums and millions more fans tune in to their televisions to watch their teams play. It is as the continuance of Western Civilization as we know it will cease if our team loses. But it doesn’t. Life continues despite the outcome of the Red River Rivalry between the Sooners or Longhorns, or any other college football game.

Please understand I am not denouncing football- it’s a great game. I played high school football as a substitute lineman, both offense and defense. Football can teach teamwork, discipline, and how to handle both winning and losing. But football, like all other sports. does not teach character. As I used to tell the soccer and basketball players I coached in high school- diversity does not build character; diversity reveals character.

Roland Ortmayer was a college football coach who died in 2008 at the age of 91 years. “Ort” as he was known became the athletic director and football coach at the University of La Verne in southern California in 1948 and finished his coaching career with 182 wins, 193 losses, and 8 ties- hardly a record to boast. Yet Ort was known for his winning personality, gentle ways, and compassionate ideals who many former athletes considered the most influential person in their lives.

Ortmayer did not use a playbook, did not require attendance at practices nor game film sessions, did not believe in weight training, rarely recruited players, never cut a player, and set no curfews. His was no “new age” hippy philosopher but rather was a “throwback” to a bygone era of sport where all contests, like football. Are meant to be fun, not a life and death issue. Ort understood himself primarily an educator.

The legacy of Coach Ortmayer represents the other end of the spectrum from the culture of DI college football powers. If Ort had coached at Oklahoma, Michigan, or Ohio State, chaos would have ensued. And while that many football fans may be drawn to the simplicity of the vison Ortmayer had for college football, that vison is unrealistic for most college. Perhaps there is a middle ground. But I will let better minds in the sport discuss and debate that. In the meantime, we obsessive fans can do three things-

1.     Keep cheering on your favorite teams(s). I just know that my Sooners will get their revenge next year!

2.     Don’t suffer from clinical depression if your has a rebuilding (aka “bad”) year.

3.     To help keep a proper perspective, adopt and cheer on a team from a small college. I think for me that will be Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas. My high school is located in Ottawa County Oklahoma which is home to the Ottawa Tribal Nation. The university sits on land originally reserved for the Ottawa Tribe, so it offers academic scholarships to Ottawas who are high school graduates.

 

Now, about that 80-year run, Which was the title and focus of a short story published in 1941 and written by Irwin Shaw. Long ago, I read this story in either high school or college, and it has struck with me since. Christian Darling is a football player at a midwestern college who one day in a football scrimmage runs 80 yards for a touchdown. He becomes the team’s hero and wins over his girlfriend to become his wife. Christian’s identity is so wrapped around this 80-yard run that when he suffers twin crises in his personal and professional lives 15 years later, he returns to the field to relive that run that made him so important. But that 80-yard run, the reader discovers, was during a football practice, not a game! Christian realizes that he had practiced for the wrong thing (football) instead of practicing for life. Ort would have loved that story.

 

 

RETRO TV: COMBAT!

Combat! premiered on the ABC television network in 1962 and lasted five seasons until 1967 for a total of about 160 episodes. The series highlights a fictional US Army squad of infantrymen led by Sergeant Saunders (Vic Morrow) in a platoon with Lieutenant Hanley (Rick Jason) as the platoon leader.

Soldiers in Saunders’s squad vary but by season 3 the squad settles down to a core of five men- Sergeant Saunders, PFC Kirby, PFC Caje, PFC Littlejohn, and “Doc” the medic. There was a PFC Nelson in the squad, but he was killed in action early in season 3 with little fanfare. Also killed in action regularly are the new additions to the squad as well as many of the guest stars for many of the episodes. The “core” squad members are often wounded or captured by the Germans, but never killed.

Lieutenant Hanley is the only officer the viewers meet on a regular basis. While in one episode the battalion commander is the centerpiece of the action, other officers are usually confined to several scenes in one episode. Early in season 1 the viewers learn that Hanley was once also a sergeant in the same platoon as Saunders and that they friendly rivals for the affections of a young and attractive Englishwoman.

Shortly after D-Day on June 6, Hanley was awarded a battlefield commission to lieutenant and platoon leader, possibly because he attended college. This is a story arc left undeveloped by the scriptwriters, much to my disappointment. Hanley and Saunders sometimes appear together and sometimes one appears without the other. During some episodes Hanley is leading the squad without Saunders. As a former Army sergeant, myself, I find this a problem.

