Should a Book Be Judged by its Cover?

Among the highest compliments a teacher can hope to receive is when his student says, “I learned a lot from you.” Talk about a gratifying statement! Surpassing that is when an 84 year-old Stanford educated man with a great deal of wisdom, a female retired school teacher, and a successful businessman who has a voracious appetite for reading each say, “I can’t believe how much I learned from reading your book.”

The book in question was the completed proof (first published draft) I had asked these three adults to read as a favor to me, hoping they’d catch errors I’d overlooked. (The retired school teacher won - by a large margin.) The reason their compliments meant so much to me was because a) I knew they were being genuine, and b) the target audience is teens in the 13-18 year range.

If you’re reading this blog, chances are excellent that you took American History back in the day. What do you remember? How was the material presented? Was your brain and maturity level ready to receive it? When I’ve traveled to Philadelphia, Boston, DC, Mount Vernon, or Williamsburg, which is the population who appreciates the historical display most? Adults. Teenagers are commonly rolling their eyes, ready to buy a t-shirt, and get back to their Facebook. What a shame that we don’t take history classes as adults; it’s then that we have enough patience and experience to begin appreciating it.

Well, here’s your chance - my shameless self-promotion. Using the aforementioned three adults as unintentional guinea pigs, I learned that my writing was enjoyable and educational for adults as well as teens. They genuinely enjoyed reading the book. The 50-something business man told me he had a very difficult time focusing on editing because he got so caught up in the story weaved. Additionally, I asked for the book back before he finished so I might review his corrections and stick to deadlines, and he didn’t want to give it up. Most flattering.

What I tried to capture was the cause and effect story of America, starting with religious roots planted following the split between Christianity and Judaism. We then move to Europe as the Apostle Paul faces trial in Rome. From there, by means of the Catholic Church, Christianity spreads through Europe, assisted by Gutenberg’s movable printing press. Division in the church occurs as Martin Luther challenges the teachings of the Catholic Church, and the king of England sees this as an opportunity to off his wife. However, with the increased liberalism of the Church of England, there is religious backlash, which eventually leads to our Pilgrims. Between the exodus of Separatists and the desire of explorers to find an all-water route to Asia, colonialism is built upon an economic system known as mercantilism, and soon, the monopolized colonial worker bees resent it. That notwithstanding, colonists are fiercely proud of their English heritage - particularly their rights grounded in the Magna Carta and English Bill of Rights. England increasingly views colonists as provincials not worthy of equality - perhaps they are English by heritage, but certainly not the real McCoy. Tensions build as England passes a series of laws designed to keep the colonies under control. Most today remember the famous Boston Tea Party, but do not recall (or perhaps ever learned) of the frustrating decade leading to that protest - a protest which released oppressive wrath from the king and Parliament. Tension builds upon martial law for another 2 years. Blood is shed at Lexington, and an illegal gathering of colonial leaders must decide if turning back is preferable to the likelihood of hanging as traitors if they move forward. At this point, less than half the population was ready to go to war. The book covers the Declaration of Independence and its meaning, the Revolutionary War, the reasons the country almost fell apart after the victory, and the need for the Constitution. The Constitution is included in its entirety, punctuated with explanations in modern day language of each paragraph.

It’s not a glitzy, glossy paged book with color pages. To keep the book affordable, I opted for black and white - although pictures and graphics are included. It’s priced at a mere $12. You can obtain the book by visiting my website: http://jimbrigleb.com and clicking on the link to the book. So brush up on your history. Or buy the book for your son, daughter, grandchildren, or an acquaintance sadly uninformed about the legacy of our country. Maybe you should buy one for your public library, a homeschooler, the American History teacher at your local school who mistakenly learned that all the Founders were a bunch of rich, selfish, slave owners. The book is called: United States History: Roots through Constitution, subtitled Our Disappearing Legacy.

