Category: History

Open journal with handwritten text and drawing beside lit candle on rustic windowsill at night

The Worst Things Humans Have Done Were Done to Other Humans

On By TonyIn Belief, Education, HistoryLeave a comment

The Worst Things Humans Have Done Were Done to Other Humans

I studied History as an undergraduate, with a concentration in post-war America rather than World War II. For a long time, I focused more on the systems that emerged after the war: the rise of suburbanization, the Cold War, labor shifts, media influence, corporate expansion, and the changing identity of the American middle class.

Recently, though, I started reading World War II diaries.

Some were written by Italian civilians trying to survive the collapse of their country. Some were written by American soldiers processing what they saw overseas. Others came from people who survived concentration camps and somehow found the strength to record experiences that most of us can barely comprehend.

What struck me was not simply the scale of suffering. History books already teach us numbers. Millions dead. Cities destroyed. Entire populations displaced.

What struck me was the intimacy of cruelty.

The worst acts in human history are not abstractions. They are humans harming other humans directly, personally, deliberately.

A guard deciding another person is no longer fully human.

A soldier learning to suppress empathy.

A bureaucracy organizing suffering with paperwork and schedules.

A crowd convincing itself that violence is justified because the victims are somehow different.

That pattern exists throughout history.

It existed in slavery.

It existed in genocides.

It existed in political purges.

It existed in colonial violence.

It existed in lynchings.

It exists today whenever people are taught to fear and hate one another before they truly know one another.

We often talk about history as though it belongs to the past. But history is not dead. History is a warning.

One of the most dangerous myths people believe is that atrocities are committed only by monsters. The reality is more uncomfortable. Many atrocities are carried out by ordinary people who become convinced that cruelty is acceptable, necessary, patriotic, profitable, or unavoidable.

That is why remembering matters.

Not to drown ourselves in guilt.

Not to endlessly relive suffering.

But to recognize how fragile civilization actually is.

The diaries I read repeatedly showed something else as well: people under enormous pressure searching for someone to blame. That instinct never disappeared after World War II. It simply changed form.

Today, many people are angry, exhausted, isolated, and financially strained. Instead of encouraging solidarity, powerful institutions often redirect frustration sideways. Workers are told their problems come from immigrants, neighbors, political opponents, different races, different religions, or people living in different regions.

Meanwhile, many of the people and institutions accumulating enormous wealth and influence remain largely insulated from the consequences of the systems they shape.

I want to be very clear: I am a capitalist.

I believe markets can create innovation, opportunity, efficiency, and prosperity. Human ambition can build incredible things. Free enterprise has improved countless lives.

But capitalism without limits becomes something else.

When profit becomes the only moral standard, people stop being citizens and become consumers. Workers become expendable. Communities become markets. Truth becomes advertising. Human dignity becomes secondary to quarterly earnings.

Healthy capitalism requires boundaries.

It requires labor protections.

It requires ethical regulation.

It requires accountability.

It requires remembering that an economy is supposed to serve human beings, not the other way around.

History shows what happens when systems become detached from human dignity. Sometimes the result is not immediate violence. Sometimes it is slow dehumanization: convincing people they are disposable, replaceable, or undeserving of empathy.

That dehumanization is the first step toward every historical horror.

And once people stop seeing each other as human, terrible things become possible.

The answer is not abandoning disagreement. People will always disagree politically, economically, culturally, and philosophically.

The answer is refusing to let disagreement erase humanity.

The person next door is probably not your enemy.

The struggling family in another town is probably not your enemy.

The worker trying to survive is probably not your enemy.

History repeatedly shows that ordinary people often have more in common with one another than they do with the powerful institutions profiting from division.

Reading those diaries reminded me that civilization depends on empathy more than ideology.

It depends on resisting the temptation to dehumanize.

It depends on recognizing manipulation when fear is used to turn people against each other.

Most importantly, it depends on remembering.

Because forgetting is dangerous.

The people who lived through humanity’s darkest periods were warning us.

We should listen.

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference. Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies. To be in the window and watch people being sent to concentration camps or being attacked in the street and do nothing, that’s being dead.”
— Elie Wiesel, US News & World Report (27 October 1986)

Op-Ed: The ‘Final Solution’ Comment…and the Silence That Followed

On By TonyIn History, New Hampshire, PoliticsLeave a comment

By Rep. ANITA BURROUGHS

Recently, Rep. Travis Corcoran (R-Weare) made statewide news, but not in a good way.

