The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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As Presidents Day approaches, we often ask, who was our greatest President? Perhaps we should ask a deeper question: by what criteria should our presidents be rated? Historians often rank the presidents, but being mostly left of center, they usually rate the based upon how much they expanded the scope of government, how many new government programs they ushered in, what social changes they forced upon the nation, and how many wars they brought us through. But are these the criteria that make a...
In 1776 - 250 years ago - General George Washington made a decision that was both pragmatic and radical for its time when he integrated the Continental Army, allowing free Black men and later some formerly enslaved men to serve alongside white soldiers. But rather than being driven by enlightened ideas or progressive principles, Washington’s command decision reflected practical military necessity, political calculation, and an evolving understanding of liberty. Before the Revolution, Black m...
After his presidential election as a sectional candidate in November 1860, Abraham Lincoln faced considerable resistance. The fledgling Republican Party, heavily influenced by protectionists from the defunct Whig Party, was seen as an economic threat to the agricultural South. [Protectionism—what Frederic Bastiat called “legal plunder” -- is detrimental to agriculture and high tariffs are paid primarily by consumers.] Many Republicans, closely connected to influential corporations, e.g., railr...
On February 28, 202 BC, a former peasant‑turned‑rebel leader named Liu Bang ascended the throne as Emperor Gaozu of Han, marking the beginning of one of the most influential dynasties in world history. His coronation did more than end years of civil war-it launched a four‑century era of political stability, cultural flourishing, and imperial identity that would shape China for millennia. The Han Dynasty became so foundational that the majority ethnic group in China still calls itself the "Han...
The fall of the Alamo on March 6, 1836, stands as one of the most enduring and emotionally charged moments in American history-a story of defiance, sacrifice, and the forging of a new identity on the Texas frontier. What happened inside that battered mission compound over 13 days became far larger than a single battle. It became a rallying cry, a political symbol, and a cultural touchstone that still resonates across the South and the nation. The Road to the Siege The Texas Revolution had...
On March 7, 1965, a quiet Sunday afternoon in Selma, Alabama, became one of the most defining and devastating moments of the Civil Rights Movement. What began as a peaceful march for voting rights ended in a violent assault by Alabama state troopers and local law enforcement on the Edmund Pettus Bridge-an attack that shocked the nation and helped force the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Road to the Bridge By early 1965, Selma had become the epicenter of the struggle for Black voti...
On March 8, 1917, a wave of strikes and demonstrations erupted in Petrograd, Russia. What began as protests over food shortages and wartime exhaustion quickly escalated into a mass uprising that toppled the centuries‑old Romanov dynasty. Although the Bolsheviks did not yet control the revolution at this early stage, the unrest of March 8 set in motion the chain of events that would ultimately bring them to power later that year. By November 1917, the Bolsheviks-led by Vladimir Lenin-seized c...
The assassination of Emperor Elagabalus on March 11, AD 222 marked one of the most dramatic and consequential turning points of the Severan era, ending a turbulent four‑year reign defined by religious upheaval, political instability, and deep conflict with Rome's traditional power structures. Elagabalus-born Varius Avitus Bassianus-had risen to the throne as a teenager with the backing of the powerful Julia Maesa, his grandmother, but quickly alienated the Senate, the Praetorian Guard, and m...
February 23, 1883 - MONTGOMERY - When Alabama lawmakers gathered in Montgomery on February 23, 1883, they likely did not imagine they were about to make national history. Yet on that day, Alabama became the first state in the nation to enact an antitrust law-an extraordinary milestone that placed the state at the forefront of America's early struggle to rein in monopolies, protect consumers, and preserve fair competition. This pioneering statute, passed nearly a decade before Congress adopted...
On February 22–23, 1847, in the rugged mountain passes of northern Mexico, a vastly outnumbered American force won a desperate and unlikely victory at the Battle of Buena Vista. It was one of the most dramatic engagements of the Mexican–American War, a clash defined by terrain, tenacity, and the political stakes surrounding the conflict. The battle elevated the national profile of General Zachary Taylor, reshaped the war's momentum, and left a legacy that echoed through American politics for...
On February 24, 303, the Roman Empire crossed a threshold that would shape the future of Christianity and the empire itself. Emperor Diocletian, long celebrated for restoring stability after decades of crisis, issued the first of four sweeping edicts targeting Christians across the empire. This initial decree ordered churches destroyed, Christian scriptures burned, and believers stripped of legal protections. What began that day in Nicomedia would become the Great Persecution, the most systematic attempt the Roman state ever made to eradicate...
February 21, 1972 - BEIJING, China - President Richard M. Nixon (R) arrived in the People's Republic of China, becoming the first U.S. president to visit the country and marking a dramatic turning point in Cold War diplomacy. The week‑long trip, broadcast around the world, began the process of normalizing Sino‑American relations after more than two decades of isolation and hostility. Nixon's arrival in Beijing - greeted by Premier Zhou Enlai on the tarmac - symbolized a strategic shift in glo...