Overwhelming the System

Trying to analyze "the logic" of what's been passed by Congress during the past year, I've come to the conclusion that the actions are not stupidity - they are deliberate with an underlying agenda to dismantle capitalism in America. The following article was forwarded to me, and I'd encourage you to read from a man who attended college alongside Obama.

WAYNE ALLYN ROOT: Overwhelm the system

WAYNE ALLYN ROOT

Barach Obama is no fool. He is not incompetent. To the contrary, he is brilliant. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. economy to create systemic failure, economic crisis and social chaos -- thereby destroying capitalism and our country from within.

Barack Obama is my college classmate ( Columbia University , class of '83). As Glenn Beck correctly predicted from day one, Obama is following the plan of Cloward & Piven, two professors at Columbia University . They outlined a plan to socialize America by overwhelming the system with government spending and entitlement demands. Add up the clues below. Taken individually they're alarming. Taken as a whole, it is a brilliant, Machiavellian game plan to turn the United States into a socialist/Marxist state with a permanent majority that desperately needs government for survival ... and can be counted on to always vote for bigger government. Why not? They have no responsibility to pay for it.

-- Universal health care. The health care bill had very little to do with health care. It had everything to do with unionizing millions of hospital and health care workers, as well as adding 15,000 to 20,000 new IRS agents (who will join government employee unions). Obama doesn't care that giving free health care to 30 million Americans will add trillions to the national debt. What he does care about is that it cements the dependence of those 30 million voters to Democrats and big government. Who but a socialist revolutionary would pass this reckless spending bill in the middle of a depression?

-- Cap and trade. Like health care legislation having nothing to do with health care, cap and trade has nothing to do with global warming. It has everything to do with redistribution of income, government control of the economy and a criminal payoff to Obama's biggest contributors. Those powerful and wealthy unions and contributors (like GE, which owns NBC, MSNBC and CNBC) can then be counted on to support everything Obama wants. They will kick-back hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to Obama and the Democratic Party to keep them in power. The bonus is that all the new taxes on Americans with bigger cars, bigger homes and businesses helps Obama "spread the wealth around."

-- Make Puerto Rico a state. Why? Who's asking for a 51st state? Who's asking for millions of new welfare recipients and government entitlement addicts in the middle of a depression? Certainly not American taxpayers. But this has been Obama's plan all along. His goal is to add two new Democrat senators, five Democrat congressman and a million loyal Democratic voters who are dependent on big government.

-- Legalize 12 million illegal immigrants. Just giving these 12 million potential new citizens free health care alone could overwhelm the system and bankrupt America . But it adds 12 million reliable new Democrat voters who can be counted on to support big government. Add another few trillion dollars in welfare, aid to dependent children, food stamps, free medical, education, tax credits for the poor, and eventually Social Security.

-- Stimulus and bailouts. Where did all that money go? It went to Democrat contributors, organizations (ACORN), and unions -- including billions of dollars to save or create jobs of government employees across the country. It went to save GM and Chrysler so that their employees could keep paying union dues. It went to AIG so that Goldman Sachs could be bailed out (after giving Obama almost $1 million in contributions). A staggering $125 billion went to teachers (thereby protecting their union dues). All those public employees will vote loyally Democrat to protect their bloated salaries and pensions that are bankrupting America . The country goes broke, future generations face a bleak future, but Obama, the Democrat Party, government, and the unions grow more powerful. The ends justify the means.

-- Raise taxes on small business owners, high-income earners, and job creators. Put the entire burden on only the top 20 percent of taxpayers, redistribute the income, punish success, and reward those who did nothing to deserve it (except vote for Obama). Reagan wanted to dramatically cut taxes in order to starve the government. Obama wants to dramatically raise taxes to starve his political opposition.

With the acts outlined above, Obama and his regime have created a vast and rapidly expanding constituency of voters dependent on big government; a vast privileged class of public employees who work for big government; and a government dedicated to destroying capitalism and installing themselves as socialist rulers by overwhelming the system.

Add it up and you've got the perfect Marxist scheme -- all devised by my Columbia University college classmate Barack Obama using the Cloward and Piven Plan.