New audiobook release: The Life of Frederick William von Steuben

The Life of Frederick William Von Steuben: Major General in the Revolutionary Army - tells the story of Baron Steuben, who had been an officer in the Prussian army. Considered one of the fathers of the United States Army, he had a leading role in improving the Continental Army during the American Revolution and turning them into a professional fighting force. https://librivox.org/the-life-of-frederick-william-von-steuben-by-friedrich-kapp/

How long ago did progressives start using American history to attack the Founding Fathers?

There are a lot of people out there who think I have a lost my marbles for coming to the conclusion that a large percentage of books written prior to the 1900s are the only books you can trust when it comes to American History. What people fail to understand, is that the 1619 Project is actually not new. Sure, it's relatively "new" to use racial issues as the focal point, but manipulating U.S. history to advance progressivism goes back to the Progressive Era itself.

In his book "American inquisitors; a commentary on Dayton and Chicago", Walter Lippmann wrote the following: (page 67)

In 1917 the United States for the first time in its history became the associate of Great Britain in a great war. A part of the American people objected openly to this association. A still larger part, while they did their duty loyally, nevertheless detested the war, and believed in their hearts that the United States had been inveigled into it by the cleverness of British diplomats. The patriotic tradition which they had learned from their school textbooks disposed them to suspect all political contact with Great Britain.

To offset this latent distrust of our associate in the war, a great corps of historians was mobilized, partly under government auspices, who proceeded then and there to revise the whole American historical tradition by obliterating and explaining away the memories of the Revolutionary War. This willingness on the part of well known historians to manufacture a new patriotic tradition to suit the political necessities of 1917 was resented. The prestige of scholarship was injured. It was made plain that history is something that can be cut and shaped to suit the purposes of the moment.

Nevertheless, in the wake of these propagandist historians there came a school of critical and honest historians. Once the authority of the patriotic legends had been dissolved, the opportunity of the critical historians presented itself. American school history, particularly in its bearing upon Anglo-American relations, began to be rewritten, first by those who wished to create a new, a pro-British legend, and then by those who wished to do away with all legends and to tell the truth which objective research had found.

After the war was over, after the peace treaty had been rejected, after the country had violently reverted to normalcy, the popular reaction against the revision of the patriotic legends got under way. No distinction was made, of course, between the revision carried out as propaganda in the interest of the Allies, and the revision carried out by scholars in the interest of the truth.

When I say that 100% of the people reading this were exposed to progressive propaganda while they were in schools, I'm not kidding. Unless you happen to be old enough that you were school age in the 1800s, which is at this point statistically impossible, these issues all go way back prior to the 1960s even. What you read when you were in school was 40% or 70% of the way toward the 1619 Project. It may not have all been a lie, but it was a lot of lies or even mostly lies. I can't tell you how many people I've met who think that "I went to school in the 1950s, I was taught the truth." No. You didn't. What was in the schools in the 1950s was a lie too.

It's important to understand, Walter Lippmann was a progressive. So when he writes "the revision carried out by scholars in the interest of the truth", he means "the revision carried out by scholars in the interest of the progressive truth." This quoted section refers to 3, that's three groups of historians. The original knowledge of the Founders, which he sneers his nose at as promoting "patriotic legends", then there's the government backed propagandists, then there's the new progressive truth tellers. That's three groups of historians. This is crucial to understand. When the progressives who wanted World War I used history to "make progress" were finished, they didn't just flip the switch and go back. No no, they continued to "make progress" and they said "here is the new truth". We progressives already "obliterated and explained away the memories of the Revolutionary War", so over the long term let's not give up our position. We now own this. Let's now tell our own truth. Back then it was only a distortion with subtle attacks, moreso than today's overt attacks, but that doesn't matter. The degree of attack is still an attack on our Founders knowing who progressives are and what they represent.

That's why we are where we are today. The Founding Fathers stink and the Founding Fathers are bad people and the Founding Fathers suck - because of over a century's worth of mud thrown at them by progressives who knew that even back in the 1920s, if there was ever going to be a truly "progressive" United States, those Founding Fathers must, MUST be abolished.

And here we are. The progressives have more patience to achieve their purpose than you or I could ever understand.

May I interest you in an audio book? I'll never charge you for it. I gladly hit these progressives for free.

New audiobook release: America's Retreat from Victory; The Story of George Catlett Marshall, by Sen. Joe McCarthy

Today, with great enthusiasm I can let everybody know that the audiobook recording for America's Retreat from Victory; The Story of George Catlett Marshall, by Senator Joseph McCarthy, (as of yesterday) has been completed!

It is high quality, great care was put into its creation, and since this is a free and open source item I would encourage all to give this to as many people as you can think of. If you have X/Twitter, Facebook, email, snail mail, whatever you have. Make sure you give it to others. What astounds me is how quickly this was strong-armed to completion. Very impressive!

America's Retreat from Victory; The Story of George Catlett Marshall

There is a free lunch after all!

If there was a free, public domain audio book written by Joseph McCarthy, would you be interested in listening to it?

Just as the question states. Senator Joseph McCarthy wrote several books, what if one or many of them were recorded as open source public domain audio books and given away for/to everybody? Would you be interested in listening and learning from them?

Would you share it with others? I'm just curious what people say to this.