February 20, 1938 -LONDON, Great Britain - Britain's political landscape was shaken by the dramatic resignation of Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, who stepped down in open protest of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's increasingly conciliatory policy toward Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Eden's departure marked one of the most consequential cabinet resignations of the pre‑war era, exposing deep fractures within the British government over how to confront the rising threat of fascist a...
On February 19, AD 197, the Roman Empire witnessed one of the most brutal and consequential civil battles in its long history. At Lugdunum-modern‑day Lyon in France-Emperor Septimius Severus defeated his rival Clodius Albinus, ending a bitter struggle for imperial legitimacy and reshaping the political landscape of the empire for decades to come. Ancient sources describe the clash as the bloodiest battle ever fought between Roman armies, a grim testament to the stakes of the conflict and the f...
On February 18, 1865, as the Civil War neared its violent end, Union Major General William T. Sherman's army entered Columbia, South Carolina, and unleashed one of the most controversial episodes of his Carolinas Campaign. By the next morning, much of the city lay in ruins. Among the structures damaged in the inferno was the South Carolina State House-symbolically the birthplace of secessionist resolve and a prime target in the Union's effort to break the Confederacy's will. The burning of...
On February 17, 1944, the United States launched one of the most devastating and strategically decisive naval‑air assaults of the Pacific War. Known as Operation Hailstone, the two‑day strike targeted the Japanese stronghold at Truk Lagoon-today called Chuuk-long regarded as the "Gibraltar of the Pacific." The attack coincided with the opening moves of the Battle of Eniwetok Atoll, a complementary operation aimed at securing the Marshall Islands and tightening the noose around Japan's Cen...
Lynyrd Skynyrd expressed the mood of much of the country when it questioned the relevance of Watergate and the feigned outrage surrounding a third‑rate burglary that captured the nation's attention. More than half a century later- 54 years after the break‑in and 52 years after the release of Sweet Home Alabama - Watergate has become civic shorthand for presidential corruption. The burglary at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and the subsequent cover‑up are treated as the original s...
On February 25, 1836, a young American inventor named Samuel Colt secured a U.S. patent for a firearm design that would reshape warfare, policing, frontier life, and the global arms industry. His invention-the Colt revolver-introduced a reliable, mechanically rotating cylinder that allowed a shooter to fire multiple rounds without reloading. It was a breakthrough so significant that it permanently altered the trajectory of firearms technology. A Simple Idea That Changed Everything Before Colt's...
A Nation in Financial Crisis By early 1863, the Civil War had pushed the federal government into unprecedented fiscal strain. Federal spending had exploded from a pre‑war surplus to a deficit of more than $400 million by 1862, and Washington needed a reliable way to finance the Union war effort. At the same time, the country's currency system was in disarray. - State‑chartered banks issued their own notes. - Notes from one state often traded at steep discounts in another. - Fraud, bank fai...
How mortgage rates compare through the decades Mortgage rates are one of the most influential drivers of the U.S. housing market dynamic, but they are often misunderstood. And, for generations of homebuyers, the interest rate attached to a mortgage loan has dramatically shaped affordability, savings, and the trajectory of wealth building through homeownership. Today, however, buyers face mortgage rates that are far above the record lows seen during recent decades. To understand what the highs...
Four hundred years ago, Charles I was crowned King of England. He became king automatically upon the death of his father, James I, but his coronation was delayed for almost a year. Officially, the delay was attributed to an outbreak of plague which made public gatherings deadly when, in truth, the excuse masked another reality. Charles was broke. His father had spent lavishly and left the crown deeply in debt. Along with the throne, Charles inherited the existing financial obligations and a stra...
After Abraham Lincoln’s death, his long-time friend Ward Hill Lamon noted how Lincoln’s deification “took place with showy magnificence.” Union Officer Donn Piatt stated, “I hear of him, I read of him in eulogies and biographies, but I fail to recognize the man I knew in life.” The American education system and a long line of “Court Historians” have kept the Lincoln Myth alive. Inconvenient truths about Lincoln are generally ignored and anyone who points them out is typically attacked and vi...
On February 9, 1861, Montgomery, Alabama briefly became the political center of a nation in rebellion. Delegates from six seceded Southern states gathered in the Alabama State Capitol and elected Jefferson Davis as provisional President and Alexander H. Stephens as provisional Vice President of the newly formed Confederate States of America. The decision marked one of the most consequential moments in American history, setting the leadership that would guide the South into a four‑year civil war....
On February 11, 951, the military commander Guo Wei launched a decisive coup in the Chinese capital of Kaifeng, overthrowing the Later Han regime and establishing the Later Zhou Dynasty. The event reshaped the political landscape of the fracturing Five Dynasties period and set the stage for the eventual reunification of China under the Song. A China in Turmoil The mid‑10th century was one of the most chaotic eras in Chinese history. The once‑mighty Tang Dynasty had collapsed in 907, and nor...
On February 12, 1689 England's Convention Parliament declared that King James II's flight in the face of revolting lords was an abdication. This paved the way for Parliament to replace James with William of Orange and James' daughter Mary. It was not merely a change in rulers but a profound shift in the nature of English governance. England had been racked with religious wars since Henry the VIII's reign in the 16th Century. At the death of Queen Elizabeth I, the Scottish Stuarts replaced the...