He posted on X: “We need a final solution for theater kids in politics,” in response to an invitation to a legislative karaoke night hosted by Rep. Jessica Grill, who is Jewish.

For those unfamiliar, the phrase “final solution” was used by Nazi leaders to describe their plan to commit genocide against European Jews.

That’s not a throwaway line. It’s not edgy humor. It’s a phrase with a very specific and horrific meaning.

Speaker Sherman Packard and Minority Leader Alexis Simpson both condemned Corcoran’s statement. But beyond that, there was silence where it mattered most.

There was no public statement from Governor Ayotte or Majority Leader Jason Osborne. No call for accountability. Just silence. And that silence speaks volumes.

This stands in sharp contrast to what happened in 2020. Then-Speaker Steve Shurtleff asked Rep. Richard Komi (D-Manchester) to resign over a social media comment widely viewed as dismissive of survivors of sexual violence. Komi stepped down.

Leadership acted then. Why not now?

Deputy House Speaker Steve Smith has said that meaningful action would require a majority of lawmakers to agree it’s warranted: “We can condemn it, but there is nothing we can do about it.”

I disagree.

Republican leadership has tools…if they choose to use them. They could pressure Corcoran to resign or rally their caucus to support expulsion. Leader Osborne has shown, time and again, that he can deliver votes when he wants to.

Short of that, they could at least make clear that this kind of rhetoric has consequences, including the option of supporting a serious primary challenger.

And recent elections show that even “safe” districts aren’t immune to voter backlash. Bobbi Boudman’s victory in a traditionally Republican district (Wolfeboro, Tuftonboro and Ossipee) underscores that point.

So why does this matter?

I’ll answer that personally, as a Jewish member of the New Hampshire House.

My grandfather Max came to the United States alone at age 13 from what is now Poland, fleeing the early threats that would later become the Holocaust. He spoke no English. Years later, much of his family was murdered, some at Auschwitz and Dachau.

Max was one of the kindest men I’ve ever known. We lived in the same two-family home, and I saw him every day growing up.

I never experienced antisemitism until I served in the New Hampshire State House.

Several years ago, two state representatives were brought before the Ethics Committee for posting antisemitic content. One sat across from me on the Commerce Committee. She never apologized and even suggested we should get together because we had so much in common.

No, thank you.

Neither representative faced any serious repercussion for their behavior.

Corcoran’s comment is not an isolated incident. It’s part of a broader pattern, of rhetoric and legislation that seeks to marginalize and demonize others.

And when leadership responds with silence, it sends a message.

Not just to those of us who are directly affected, but to everyone watching.

If there is no accountability from within the State House, then it must come from outside of it.

Vote out state representatives who believe they can act with impunity because they are protected by leadership or insulated by district lines.

Help your community recruit strong candidates from both sides of the aisle who reject the politics of hate and are willing to represent all their constituents, regardless of religion, race, or sexual orientation. And get out and volunteer to help get these candidates elected.  Newly elected representative Bobbi Boudman demonstrated that it can be done. 

Rep. Anita Burroughs
State Rep, Bartlett Carroll 2

The Hidden Costs of War: Understanding Personal Sacrifice

On By TonyIn History, PoliticsLeave a comment

Yesterday I wrote When easy victory isn’t easy peace. Here is part 2

The Invisible Cost of War — Who Fights and Who Bears the Burden

When the topic of war comes up in coffee shops, in newsrooms, or on social media, there’s often an unspoken gap between the abstract decisions of policy and the lived realities of service and sacrifice.

We prize technological dominance — drones, precision weapons, unmanned platforms — because they keep our soldiers physically safer. That’s a humane impulse. Yet in doing so, we risk making war feel distant from the lives of most Americans — until it isn’t.

War from a Distance — But Who Faces the Consequences?

One of the most profound effects of America’s All-Volunteer Force is that the duty of war is no longer a shared burden. Instead of a broad cross-section of society feeling the cost of conflict, the military becomes its own community — disproportionately composed of people from smaller towns, rural areas, and families with a tradition of service. 

