For me it was the best election I’ve enjoyed in quite some time. All my people didn’t win but the one I most supported did—and that was Ann Becker knocking out Patti Alderson off the Ohio State Central Committee. Patti is part of the party establishment that speaks about Republican values but behaves like a Democrat and she along with several like her gave us John Kasich. There were several Tea Party challengers to the establishment State Central Committee candidates who are all just as bad as Patti relative to political philosophy—and few of them broke through like Ann did—but now Becker can begin to do valuable work from the inside that will help guide the Republican Party back toward real conservatism instead of just RINO namesake—using the party to win elections then run like their more progressive rivals.
It never fails to shock me even knowing all that I do about how things work—to learn to what extent the Republican Party led by John Kasich in Ohio had a lock on voters through the machine of politics. I have been supporting Donald Trump for president and was happy with his wins on Tuesday, March 15th. I was hoping he’d get Ohio but based on the feedback I had from area Republicans attending a Trump event recently I was continually baffled to hear them talk about how they feared to let it be publicly known that they liked Trump. I mean these were grown adults and they were fearful of the wrath of some little hunchback progressive who could get his ass kicked by a falling leaf. There is nothing to fear about John Kasich. Yet politicians afraid of harming their rise to power within the party did not want party leaders to know that they were at this epic Trump event but only to get an autograph of the celebrity. The head of the Republican Party was supposed to be seated next to me, but he never showed up because obviously the party was in the bag for Kasich and he was expected to strong-arm his party members into supporting the current governor over Trump. That is precisely what is wrong with politics. Those politicians didn’t represent the people who elected them—they represented with real anxiety the desires of the party bosses and largely that temperament has been shaped over many years by people like Patti Alderson. So it was wonderful to see her go down in flames to someone I know will truly steer the State Central Committee into the direction of a constitutional republic.
As the nationwide results came in I was embarrassed for Ohio and the Republican Party that was so proud of their ability to turn out votes for John Kasich—in spite of him being an extreme loser who has no chance nationally of winning anything outside of a complete insurrection at the National Convention. Trump and Cruz are the clear favorites among voters leaving all the establishment types in the dust of recollection. Listening to Kasich talk you’d think he just won the Super Bowl. What was painful to me was what many of those area Republicans and their donors said to me just a few days prior at the Trump event. If given a choice, they’d vote a different way. I’d say to them that nobody knows how you vote when it’s just you in the booth. That’s when they’d say to me—“yes they do.” They didn’t want it to ever be discovered that they supported anybody but Kasich for President in 2016—even though the guy had no chance to do anything nationally. With all that strong-arming by party bosses Kasich won a measly 66 delegates. To date he has barely broke 100 which is deplorable. Only career politicians would think such a thing was something to celebrate.
Patti Alderson in spite of the people who will tell me and you dear reader that she’s a pinnacle of virtue is exactly the type of person who is bad for the Republican Party. She supported increases in taxes—has used charities as a means of extortion against children by blocking out people who actually tried to help then smeared the people who were really trying to point a light on what she was doing with the unionized educators embedded deeply in our community. I know firsthand what she’s like behind the smiles and the charity—and she went after my name rather viciously once all other means of stopping my anti-tax group ran out. In a lot of ways what she did locally was a lot like what the Republican Party is doing now to Donald Trump. They don’t know how to stop him so they are attacking him. And like him I have a similar social policy—I never forget, I do hold grudges and even if it takes 100 years, I look to get even against those who have done me wrong. There is nothing wrong with that type of animosity—it is the difference between winners and losers. All this turning the other cheek stuff in my view is a stupid position to take on anything—it certainly isn’t a path to any kind of victory. If they hit you, you always hit them harder and harder until they stop and give up.
It was four years to the day that I had to dig in like Trump and defend my record by an onslaught of media and public sentiment coordinated by Patti against me to essentially preserve all that she had built connecting the Republican Party to Lakota Schools and the tax increases that she wanted. I encouraged all my Republican friends to stand with me, that what Patti was doing with her tax increase support around the community using charity to help sell it would lose in the end in spite of the mudslinging—that all she was trying to do would backfire if everyone would just hold their ground. But they listened to her because she was a party insider instead of me and history told the rest of the story. I am proud to be the first that I know of in modern politics to do as Trump is now on a national stage. I tried to tell area Republicans to dig in and stand for something and some did. Most continued listening to Patti—like Judy Shelton who was strong-arming local Republican members to hold the line of the party even if the party was wrong philosophically. (CLICK TO REVIEW) Thankfully good people have been challenging the Republican establishment ever since and many have broken through. Ann is only the most spectacular and recent example. But many before her have been pounding away at those fences and now they are starting to break through.
Trump is a result of that offensive strategy, he would not have had the kind of success he is now prior to 2012. I said to an NPR reporter for WVXU at that Trump event standing in front of the Bernie Sanders supporters that politics was changing forever. Trump was paving the way for a new kind of politician—part entertainer, part private sector success story, and part WWF. It takes those entertainment attributes to break the party lines and establish yourself independently from any collectivist rule. I proved that 100 days after an onslaught that Patti Alderson led against me within the Republican Party to remove me from her plans by using a little authentic theatrics to gain supporters away from her way of thinking. CLICK HERE TO REVIEW. I was astonished by all the people who were happy that my methods had actually worked—they stopped me everywhere and thanked me for what I had done—which was simply to stand my ground when everyone else literally abandoned me at Patti’s direction. I wrote about my experiences extensively and now many thousands of people have read about that strategy. I said it in 2012—the way to win as a Republican was to hit back at Democrats harder than they hit you. Many being good Christians couldn’t get their mind around it. But the Saul Alinsky playbook exposes that tendency among Republicans to turn the other cheek and that’s how liberals have continued to beat conservatives time and time again, and there has been no end in sight, until that moment in 2012. So it gives me great satisfaction to see Ann Becker beat out Patti Alderson and to see Donald Trump using that same strategy on a national level. Not that Trump adopted any of my ideas; he’s certainly his own man. But enough people have been thinking about these things and a chain reaction within politics has taken on a life of its own.
