Okay, I haven't actually been chatting with "Enrico Pallazzo. As per the request of the friend with whom I have been talking, I've given him a nom de plume. The first thing that popped into my head was, in all seriousness, Enrico Pallazzo. Consider it an homage to the recently deceased comedic genius, Leslie Nielsen.
It would be profitable to post these questions, thoughts, and meanderings so here they are. Enrico asks good questions, is eager to engage and learn, and is interested in gathering as much knowledge as possible concerning the Founding, the Constitution, and basic economics from sources not hung up on pushing agendas. I informed him of my agenda for a freer society, individual rights, and personal responsibility and responded accordingly.
The entire exchange would take up too much room for one post so I'll post it by sections over a few days. Besides grammatical corrections and omission of unrelated topics everything in Enrico's e-mails are original. The same goes with my responses, as well as omission of poorly worded sections. (Enrico has been notified):
Adam,
I've got some good news and some bad news for you. The bad news is that I'm not so sure I want to learn more about FDR right now. The good news, which I think you'll appreciate, is that I have several other questions that I'd like to discuss first. One of my Christmas gifts was a book entitled Lies My Teacher Told Me - Everything Your American History Textbooks Got Wrong. I'm not quite finished with it yet, but like any good book, I find myself with more questions than answers.
- Apparently a major turning point in government power distribution occurred during the Woodrow Wilson administration - during this time America was the closest it's ever been to a police state. We had troops in several different countries, we even invaded Russia!
- I had no idea about all the racism that occurred prior to the civil rights movement, I mean, I never realized how bad it truly was. There were points were I had to put the book down and pause because I was so shocked.
Anyway, we gotta meet up and talk soon...maybe just not about FDR. But I think I'm definitely on your bandwagon.
Enrico Palozzo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Enrico,
It sounds like you are an avid reader; that is terrific. Yes, reading history--the good, unedited-for-partisan-reasons kind--will blow your hair back. Reading such history, although disturbing and unsettling, is a bit comforting oddly enough. Comforting, in that once you get an appreciation for how bad things were from a civil rights, free society perspective, it makes you realize we've been down terrible roads before in American history and emerged out of them. This all puts how crappy things are now in a broader perspective and can offer some grounded hope that things are not insurmountable.
Indeed, the Wilson years are some of the darkest in American history. Look up the APL, the American Protective League, and see how Wilson's administration orchestrated Americans spying on Americans and tossing them in jail for daring to question the government. Spooky stuff right out of Orwell's 1984 but it actually happened right here in America. We still don't know exactly how many thousands of Americans were thrown in jail without habeus corpus, trial, or representation. Wildly unconstitutional and scarily dictatorial, that's old Woody!
Wilson hated the Constitution as it was a roadblock to unchecked government power. His ph.d. dissertation reads like a how-to manual for getting around the limits of a constitutional government and empower government to do whatever it wishes. As president he laid the rhetorical and intellectual groundwork for the New Deal that came along twenty years later. If I had to list the three worst president WW would be on the list.
Whenever you again want to chat FDR let me know. So much of his legacy was screwing up how everyday Americans view government and society, the economy and the market, and what we have come to reflexively expect as "rights." I do highly recommend Powell's book FDR's Folly. It is highly researched, documented, and well laid out. It is also written conversationally, which I always appreciate, so it reads smoothly.
Indeed, the Wilson years are some of the darkest in American history. Look up the APL, the American Protective League, and see how Wilson's administration orchestrated Americans spying on Americans and tossing them in jail for daring to question the government. Spooky stuff right out of Orwell's 1984 but it actually happened right here in America. We still don't know exactly how many thousands of Americans were thrown in jail without habeus corpus, trial, or representation. Wildly unconstitutional and scarily dictatorial, that's old Woody!
Wilson hated the Constitution as it was a roadblock to unchecked government power. His ph.d. dissertation reads like a how-to manual for getting around the limits of a constitutional government and empower government to do whatever it wishes. As president he laid the rhetorical and intellectual groundwork for the New Deal that came along twenty years later. If I had to list the three worst president WW would be on the list.
Whenever you again want to chat FDR let me know. So much of his legacy was screwing up how everyday Americans view government and society, the economy and the market, and what we have come to reflexively expect as "rights." I do highly recommend Powell's book FDR's Folly. It is highly researched, documented, and well laid out. It is also written conversationally, which I always appreciate, so it reads smoothly.
-Adam