Another problem I found was the squad patrols. The soldiers bunch up instead of spreading out, the point soldier is too close to the rest of the squad, and that the soldiers are too loud. I found myself yelling “Patrol discipline!” every time this happened fully realizing this was Hollywood and that the scene was not a page out of an Army training manual.

In addition, it may become obvious to most viewers that the series episodes are non-sequential. In one episode the date is October and the very next episode the date is August. In several episodes it is winter with snow and the very next episodes it is warm with no snow. Also, all the fighting occurs in France. This happens because the squad represents the battlespaces and experiences of many real squads of US soldiers who fought the German army in 1944. Unlike MASH, a popular “war” television series of the 1970s set in Korea but really a satire of the war in Vietnam, Combat! Is a commentary on war in general. Episode foci include-

 

·       Absurdity of war

·       War is sometimes necessary

·       Difference between killing the enemy and murdering the enemy

·       Impact of war on civilians both at home and in the war zones

·       Effective leading men into battle

·       Humanity and inhumanity of the enemy

·       Thin line between heroism and cowardness

·       Effects of PTSD

·       When orders can be ignored or even disobeyed

·       Unit cohesion keeps soldiers alive

As a teenager I remember watching the series and the only thing I remember was the “cool” Thompson submachine gun Sergeant Saunders always carried as his primary weapon, So, I am pleased that my wife and I are currently binge watching the episodes (all of them have been uploaded into YouTube) so I can catch the full drift of what the actors and writers are sharing about combat.

WE NEED VIRTUOUS CITIZENS- BUT WHOSE VIRTUES?

 

[This essay is a companion piece to an earlier essay entitled “Is the United States a Christian Nation?”  This essay adds further reasoning to make my case for answering in the negative.]

Our Founders fervently argued during the ratification process of our Constitution that our constitutional republic, once established, could only be maintained by an active citizenry possessing virtue. Many evangelical Christians, among whom I belong, first think of virtues as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control- qualities of spiritual growth listed in the Christian New Testament (Galatians 5:22-23) or the Ten Commandments recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures of the biblical canon, In contrast, many secularists, if they believe in virtue at all, are perhaps attracted to a list of personal qualities akin to the Boy Scout Law- trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, reverent.  Both groups would be wrong.

Why were virtues so important to the Founders that a virtuous citizenry was held up as essential to the survival of our constitutional republic? This basic question can be answered in two ways- both a negative response and a positive response. First the negative. About a century and a half after we gained our independence, the Indian activist Mahatma Gandhi postulated that seven temptations could destroy civilization-

v Wealth without work

v Pleasure without conscience

v Knowledge without character

v Commerce without morality

v Science without humanity

v Worship without sacrifice

v Politics without principle

My hunch is that the Founders also wrestled with these vices and viewed virtue among the people could keep these seven in check. Now the positive. In the 1830s after about 60 years of independence, the United States was visited by a French nobleman named Alexis de Tocqueville. He visited the cities and towns of our nation and collected his observations in his book entitled Democracy in America, Tocqueville, in his book, comments on the practical application of citizen virtue to volunteerism, “Americans use associations to give fetes (celebrations), to found seminaries, to build inns, to raise churches, to distribute books, to send missionaries…create hospitals, prisons, schools. Finally, if it is a question of bringing light to a truth or developing a sentiment with the support of a great example, they associate.”

Our Founders looked to the ancient world, especially the Roman Republic, for virtues they felt would sustain a new continental republic in North America. The Roman Republic is not to be confused with the Roman Empire. The Republic existed about a thousand years before the Empire. Historians generally agree the Republic ended when Julius Caesar and his XIII Legion crossed the Rubicon River, a stream which separated Italy proper from Gaul.

While Republican Rome was not perfect by any means and at times it resembled Imperial Rome, the Republic nevertheless was a fertile ground for the development of qualities of citizenship or virtues which our Founders found appealing. Sometimes these virtues are referred to as Republican Virtues (obviously not to be confused with the US Republican Party) but for the sake of this essay I will call them the core virtues. Lists of virtues will probably vary so to be as comprehensive as [possible I will identify and briefly describe the virtues 

found in the “Visual Model of the Roman Concept of Integraitas/Virtus.”