That dynamic creates a quiet but growing divide:

  • For many Americans, war feels like a distant policy choice.
  • For others, it’s a lived reality — something that shapes their family’s future, their town’s demographics, their community’s hopes and fears.

That’s not just a statistic — it’s a human story. It’s the parent writing letters home, the small-town baker waiting for a son’s return, the neighbor whose family has served generation after generation.

The Psychological Distance of Remote Warfare

We’ve become experts at minimizing danger to our own forces — deploying drones and long-range systems that keep Americans off the ground. But that very safety can make military action feel risk-free to the vast majority of the public. When decisions about war are made in secure rooms thousands of miles from the battlefield, the human weight of those decisions can feel abstract, impersonal, even sanitized.

Two military personnel operating multiple computer screens in a command center, focused on monitoring and controlling various systems.
Major Dusty, 9th Attack Squadron MQ-9 Reaper pilot, and TSgt Trevis, 49th Operations Group MQ-9 sensor operator (last names omitted due to operational security concerns) fly an MQ-9 Reaper training mission from a ground control station on Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., Oct. 3. The Reaper is a multi-functional aircraft that supports both reconnaissance and combat roles. Holloman trains all Air Force MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper pilots. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Michael Shoemaker/Released)

That gap — between decision-maker and service member, between civilian majority and military minority — matters. It shapes how society perceives war, how politicians justify it, and how we, as a nation, understand sacrifice.

Re-Centering the Human Story

Let’s bring the narrative of war back to the people who live it:

  • The young recruit from a town with limited job prospects who saw service as a way forward.
  • The parent who wonders whether this deployment will take a child out of a wedding, a graduation, a town celebration.
  • The veteran who carries memories home that no amount of distance or technology could erase.

These are the real stories behind the headlines.

War should never feel like a video game.
It should never feel like an easy choice.
It should always, always feel like a last resort.

Because it changes people — not just places on a map — but hearts, families, communities, futures.

Revitalizing Libraries: A Community Investment

On By TonyIn History, Hope1 Comment

The Magic of Public Libraries

There is something quietly miraculous about a public library. It is a place of possibility, of openness, of hope—a house of doors that swing wide for everyone, not just those who can afford them. A public library invites you in simply because you are curious. Because you want to learn. Because you want to borrow a book, use the computer, attend a talk, or just sit and think.

In an era of paywalls, subscription models, algorithmic gate-keeping, and constant commercial pressure, public libraries remain one of the last bastions of true free access—to knowledge and to community.

When I walk into a library, I think of all those footsteps that have gone before me: children discovering wonder; teens finding a novel; elders paging through newspapers; job-seekers crafting new futures; immigrants learning English; families sharing story time; self-taught learners picking up a new skill.

The architecture matters—the wood shelves, the reading tables, the soft light, the hush punctuated by quiet laughter. But more than the architecture, it’s the ethos: that knowledge is a public good, not a private commodity.

⸻

Why Libraries Matter

• Access doesn’t depend on wealth. Knowledge, ideas, and technology are shared freely.

• Libraries are the living rooms of our cities—neutral ground where everyone belongs.

• From card catalogs to digital databases, libraries evolve to meet the times.

• A library sends a civic message: we believe your mind is worth investing in.

Dover Public Library

Right here in Dover, our library stands as a proud example of what a community can build together.

The Dover Public Library is in the midst of a $7.1 million renovation and expansion. The project includes an expanded children’s spaces, larger meeting rooms, better line of sight and new elevator and stairwells. Truly an investment in accessibility and shared opportunity.

Close-up of a metal beam showing the embossed name 'Carnegie', symbolizing the legacy of public libraries.

I recently toured the renovation site, and it is going to be historically accurate and absolutely beautiful. Just thinking about it gives me chills. Amid the scaffolding and sawdust, I saw a small but powerful symbol of the past—a Carnegie stamp embossed on one of the metal beams. A reminder that this place, built more than a century ago through the vision of a man and a town that shared a belief that knowledge should be free, carries that legacy forward.

Interior view of a library renovation site showing a stone pillar and brick wall, with construction materials and tools in the background.

This renovation isn’t just about bricks and mortar. It’s about vision—the belief that our capacity for learning, for civic life, for shared good, is still worth building for.

Blueprint for the Dover Public Library expansion project, showing site layout and drawings.

