Remembering the Dead White Founders

From my primary "I Protest" Substack (July 2023) at donaldjeffries.substack.com

As we approach not only another Independence Day, but the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, this piece from three years ago seems appropriate. There should be lots of television specials and documentaries on such a momentous occasion. My guess is we will get another marathon of “American Pickers” on the History Channel. Hollywood failed to produce a film about the birth of this nation, as they have failed to do for over a century. My love of history was born out of my keen interest in the revolutionary era. I was thrilled when we covered the birth of this country in school. They probably don’t cover it at all now in schools, unless it is to stress that Black slaves were considered only a fraction of a human being. Ben Franklin described what the Founders created as “A republic, if you can keep it.” We didn’t keep any republic, but produced a bastardized version of “democracy,” which has devolved into the tyrannical mess we enjoy today. Reflect on what was lost. There isn’t anything to celebrate.

Another Independence Day is here. There will be fireworks, hamburgers, hot dogs, people getting drunk. I guess people still get drunk on holidays. Most Americans realize that July 4 has something to do with our history. But in their dumbed down, historically illiterate minds, the details aren’t exactly clear.

As usual, I scanned my cable guide, and found the same dearth of television programs about the founding of this country that I always do. On July 4th, you think they’d have some special programming, like they do for Juneteenth or Pride Month. But no, it’s just the 1776 musical, and that’s about it. If they were to air anything about Thomas Jefferson, or the other founders, it would be negative, portraying them as slave owners. Maybe there will be a special or two about Alexander Hamilton, the bankers’ favorite founder, father of national debt, who has transitioned himself from a dead White guy to hip Black Broadway star.

I’ve pointed out many times how Hollywood has studiously avoided the subject of the American Revolution since its birth over a hundred years ago. No biopic of George Washington, or Benjamin Franklin, or Jefferson, or Patrick Henry. It’s obvious that the entertainment world, like our government agencies and corporate America, want to avoid this topic. Revolting against tyranny, declaring that all people have a right to consent to those who govern them; it might give the sheeple ideas. You saw what happened to the last “insurrectionists.” And they were entirely unarmed. Just expressing their rights under the Constitution those dead White males invented.

That’s the most astounding thing about America 2.0. It’s not like our leaders really ever followed the Constitution they are sworn to uphold. They don’t believe in it, especially that pesky Bill of Rights. This ignoring of the framework of government that they are supposed be guided by, began in earnest under the despotism of our most tyrannical president, Abraham Lincoln. Or if you prefer to believe the corrupt establishment, a kind and benevolent guy who was our greatest statesman. Lincoln hated the Founders, especially Jefferson. They certainly would have hated him. Those southern states that no longer consented in 1860 were crushed, to the tune of nearly a million dead. No more consent of the governed. The reason for our founding.

I know a lot of my friends are skeptical of the Constitution. They think the Articles of Confederation was better. It probably was. But once they put a Bill of Rights in it, enunciating rights given to us by God, and not any government, it became in my view as good as any government framework can be. The checks and balances of the three branches was a nice safeguard against concentration of power. But it was twisted from the start, with corrupt men like Hamilton and John Marshall usurping authority to the Executive and Judicial branches, creating monstrosities like Judicial Review. Which everyone on the Left and Right supports. Takes for granted. Until I started talking about it, the last critic of Judicial Review was Thomas Jefferson.

Lincoln’s suspension of the writ of habeas corpus paved the way for the madness we see today, with American citizens held behind bars without due process for over two years. Adams and his Alien and Sedition Acts. Lincoln’s American Bastille. Wilson locked up the WWI protesters, and the Supreme Court upheld his right to do so, invoking the ridiculous “fire in a crowded theater” exception to free speech. So don’t protest a war, or you’re yelling fire in a crowded theater. Got it. FDR locked up Japanese-Americans, along with unpublicized German-Americans and Italian-Americans (whose descendants got no reparations), in concentration camps. The government stole their homes and businesses, and never returned them. Somehow, I don’t think the Founders would have approved of that.

So the January 6th protesters are not being subjected to anything new. I don’t think many people protested the political prisoners in the north during the War Between the States, or during WWI and WWII. Except for the Vietnam War, Americans really haven’t protested much of anything since the Boston Tea Party, or the Draft Riots in the 1860s. We are quite the unworthy heirs to the the Sons of Liberty, the Committees of Correspondence, and Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. It’s hard to imagine the Founders being proud of what we’ve done to their “experiment.” Except for Alexander Hamilton, who’d be a happy attendee at Bilderberg, as well as a Black Broadway star.