This model has two major virtue groupings- personal and social.  There are four virtues within the personal grouping-

·       Resolute- endurance, perseverance, courage

·       Duty- respectful, industrious, dedicated

·       Purity- sense of mortality, health, dignity, truthful

·       Self-Control- restraint, modest, merciful, gravity, economical

And there are four virtues within the social grouping-

·       Honorable- moral actions, pride, reputation, humanity

·       Good Faith- reliability, gratefulness, loyalty

·       Selfless- generous, simplicity, incorruptible, charitable

·       Justice- order, fairness, responsible, empathy

Now I will illustrate how these core virtues impacted our first four presidents, Founders all. George Washington foundered two major startups in our history- the American army and the American presidency. The least educated president of the first four in the formal sense,[i] he needed to remake himself to improve his social standing in colonial Virginia. His model was the Roman statesman Cato, described by Plutarch as possessing an inflexible temper, not swayed by passion, and resolute in his purposes.

In earlier American history Washington was referred to as the “American Cincinnatus.” Cincinnatus was a Roman soldier who retired to his farm. When invaders threatened the republic, the Senate called upon Cincinnatus to lead the army with full political authority as dictator. In less than two weeks the invaders were repulsed, and Cincinnatus gave up all power and returned to his farm. Washington surrendered power twice; first, he resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the army (for this action alone, King George lll called Washington the greatest man in the world) and second, when he served only two terms as president setting a precedent that until 1940.

Harvard educated John Adams was a “loner” among his fellow first four presidents- the only one not from Virginia (from Massachusetts), the only one who earned wages for a living (as a schoolteacher), the only one who showed his emotions, the only one who never owned a slave, and the first one to think deeply about independence from Britain. In the same way, Adams was the only one enamored by the Roman statesman and orator Cicero- in fact, he sought to be the American Cicero. Adams, like Cicero, lacked wealth, noble birth, and military service, rose to the top of government. Also, like Cicero, hos weakness was his own vanity.

Adams also used the Ancients for practical reasons. When he was appointed chair of the Board of War and Ordnance by the Continental Congress in 1776 he gave himself a crash course on military strategy and tactics by reading books on the Rome- Cartage (Punic) wars as well as the Peloponnesian (Greek) War. With over 25 years of retirement following the end of his presidency in 1801, Adams read Cicero’s How to Grow Old numerous times.[ii]Jefferson’

Thomas Jefferson was the most complex person of our first four presidents. He studied classics through his tutors and at the College of William and Mary, and liked Cicero’s essays and the speeches of other Romans worthies- Livy, Tacitus, and Sallust. Jefferson then studied law in the offices of George Wythe- a classicist who considered another Cato. Yet Jefferson fell under the sway of Greek philosophy, and also. according to one biographer, “…the Athenians, in all respects, his chosen people.”  

Among the Greek philosophers Epicurus was primary for the remainder of Jefferson’s life with happiness the aim of his life grounded in the virtues of prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice, Jefferson’s decision making has baffled many historians leading one biographer to label him the “American Sphinx.”  Jefferson’s life goal of happiness should offer a clue for the mystery of his behaviors.

Before I continue with my discussion on our first presidents, I must call the reader’s attention to an intellectual movement I just recently discovered- the Scottish Enlightenment. For most Americans Scotland is a country of Braveheart, kilns, and castles in union with England, Wales, and Northern Ireland currently held together by a few percentage points of the Scottish electorate.

During the 18th century Scotland went from a poor possession of England into one becoming dominant in education. law, sciences, and international trade. The Scottish Enlightenment began in the 1500s when the Church of Scotland sustained a Calvinist revival. The reformed church placed a great emphasis on literacy so that the people could read the Bible. By 1750, Scotland possessed one of the highest literacy rates in Europe with 75 percent as compared to 53 percent in England.

Unintended consequences flowed from there. One was the fact Scottish universities in Glasgow and Edinburgh began to outshine academically the English universities in Oxford and Cambridge. Then Glasgow and Edinburgh began to attract students from all over Europe and as a result, Scottish law became indebted to French law and which, in turn, had Roman law as its foundation.

If the Enlightenment had remained in Scotland, this discussion will be useless for our purposes in this essay. It just so happened that Scottish ports were more accessible to the British colonial trade in North America. Ships loaded with tobacco sailed to Scottish ports and returned to the American colonies filled with Scottish scholars and books.

James Madison grew up not too far from Jefferson’s home in Piedmont Virginia near the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west. His college choice of Princeton (then known as the College of New Jersey) over the College of William and Mary in Virginia was not too difficult. William and Mary was having too many scandals among its faculty members and its climate was too hot and muggy during the summers whereas Princeton had the most student diversity among the American colleges, had been engulfed by the Scottish Enlightenment with Princeton being considered a provincial model of the University of Edinburgh, and was brimming with political talk about the events of the day.