A Legacy of Giving: Andrew Carnegie’s Gift

Between 1886 and 1919, Andrew Carnegie funded 1,679 public libraries in the United States, and more than 2,500 worldwide.

Whatever one thinks of his industrial empire, Carnegie recognized that true wealth was not what you owned—but what you gave back. His libraries stood as beacons in small towns and great cities alike, democratizing access to knowledge.

He believed that every person, given the chance, could rise.

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A Question of Priorities

Today, we have billionaires of our own. Men and women who made (or inherited)  their futures. Imagine if even a fraction of the fortunes of Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos went into building the next generation of public libraries, into revitalizing civic learning, into connecting rural America to the digital world.

Instead of launching cars into space, what if we launched communities into opportunity?

An astronaut in a spacesuit is seated in a red convertible with the Earth visible in the background, showcasing a stunning view of the planet from space.

If Carnegie could build thousands of libraries from steel profits a century ago, why can’t today’s titans of industry fund the civic infrastructure of the 21st century—libraries, maker-spaces, literacy programs, and local journalism?

Isn’t it time we did better?

Reaching for the Stars

And perhaps that’s what libraries have always symbolized: the idea that human potential is boundless.

“Every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we’re reminded that that capacity may well be limitless.

This is a time for American heroes.

We will do what is hard.

We will achieve what is great.

This is a time for American heroes—and we reach for the stars.”

A library is, in its own way, a launchpad. Each book, each story, each conversation sends us further into the universe of ideas. And like all great launches, it begins right here on Earth—in towns like Dover, in rooms filled with shelves, light, and the quiet hum of curiosity.

Let us protect them, expand them, and celebrate them.

Because when we invest in libraries, we are investing in the heroes yet to come.

Rendering of the Dover Public Library showing a renovated and expanded exterior with brick and stone details, large windows, and trees in the foreground.

From Fear to Courage: Time to Act Boldly

On By TonyIn Belief, History, HopeLeave a comment

We Used to Do Hard Things

by Tony Retrosi

I’ve never been more frustrated.

We live in a country of abundance.
A state of abundance.
A city with a relative wealth of resources.

We Used to Be Bold

We used to be a nation that did hard things.

We took bold steps. We made difficult choices.
In the 1960s, we pointed at the moon and said, “We’re going there.”
And we did.

An astronaut standing on the lunar surface, with detailed footprints in the moon dust.

Now?

We’re paralyzed.
By fear of change.
Fear of each other.
Fear of anything that looks different or makes us uncomfortable.

Too many politicians feed that fear—
Because it’s easier to scare us than to lead us.

We Have the Tools. So Why Not the Will?

What used to be science fiction is now fact.
We can build a better future.

We could already be leading the way in green energy.
We could already be shaping a world where peace is more profitable than war.

Instead:

  • We have more empty houses than unhoused people.
  • More food than we can eat—yet children still go to bed hungry.
  • Medical technology that can save lives—but insurers decide who lives and who doesn’t.
  • Masked agents detaining people in our streets simply because they are brown.

This Is Not a Resource Problem

This is a will problem.

When was the last time we did something truly great?

Not something performative.
Not a shiny press conference.
Not a temporary fix.

Something great.

Something that required:

  • Sacrifice
  • Vision
  • Unity

Something that made life better—not just for some, but for all.

That Was Generations Ago… Or Was It?

Was it landing on the moon?
Passing the Civil Rights Act?
Creating Social Security?
Building the interstate highway system?

Those were generations ago.

But that doesn’t mean we’ve stopped doing hard things.
You just have to look a little closer:

  • Scientists developed a global COVID-19 vaccine in record time.
  • Climate activists are fighting pipelines and planting forests.
  • Underpaid teachers are showing up for forgotten kids.
  • Young organizers are pushing for racial and gender justice.
  • Workers are unionizing despite corporate pushback.
  • Communities are creating mutual aid networks when institutions fail.

These are today’s moonshots.
They’re happening now.
And they matter.

So I’ll Ask You:

What’s your moonshot?
What sacrifice will you make?
What fear will you stop feeding?

Do Something That Matters

We can’t paint over rot and call it progress.
We can’t slap a slogan on a problem and pretend it’s solved.

We need courage.
We need imagination.
We need to stop waiting for permission to do the right thing.

