Written by Frank Li
Here is a famous quote from John Adams, the second American President: “The History of our Revolution will be one continued Lye from one End to the other.”
Please share this article – Go to very top of page, right hand side, for social media buttons.
In this post, I will attempt to correct top 10 American misconceptions about America as follows:
- The American Revolution was about freedom and self-governing.
- All men are created equal!
- “We the People” …
- America has been mostly Jeffersonian so far.
- What’s wrong with Jefferson’s half (vs. Hamilton’s half)?
- Abraham Lincoln was an abolitionist.
- John Kennedy was a great President.
- Ronald Reagan was a great President.
- America won the Cold War, really?
- America is the greatest country in human history.
Let me elaborate on each …
1. The American Revolution was about freedom and self-governing
Neither “freedom” nor “self-governing” was new. Both predate the notion of a nation-state formed quite a few thousand years ago.
No, the American Revolution was not about freedom (or liberty) per se! Instead, it was chiefly instigated by a bunch of rich people, most notably Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who simply did not want to pay more taxes to the mother country!
Moreover, not only did they want to keep more to themselves, they also wanted the possibility of swallowing up everything that still belonged to the indigenous people, specifically and explicitly against King George III‘s decree (Royal Proclamation of 1763). They conspicuously hid this real reason behind an eloquent slogan of “no taxation without representation” and took a modest risk throughout the American Revolutionary War for huge potential gains.
Nor was the American Revolution about self-governing or against the “tyranny of the king”! It turned out that the American revolutionaries just did not like the British King (at the time). After the war was over, they asked George Washington to be the [new] king, instead. Washington refused, thus making it possible for America to be a republic …
For more, read: What is The American Revolution, Anyway?
2. All men are created equal!
It is a huge slogan in the Declaration of Independence. It was very powerful and inspirational against the British monarchy at the time. But it was wrong. The image below offers one perspective.
The slogan was controversial on its first days, even among the Founding Fathers, of whom many were slave owners. In other words, the Founding Fathers did not practice what they preached!
Two informative readings:
3. “We, the People” …
“We, the People”, so begins the U.S. Constitution. It referred to everybody, except for the minorities, women, and even white men without [enough] property! For example, when George Washington was elected the first President in 1789, only 6% of the American population was eligible to vote. For more, read: U.S. voting rights timeline.
Two informative readings:
4. America has been Jeffersonian so far
Among the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson was by far the most influential. Three main reasons:
- He was the author of the Declaration of Independence.
- He was the third American President, serving for eight years (1801-1809).
- He was the mentor of James Madison, the principal author of the U.S. Constitution and America’s fourth President, also for eight years (1809-1817).
However, Alexander Hamilton has proven to have had a much more enduring vision for America than Thomas Jefferson did. For example, Jefferson largely “banked” on the foundation laid by Hamilton, America’s first Secretary of the Treasury.
For more, read: Vision for America: Alexander Hamilton vs. Thomas Jefferson.
Moreover, in terms of the vison for America, John Adams too should be ranked higher than Jefferson. As highlighted by the image below, Adams was between Hamilton and Jefferson. For more, read: America: What Did Our Founding Fathers Do, Actually (Version 4)?
In short, today’s America is at least as Hamiltonian as Jeffersonian, with the former being the better half.
5. What’s wrong with Jefferson’s half (vs. Hamilton’s half)?
The image below is worth more than 1,000 words.
Four informative readings:
- America: Towards a Tyranny of the Majority?
- America: A Great Country Without A Working Government?
- America: An Empire Without an Emperor?
- America: It’s Democracy, Stupid!
Governance is hard.
America got a chance to start anew, but has, so far, demonstrated no magic!
6. Abraham Lincoln was an abolitionist
He was not! Three important points:
- Lincoln wasn’t an abolitionist.
- Lincoln didn’t believe blacks should have the same rights as whites.
- Lincoln thought colonization could solve the issue of slavery.
For more, read: 5 Things You May Not Know About Lincoln, Slavery and Emancipation.
7. John Kennedy was a great President
JFK is arguably the worst American President, in recent history at least!
Here is why: on January 17, 1962, he signed Executive Order 10988, which allows public sector workers to unionize against the people of the United States, thus ensuring America’s bankruptcy down the road, city by city, state by state, as we have been experiencing over the past decade, with the far worse yet to come.
For more, read: Correctly Assessing President John F. Kennedy.
8. Ronald Reagan was a great President
Ronald Reagan was a good President, but over-rated! Two facts:
- The government exploded in size under President Reagan, running huge deficit and debt!
- President Reagan did not really bring down the Berlin Wall, nor win the Cold War!
For more, read: Correctly Assessing President Ronald Reagan.
9. America won the Cold War, really?
Yes, America did indeed win the Cold War, but perhaps not for the reasons you know!
The Cold War ended for three main reasons, in that order:
- The USSR collapsed, thanks to her treasonous leader Mikhail Gorbachev, in stark contrast with China’s Deng who transformed China from communism to state capitalism instead! For more, read: Mikhail Gorbachev vs. Deng Xiaoping.
- It was the protesters in China in 1989 that directly triggered the collapse of communism throughout the entire Eastern Bloc. For more, read: Tiananmen Square Protest and Crackdown, 30 Years Later.
- The head-on competition between the U.S. and the USSR.
In short, the USSR could not only have survived, but also thrived, if she had been lucky enough to have a leader like China’s Deng!
10. America is the greatest country in human history
This claim is not only presumptuous, but also ignorant, totally!
China is arguably the greatest country in human history. Two facts:
- China has the longest continuous civilization in human history.
- Throughout human history, great civilizations have come and gone, with one major exception: China – come, almost gone, and come again!
The image below highlights the key difference between the U.S. and China.
Two informative readings:
11. Discussion
America is deeply in trouble. “We the People” simply do not know what to do, other than periodically casting our vote of “no confidence” to elect someone very different to be the President – first Barack Obama, then Donald Trump. Unfortunately, neither has worked out!
What’s wrong with America?
America: It’s Democracy, Stupid!
More profoundly, we must go all the way back to the founding days. Read: America: What Did Our Founding Fathers Do, Actually (Version 4)?
Now, let’s focus on the mainstream media. Two informative readings:
- Brainwashing in Communism and in Democracy.
- How MLK Channeled the Spirit of 1776. This article is politically correct, but logically, if not factually, totally wrong, when it stretches MLK back to 1776!
What, then, is the fact?
America was founded by/of/for the rich, and remains so today!
Unless we first recognize and accept this fact and then fundamentally reform our political system, as I have suggested, (American Democracy -Why is it failing & how to fix it?), America will never be truly great! Instead, America will become a fiddle, second to China!
12. Closing
Rome was not built in one day, nor did it go down in one day.
The same applies to America!
To stop America’s precipitous decline, we must know who we are. This post has helped a little bit, hopefully …
Now, please sit back and enjoy the video below.
.
| Page Code: $divide1 = “341”; echo $divide1; ?> | Count: $headline = “”; include “/home4/aleta/public_html/pages/contributors/frank_count.php”; echo $headline; ?> |