I wanted to include an excerpt here, from my book Crimes and Cover-Ups in American Politics: 1776-1963, which features a Foreword by the great Ron Paul:

“We’ve all read about how the Founding Fathers swore on their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor, when they signed the Declaration of Independence. These were many of the wealthiest men of their time, and it is impossible to imagine a gaggle of present-day billionaires risking a single stock option, let alone their very existence, for the cause of human liberty. Although the legend attributing his act to a desire for King George to be able to read it without his spectacles is probably apocryphal, John Hancock’s audacious boldness in signing his name in huge letters, exemplified the spirit of that generation. Fifty six men signed the Declaration of Independence in the summer of 1776. Few Americans realize the awful price that many of them wound up paying.

Seventeen of those who signed the Declaration lost everything they owned. Nine of these men lost their lives in the conflict. Rhode Island’s William Ellery’s estate was burned to the ground during the war. William Floyd of New York suffered the same fate. Fellow New Yorker Frances Lewis saw his estates destroyed by fire as well, and he was imprisoned and died during his incarceration. One of the richest of all those who signed, William Livingston died impoverished a few years after the war. John Hart of New Jersey risked not only his fortune, but his family ties. His wife was dying as he signed the Declaration, and he was forced to flee from the British when he headed home to say goodbye. He never saw his thirteen children again, and died in 1779. New Jersey Judge Richard Stockton was another British prisoner, and he too died a pauper. Wealthy banker Robert Morris gave away his fortune in an effort to finance the revolution. He also died penniless. Imagine any banker doing something remotely like that today. Virginia’s Thomas Nelson, in a perhaps implausible anecdote, allegedly turned a cannon on his own home, which had become General Cornwallis’s headquarters, and destroyed it. He, like so many of the others, died in poverty. South Carolina’s Thomas Lynch, along with his wife, simply disappeared at sea.” Lives. Fortunes. Sacred Honor. What leader today has any honor?

Can we picture the Elon Musks and Mark Zuckerbergs of the world engaging an enemy on the battlefield? And now they’re claiming these two pampered elitists are going to fight each other in a cage match? You could not possibly come up with more ridiculous satire than that. This not only exemplifies the Idiocracy, but the scripted nature of this reality. What next- Putin vs. Zelensky? Maybe the former actor and comedian will intimidate the Russian leader by playing some instrument with his penis. It’s one of his great talents. America 2.0- last in the world in class and dignity.

The Founders and their notions of independence are scoffed at by everyone with a position of power in America 2.0. Alex Jones used to show the FEMA video that portrayed the Founding Fathers as “terrorists.” Quoting again from my book, “The Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute training guide advised its recruits that, ‘In U.S. history, there are many examples of extremist ideologies and movements. The colonists who sought to free themselves from British rule and the Confederate states who sought to secede from the Northern states are just two examples.’ The guide also warned that participation in any ‘extremist’ organization is ‘incompatible with military service and is, therefore prohibited.’”

Independence Day used to evoke patriotism. Flags flying. Parades. Worship of military veterans. I guess the flags are still flying, but many are of the LBGTQ variety. I doubt they would grant a permit to a parade that featured floats celebrating the Boston Tea Party, Valley Forge, or the surrender at Yorktown, when they played “The World Turned Upside Down.” The slightest peep of outrage (and every one of their peeps is exceptionally loud) over it being “White Supremacist,” and that parade would be cancelled. Make way for something more suitable for America 2.0- a “Pride” parade or maybe just pussy hats shouting at a figure of Donald Trump in effigy.

If I were still invited to cookouts, I’d probably test the waters with a “I may not agree with what you say, but I’ll defend to my dying day your right to say it” kind of quaint quote. Sounds pretty subversive in today’s climate. What with all the hatred free speech gets now. That’s ironic, isn’t it? A visceral hatred for the concept of free speech, the right to freely express yourself, on the part of the same people who coined the Orwellian term “hate speech,” and are itching to prosecute Americans for engaging in it. Thought Crime. The Founders are all Thought Criminals at this point.

Enjoy the barbecue, with whatever family members you’re speaking with after The Greatest Psyop in the History of the World. Wave some sparklers. Light up some snakes- do they still have those? Probably not. Too dangerous for America 2.0. When I was a kid, most families lit off fireworks in their backyards. I’ll walk through the neighborhood tonight, but last year I only saw a few gatherings in the street. Perhaps I’ll engage a friendly neighbor in a discussion about the consent of the governed. Or taxation without representation. Hopefully they don’t call the police. You know what side they’re going to be on. So if you’re drinking some non-Bud Light beer today, say a toast to these dead White males, before they outlaw the very word liberty.