It’s time to stop being afraid.
To stop being small.
To stop being silent when we should be loud.

Do something.
Something you’ll be proud of.

Not just a fresh coat of paint—
But a foundation rebuilt with purpose.

Be inspired.
Inspire others.

We used to do hard things.
We still can.
Let’s prove it.

Why History Matters: Learning from Europe’s Educational Approaches

On By TonyIn Education, History, Teaching1 Comment

As many of you know, I have lived and worked in Europe off and on for the last few years. When it comes to current educational standards and philosophy I feel we Arte moving in the wrong direction. As a gymnastics coach I tell my athletes that they do not start REALLY learning until they get out of their comfort zone. The same is true with HISTORY. While many states in the USA right now do not want to make any white student uncomfortable with our past, many countries in Europe take on their past head on .

​In Germany and Italy, the teaching of fascism, Nazism, and World War II is approached with a commitment to confronting historical truths, ensuring that students understand the complexities and atrocities of their past. This educational philosophy contrasts sharply with current trends in several U.S. states, where legislative measures are restricting discussions on racism, sexism, segregation, and the Civil War. Such limitations hinder students’ ability to engage critically with history, depriving them of essential knowledge and understanding.​

Educational Approaches in Germany and Italy

In Germany, the education system mandates comprehensive coverage of the Nazi era and the Holocaust. Students visit concentration camps, engage with survivor testimonies, and analyze the socio-political factors that led to the rise of Nazism. This immersive approach fosters a deep understanding of the consequences of totalitarianism and the importance of democratic values.​

Italy’s educational system also addresses its fascist past, though with some differences. Post-World War II, Italy underwent a less extensive de-fascistization process compared to Germany. However, contemporary Italian textbooks strive to present an objective analysis of Mussolini’s regime, its alliance with Nazi Germany, and the impact on Italian society. This includes discussions on the implementation of antisemitic laws in 1938 and Italy’s role during the war. ​RedditHolocaust Encyclopedia

The Consequences of Ignoring Difficult Histories

In contrast, numerous U.S. states have introduced legislation that restricts teaching about racism and related issues. As of early 2023, only California, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Vermont have not attempted such bans.  These legislative actions often stem from misunderstandings about critical race theory (CRT), an academic framework that examines systemic racism within legal and social contexts. Opponents fear that CRT admonishes all white people for being oppressors while classifying all Black people as hopelessly oppressed victims, leading to bans in states like Tennessee and Idaho. ​World Population ReviewBrookings+5ABC News+5Statista+5Brookings

By limiting discussions on these critical aspects of American history, students are deprived of the opportunity to learn from past mistakes and to understand the roots and ramifications of social injustices. This educational censorship undermines the development of critical thinking skills and the ability to engage in informed civic discourse.​

IF YOU KNOW YOUR HISTORY THEN YOU WOULD KNOW WHERE YOU COMING FROM. Bob Marley

The Role of the Department of Education

The Department of Education played a crucial role in setting national educational standards and ensuring that curricula are comprehensive and inclusive. Abolishing this department will exacerbate the current trend of educational censorship by removing a centralized body that advocates for balanced and thorough historical education. Without federal oversight, states may have greater latitude to implement restrictive educational policies, further hindering students’ understanding of complex historical and social issues.​

The experiences of Germany and Italy demonstrate the importance of confronting and teaching difficult historical truths. By contrast, the current trajectory in parts of the United States toward restricting discussions on racism and other critical topics threatens to deprive students of essential knowledge and critical thinking skills. Maintaining robust educational standards through institutions like the Department of Education is vital to ensure that future generations are well-informed and capable of contributing thoughtfully to society. We must do better in embracing our full history, acknowledging its complexities, and learning from it to build a more just and equitable future.​

Recent Developments in Education Legislation

https://www.reachinghighernh.org/content-item/461/nh-state-board-of-education-adopts-controversial-minimum-standards-despite-sharp-public-opposition

Chron

AG Ken Paxton sues North Texas district for allegedly teaching critical race theory

8 days agoAxiosTexas AG sues Coppell ISD after conservative activist video claims district teaches critical race theory

7 days agoAxiosTexas Senate passes religious, anti-DEI education bills2 days ago

Why States Seceded From Union.