Of Plimoth Plantation, Librivox audio book

I hope that everybody had a Happy Thanksgiving this week. My plan for this week had been to go ahead and begin a new collaborative audiobook about Governor William Bradford's chronicle of the early years at Plymouth Plantation. But little did I know, it's been complete since 2010! It just had a different name because someone "translated" it into a more common vernacular. There really are already some great works at Librivox to help contribute to a more educated populace. This work is a solo work, and it's fantastically read. This would be well worth paying for, but the fact that it is free is even better.

Why is this book important? There are many reasons, but one stands out.

Nearly a dozen years ago, I wrote about how the early Pilgrims attempted an experiment into progressivism and a scheme of land and wealth redistribution. Progressives share this similarity with communists and socialists, in that they do not confirm that what you earn is yours. They think government should have a say and dispensate as needed. Needless to say, this experiement among the Pilgrims failed miserably, bred a ton of confusion and discontent, and cost many people their lives. This book is a large chronicle, and it is worth consuming for any true American. However, for the purposes of this highlight let's take a moment to focus. In this audiobook, the section dealing with the failed redistributionist policies appear in the audio file pertaining to book 2 chapter 4, and start around 7:20 of the audio.

https://librivox.org/bradfords-history-of-the-plymouth-settlement-by-william-bradford/

Now, knowing that this has been completed I'm going to go and fulfill a different promise I made some time ago and start an audio book project about Patrick Henry.

New audiobook release: The American Newspaper

After a much longer delay than I hoped would happen, I am very happy to say that Will Irwin's The American Newspaper is now available as a public domain audio book.

For those of you who have strong feelings against media bias, this one is one you will not want to overlook. It's also a short work. There are only 15 segments, and the average runtime for each segment is often times in the 20-25 minute range making it both easy and quick to consume. Irwin properly frames how media use their power for political ends, and how their power is surpassed by virtually none. The amazing part is that someone actually wrote these things down to pen and paper. Some highlights include:

"A newspaper may educate its public up or down: by the very power of constant iteration it may implant one or a number of fixed ideas." - Part 1 - "The Power of the Press", page 2 of 2

"As for the gentleman of high finance who buys a newspaper outright to boom his private enterprises, his finish comes with greater expedition and certainty. Eventually, he finds that the newspaper in itself does not pay. If it is worth his while to retain it for assistance in his larger commercial and social plans, that is another matter. His profit must come in some coin other than business office receipts." - Part 13 - "The New Era", page 1

You're not just supposed to go and admit these things. In the end, journalists have a lot of "social plans" that aren't the kinds of plans we envision for our own lives, but what does it matter what we want? The long and short of it is that progressive journalism is The Matrix. The reason to buy into media is to control people - the profit is not in money, the profit is in "control". You don't have to put a wire into the back of someone's head, all you have to do is have full control over the information that's placed in front of their heads. The end result is the same.

Many of the audio books that I've lately worked to see to completion have been related to the Founding, but this one, this one is at the core of what the progressingamerica project is about. This was published in 1911 smack in the middle of the progressive era. This is all about progressivism. I've been trying lately to diversify, but the core of what happens around here has not been forgotten. Progressivism cannot go unchallenged.

New audiobook release: Reflections on the rise, progress, and probable consequences of the present contentions with the colonies

§ 11. Can the Americans with a good grace complain of tyranny in the mother country for imposing an easy and inconsiderable tax, whilst they themselves are rioting on the labour of thousand of their species, torn from their dearest relations and doomed to abject and perpetual slavery?

In answer to this objection, it may be asked, where did this infamous commerce originate? Where is it still carried on with all the eagerness which avarice can inspire? Where, but in England? By what means can it be abolished? Surely by that power alone, which America acknowledges the parent state, may justly exercise over all her dominions, viz. the power of regulating their trade. The legislatures of some of the colonies have done what they could to put a stop to the importation of African slaves, by loading it with the heaviest duties: And others have attempted the total abolition of it, by acts of assembly which their governors refused to pass. And though they then petitioned for new instructions to their governors on this head, after all they failed of success. - Page ( 28 )

A fun thing happens when you crack open old books and start reading them. You start to see, hey wait a second, progressives are liars!

Just released into audio is the book Reflections on the rise, progress, and probable consequences, of the present contentions with the colonies. By a freeholder., which was originally published just three months after the United States declared Independence. October 18th, 1776.

It's not all that difficult to look to American Patriots living on North American soil in the 1770s and find voices proclaiming grief that they could not get their laws passed beyond the Empire's prying eyes which would put an end to slaving. But what would those voices today who are proponents of The 1619 Project say to a British voice, living in England and who had never set foot anywhere in America, who also acknowledges the prime role the Empire played in introducing and carrying on slavery on North American shores? Erskine isn't the only one.

This is the impossible position the progressives have put themselves in. Even early British citizens who were becoming anti-slavery could see the obvious. America wanted to get rid of slavery but the Empire kept stopping them from doing it.

Any progressive who wants to blame the U.S. for slavery and the U.S. did not even exist cannot answer. Any progressive who wants to blame the U.S. for slavery and the colonies were the first anti-transatlantic-slavery in the western hemisphere cannot answer. What was being said on both sides of the Atlantic - American patriots who wanted it gone and the later British abolitionists who would follow their lead - this is our golden ticket.