Madison was at least somewhat lingually prepared for Princeton. When he arrived he spoke French had such a distinct Scottish brogue that native French speakers found him almost impossible to understand! Notwithstanding the language barrier among the French speakers at Princeton, Madison studied moral philosophy under John Witherspoon, the college president, who taught that moral philosophy on how to be a virtuous person and how to promote virtue in one’s society. Witherspoon, it should be noted, was the only college president and the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence.

We can also turn to another Founder for guidance in virtue- Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton left King’s College (now Columbia) to join the revolutionary cause. Soon after he was an officer in the “New York State Company of Artillery[iii] assigned to the Continental Army. When the army was in winter camp Hamilton read extensively for personal and professional improvement and wrote copious notes on the blank pages of his pay books. He read philosophy, history, and economics. He was particularly drawn to the Plutarch biographies of ancient Greek and Roman leaders; those historical sketches provided Hamilton with an interpretation of politics. “…as an epic tale of lust and greed and people plotting for power” noted one Hamilton biographer.

Although the Founders read from the lessons of the Greeks, they were not attuned to them for guidance in establishing a federal government for the United States. Nevertheless,  the Founders did learn about how the Spartans developed and utilized checks and balances. And second, the Founders considered the democracy of Athens in its practices too unstable for a growing continental republic.

Finally, although the Founders used what many Christians consider to be “pagan” virtues we modern Christ followers must remember that although the Founders, or at least many of them, were religious they were not religious in the traditional sense we think of religion. Although they nodded to God, they were primarily Deist in outlook. Deism is its basic form is a faith that believes that God created the world and us humans and other creatures, God does not intervene in Creation. So, no Savior and no miracles.

Yet, Christians must not despair. All eight of the core virtues can be “baptized” and added into the lexicon of the faithful. Followers of Jesus Christ can also draw inspiration from ancient worthies like Cato or Cicero or even more modern models like Washington, Adams, Lincoln, or King as long as our Risen Lord and Savior has the primary place in our lives.

Considering out of a population of 2.5 million people in the thirteen North American colonies there was only nine colleges with the number of graduates estimated to range from several hundred to perhaps several thousand, most of the remaining vast majority of the American colonists were farmers, artisans, fishermen, merchants, and unskilled laborers. They did not discuss Cato, Cicero, and the virtues of the Roman Republic, at least on a regular basis.

Yet, these persons were the enlisted soldiers of the Revolution, those common fighters who served under the classically educated officers and congressmen. Why did they neglect their livelihoods to fight and put their lives on the line for independence? What motivated them to endure defeats and retreats with the cold and heat without adequate equipment and supplies? Perhaps history has a clue about how religious faith did play a vital part in our American experience.

Several decades before 1776 a massive Protestant revival known as the Great Awakening spread through the colonies. Historians generally credit Pastor Jonathan Edwards’s preaching and ministry as beginning the awakening and evangelist George Whitfield with spreading the message. Thousands would attend open-air revival meetings featuring Whitfield preaching a message that all persons have sinned and come short of God’s glory, that all persons need salvation through Jesus Christ, and all saved persons-Christians- need a community-church- to sustain them in this life.

The ”all” in the Gospel message of the Great Awakening primarily denoted spiritual equality before God and then for many of the saved “all” became also came to mean political equality- “No King but King Jesus” was the revolutionary motto of many of the army enlisted ranks. Thus, the Great Awakening, as well as the political debates, was the reason John Adams stated that the real American Revolution was not in the military battles beginning in 1775 but the real revolution was in the minds of Americans before 1775.

In conclusion, one historian summed up by stating. “From the early Roman republic they (the Founders) learned the importance of individual and societal virtue to the success for the republic.” And this historian also what else the Founders learned that should be a warning to those of us who love and cherish our constitutional republic- “From the decline and fall of the Roman republic they (the Founders) learned to be wary of ambitious individuals, who might conspire to subvert the republic in order to expand their own power.”

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[i] Washington, Jackson, and Lincoln were perhaps the least educated of all our presidents, yet all three made their marks in American history.

[ii] I have also read Cicero in retirement but with a difference. Adams read his book in the original Latin while  I read my book in a contemporary English translation.

[iii] This unit is the first in the Army’s lineage of artillery that sketches to the modern-day 1^st Battalion, 5^th Field Artillery assigned to the 1^st Infantry Division at Fort Riley Kansas. I served with this battalion in the 1970s.