On By TonyIn Belief, History, PoliticsLeave a comment

The other day, in my home state of New Hampshire, Nikki Haley fumbled a softball question on causes of the Civil War. She looked like a deer in the headlights for a few seconds as she tried to find the words.

What is most embarrassing about her answer is that she is the former governor of South Carolina — the first state to secede from the Union in 1860 . She should know her history. Instead she said at the event in Berlin, New Hampshire, that the catalysts were “basically how the government was going to run” and “freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do.”

In the VERY first paragraph of South Carolina‘s decoration of secession it states:

The people of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, on the 26th day of April, A.D., 1852, declared that the frequent violations of the Constitution of the United States, by the Federal Government, and its encroachments upon the reserved rights of the States, fully justified this State in then withdrawing from the Federal Union; but in deference to the opinions and wishes of the other slaveholding States, she forbore at that time to exercise this right. Since that time, these encroachments have continued to increase, and further forbearance ceases to be a virtue.

In goes on to say:

The Constitution of the United States, in its fourth Article, provides as follows: “No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up, on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.”

What the 4th article of the constitution says is that: All states will honor the laws of all other states. Section 2 A. Citizens of one state are treated equally and fairly like all citizens of another. B. If a person accused of a crime in one state flees to another, he/she will be returned to the state that person fled from. What had slaveholding states upset is that slaves who escaped to free States were not being returned and they viewed this as a theft of property. 

Other States which seceded

Georgia

The people of Georgia having dissolved their political connection with the Government of the United States of America, present to their confederates and the world the causes which have led to the separation. For the last ten years we have had numerous and serious causes of complaint against our non-slave-holding confederate States with reference to the subject of African slavery. They have endeavored to weaken our security, to disturb our domestic peace and tranquility, and persistently refused to comply with their express constitutional obligations to us in reference to that property, and by the use of their power in the Federal Government have striven to deprive us of an equal enjoyment of the common Territories of the Republic.

Mississippi

A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union. 

In the momentous step which our State has taken of dissolving its connection with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we should declare the prominent reasons which have induced our course.

Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery– the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth.

Texas

Texas abandoned her separate national existence and consented to become one of the Confederated Union to promote her welfare, insure domestic tranquility and secure more substantially the blessings of peace and liberty to her people. She was received into the confederacy with her own constitution, under the guarantee of the federal constitution and the compact of annexation, that she should enjoy these blessings. She was received as a commonwealth holding, maintaining and protecting the institution known as negro slavery– the servitude of the African to the white race within her limits– a relation that had existed from the first settlement of her wilderness by the white race, and which her people intended should exist in all future time. Her institutions and geographical position established the strongest ties between her and other slave-holding States of the confederacy. Those ties have been strengthened by association. But what has been the course of the government of the United States, and of the people and authorities of the non-slave-holding States, since our connection with them?

Virginia

The people of Virginia, in their ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, adopted by them in Convention on the twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, having declared that the powers granted under the said Constitution were derived from the people of the United States, and might be resumed whensoever the same should be perverted to their injury and oppression; and the Federal Government, having perverted said powers, not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern Slaveholding States.

The other confederate states Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina did not make declarations but instead Ordinance of secession which were short paragraphs saying they were leaving the union.

So please, do not disrespect my intelligence and the memory of all those who died in that war.

IT

WAS

ABOUT

SLAVERY.

Nostalgia is a Lie. The Best is Still Ahead.

On By TonyIn History, PoliticsLeave a comment

It is easy to look back on life and remember only the greatest things. It is your brains way of keeping you from going crazy. I have always written in a journal. It started as a way to keep track of my workouts when I was an athlete. What worked and what didn’t. I was talking on the phone with one of my former teammates the other day. We were catching up and laughing about events in our past. There was one event that we were trying to recall but we both remembered it differently. Having moved recently I knew that I still had a journal or two from that time- more than 30 years ago. I went up into the attic to find it, sat down on the floor and started to page through it. I found the event we were talking about. It was a practical joke we played on our coach. Both of us were mostly right but there were somethings that I would have sworn were true that we were both WAY off.

As I went down the rabbit hole of reading some of the old entries I realized how many painful incidents I have packed away and moved on from. From perceived injustices in practice to being bullied by an older teammate. There were so many things going on in life at that time that were NOT good. Why would I ever want to go back to that time? I remember all the great things going on. Not the terrible things.

HIV/AIDS- I don’t think there’s anything that I can say about this terrible disease that hasn’t been said better by others already, but suffice it to say, AIDS sucks, and it was almost always a death sentence in the ’80s. Casual racism and other completely insensitive things were common place in the 80s. Do we really need to do that again?

The more things change the more they stay the same. In the 1980’s we were worried about THE COLD WAR. Of course it might’ve been harder for Americans to care about others back then because there was still a chance we might be instantly evaporated by a rolling wall of fire when a Russian ICBM landed in our backyard. The Cold War kinda looks quaint now, but paranoia over a nuclear war with our global enemies was still running high in the ’80s. To quote an old hardcore punk song: “If AIDS don’t get ya, then the warheads will.” Those underlying fears seemed likely to come true back then.

Gone are the days (mostly) of gas guzzling cars and archaic technology. There was a FREAKING HOLE IN THE OZONE! But through government regulations things have gotten better. You hear people complain about the price of gas today yet In the year 1980, the average retail price of gas was $1.19. This is equivalent to $4.60 in 2023 dollars! The AVERAGE MPG of a NEW car in the 1980s was less than 17 MPG. Do you really want to go back to that time now?

Nostalgia Is a Liar, So Keep Moving Forward

They call it nostalgia and not the past because nostalgia is a rose-tinted lens that distorts the past, a lens through which we bend and contort memories to fit our whims and desires, to have them slot neatly into narratives and weave seamlessly into wider stories we tell ourselves, stories about when we were younger, stronger, better, happier.

Nostalgia, in short, is a liar.

We all indulge in nostalgia. It’s an affliction, a condition, it’s the way we’re wired. Stories are how humanity passed on instruction and moral code for millennia. The past can’t just be the past, it has to have meaning, we have to contextualize it and use our present to justify what went before, we have to romanticize how got here through nostalgia’s dirty lens.

This would all be fine, but the truth is nostalgia makes us unhappy.

Czech author Milan Kundera noted:

“The Greek word for ‘return’ is nostos. Algos means ‘suffering.’ So nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return.”

Nostalgia is toxic. It removes us from the present, it takes us out of gratitude and mindfulness and plunges us into the movie playing in our head. It has us comparing our reality-based present to a fabricated, fantasy past.

An Antidote

I say all this because so many of us wallow in yesteryear glory. How many of your friends talk incessantly about “the good old days” of 20 years ago, when they weren’t even so good? The MAGA crowd that believes that YESTERDAY was the best they will ever be.

Nostalgia is disempowering. The only natural conclusion when in its thrall is to believe your best days are behind you and you’re powerless to change that.

Fuck that.

Right now, in the present, is the youngest you’re ever going to be, so stop wallowing about past conquests and set sail once more.

The antidote to nostalgia is action.

Our present and future can be anything we want it to be. The past has gone, and it doesn’t need to have a bearing on where we go next.

Good times are coming and you could realize this much more readily if nostalgia didn’t sit on your shoulder, whisper into your ear and feeding you lies.

So don’t believe it. You have that choice. Hear the whispers and realize they’re deception.

This doesn’t mean disregard your fond memories or abandon the lessons your past has taught you, it just means focus on the present without holding onto a false narrative about who you were.

After all, it is only the present we live in. The present is your life; one long expanding present that rolls out in front of us all, a crest of a wave we are riding together.

Don’t look back, keep moving forward because, in case you hadn’t realized, nostalgia is a liar.

“Nostalgia is a dirty liar that insists things were better than they seemed.”

AMERICA is a country with great possibilities. We are relatively young and our democratic experiment will still grow and evolve. Look forward to what we can be.

Who and What Influenced the US Constitution

On By TonyIn HistoryLeave a comment

The US Constitution is possibly one of the best documents ever written. The Constitution of the United States established America’s national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens. It influenced many other governments constitutions in the past 200+ years.

It was signed on September 17, 1787, by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Under America’s first governing document, the Articles of Confederation, the national government was weak and states operated like independent countries. At the 1787 convention, delegates devised a plan for a stronger federal government with three branches—executive, legislative and judicial—along with a system of checks and balances to ensure no single branch would have too much power.  

I am not an absolutist or originalist.   I believe the Constitution was written deliberately vague because when it was written they realized that the future was unpredictable. At a time where slavery was legal and a sign of status who could have seen a women of color as vice president of this new country?  I just returned from a business trip to Italy. 8 hours direct Rome to Boston. A trip that would have taken more than a month in the 1780s.  Who could have predicted the medical advancements we made even in the last century? The life expectancy  of 55 years (excluding child mortality) was largely unchanged between the 12th and 19th centuries.

Constitutions should consist only of general provisions; the reason is that they must necessarily be permanent, and that they cannot calculate for the possible change of things.

Alexander Hamilton

Change is inevitable. The constitution needs to remain a living document.  

The Constitution gave us a set of rules to follow in this American Experiment with democracy. The United States is among the oldest modern democracies, but it is only the oldest if the criteria are refined to disqualify claimants ranging from Switzerland to San Marino. Where did the founding fathers get the ideas for our democracy? 

When the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met in 1787 to debate what form of government the United States should have, there were no contemporary democracies in Europe from which they could draw inspiration. The most democratic forms of government that any of the convention members had personally encountered were those of Native American nations. Of particular interest was the Iroquois Confederacy, which historians have argued wielded a significant influence on the U.S. Constitution.

What evidence exists that the delegates studied Native governments? Descriptions of them appear in the three-volume handbook John Adams wrote for the convention surveying different types of governments and ideas about government. It included European philosophers like John Locke and Montesquieu, whom U.S. history textbooks have long identified as constitutional influences; but it also included the Iroquois Confederacy and other Indigenous governments, which many of the delegates knew through personal experience.

The Iroquois Confederacy was in no way an exact model for the U.S. Constitution. However, it provided something that Locke and Montesquieu couldn’t: a real-life example of some of the political concepts the framers were interested in adopting in the U.S.

The Iroquois Confederacy dates back several centuries, to when the Great Peacemaker founded it by uniting five nations: the Mohawks, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, the Oneida and the Seneca. In around 1722, the Tuscarora nation joined the Iroquois, also known as the Haudenosaunee. Together, these six nations formed a multi-state government while maintaining their own individual governance.

In 1744, the Onondaga leader Canassatego gave a speech urging the contentious 13 colonies to unite, as the Iroquois had at the signing of the Treaty of Lancaster. This cultural exchange inspired the English colonist Benjamin Franklin to print Canassatego’s speech.

“We heartily recommend Union and a good Agreement between you our Brethren,” Canassatego had said. “Never disagree, but preserve a strict Friendship for one another, and thereby you, as well as we, will become the stronger. Our wise Forefathers established Union and Amity between the Five Nations; this has made us formidable; this has given us great Weight and Authority with our neighboring Nations. We are a powerful Confederacy; and, by your observing the same Methods our wise Forefathers have taken, you will acquire fresh Strength and Power; therefore whatever befalls you, never fall out one with another.”

He used a metaphor that many arrows cannot be broken as easily as one. This inspired the bundle of 13 arrows held by an eagle in the Great Seal of the United States.

Franklin referenced the Iroquois model as he presented his Plan of Union8 at the Albany Congress in 1754, attended by representatives of the Iroquois and the seven colonies. He invited the Great Council members of the Iroquois to address the Continental Congress in 1776.

Iroquois Confederacy and
the Great Law of Peace		United States Constitution
Restricts members from holding more than one office in the Confederacy.Article I, Section 6, Clause 2, also known as the Ineligibility Clause or the Emoluments Clause bars members of serving members of Congress from holding offices established by the federal government, while also baring members of the executive branch or judicial branch from serving in the U.S. House or Senate.

Outlines processes to remove leaders within the Confederacy


Article II, Section 4 reads “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and the conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors.”


Designates two branches of legislature with procedures for passing laws


Article I, Section 1, or the Vesting Clauses, read “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.” It goes on to outline their legislative powers.


Delineates who has the power to declare war


Article I, Section 8, Clause 11, also known as the War Powers Clause, gives Congress the power, “To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;”


Creates a balance of power between the Iroquois Confederacy and individual tribes

The differing duties assigned to the three branches of the U.S. Government: Legislative (Congress), Executive (President), and Judicial (Supreme Court) act to balance and separate power in government.