It was quite enjoyable for me to watch Trump’s speech after he won essentially all the states on the March 15th election except for Ohio—knocking out Marco Rubio from the presidential race. Trump attacked the media, the GOP establishment and showed that he was standing by his campaign manager when there were calls for his head—and he did it with a smile on his face to the outrage of the media. I remember how it felt for me March 12th through March 15th of 2012 when Patti Alderson led her group of people to attack me in every way that she could without actually getting her hands dirty. I remember my hatred of Michael Clark from The Cincinnati Enquirer, the betrayal of Scott Sloan at WLW,and my supposed friends within No Lakota Levy who abandoned me while speaking to hundreds of thousands of people on the air in the moment when I needed them most. They did what they did because Patti had led them to their actions—I have the emails to prove it–still. But I stood my ground as hard as it was. Professionally, if I had been anyone else I would have been finished as a person in Butler County—but people like Patti didn’t care in the least. For her the needs of the many out-weighed the needs of the few and if I was getting in the way—even if I was technically correct—then disposal was the option. It was a hard period of time for me. But I dug in and stood my ground and people thanked me for it. And now, just four years later my friend Ann Becker has replaced Patti Alderson from her Central Committee seat and Donald Trump is running for president and is essentially using the same methods I did to advance his tactical position. And this time the Republican establishment can’t stop him. Because those of us on the cutting edge have seen the weak spots in the party system and now it is coming apart. And that gives me great satisfaction for really the first time in over thirty years of political observation. March 15th was a good day for our Constitutional Republic. And things are just getting started. It’s not that anger and flamboyancy are the proper means to defending a republic, but when fear is used to keep party members in line and to force people to do things that they otherwise wouldn’t on their own—the best way to deal with it is to throw it back in the perpetrator’s face and stand up to the bully—whoever it is. There is one thing in this world that I have no tolerance for and that is a bully. Trump isn’t the bully—it’s the people who use party members to hold people to a worthless vote that goes against the voters. And of that class—Patti Alderson was one of the most frequent violators. She didn’t bully people with force—she does it with a smile on her face and a large check book. But the methods are conducted under coercion nonetheless—and that has to end at every level of government, from local to international.
So how did Ann win that important election—well, I’ll tell you. She was at the Trump rally in West Chester even though she’s a Cruz supporter—she went where the people were and she talked to those many thousands who were standing in the rain trying to get into the packed venue. Those were people who were definitely going to vote in West Chester for Trump and she gave them her name on the ballot. Most people reading through such ballots have no idea who Patti Alderson was, but they knew Ann because she handed them literature with her name on it working the crowd. She went door to door. She was on the nightly local television news. She had write ups in the newspaper. She was on the radio. And she had commercials on 55 KRC. In short, she took nothing for granted and she actively worked every angle possible to the largest extent possible. She simply out-worked the incumbent Patti Alderson who sat back and expected her reputation to carry her through the election. That is how you beat these incumbents dear reader. You simply outwork them. That is how Trump is doing it, and that is how Ann won. If everyone who is a freedom lover did the same—the establishment would cease to be. You don’t have to play party politics and fall in line with the leadership. You simply outwork everyone else and stick by your guns no matter what. That is the best path to success in any endeavor—and it needs to become the standard mode of operation in politics.
Made in the Fall of the year 1800, and the Winter and Spring of 1801;
WITH
A DESCRIPTION
Of the Soil, Productions, Rivers, Natural Curiosities, Etc.
Of that
Eden of America.
To which is added,
A CONCISE ACCOUNT
Of the
Present State of Kentucky.
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By Zophar Roberts
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“By Travel crown the Arts, and learn abroad
The general Virtues, which the Wise applaud
Whatever worthy thy Remark thou seest
With care remember, and forget the Rest.”
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ALBANY:
Printed for the Author, at Request of many of his
Friends – MDCCCI
1801
Many things occurred to my mind that made me determine not to say anything in my journal respecting Kentucky. I have, however, been persuaded to the contrary by my friends. But, as I have never traveled through that State and only made excursions to different parts of it, during my stay at Cincinnati, the reader is to expect nothing more than a partial (though just) description. It has also been requested, and I have consented, to annex hereto, a further and more particular account of the present State of Kentucky.
Lake George, State of New York, October 15th, 1801.
JOURNAL
I have not begun my daily Journal until I came to Strasburg, 63 miles west from Philadelphia. I shall only say, that I started from Lake George on the 10th of November, 1800, on the 15th of December arrived at Strasburg, PA and crossed what is called North Mountain. Lodged at night at Mr. Skinners’ Inn, in Horse Valley.
Tuesday 16 – In travelling seven miles this morning, we crossed two mountains, viz. Middle Mountain and Tuscarora. We then had a broken uneven country, yet we saw many rich fertile valleys. Lodged at night at Mr. George Wild’s Inn.
Wednesday 17 – After travelling about six miles we took breakfast, travelled two miles further, crossed the Juniata, a noble branch of the Susquehanna, this river, taking its whole course, is perhaps the crookedest river in the whole world; after riding five or six miles we have the Juniata on the right and left, at the distance of not more than ten rods. This river forms many noble bottoms; and notwithstanding its serpentine course there are some excellent masts taken down even to Chesapeake Bay. We crossed the Juniata again about two miles from Bedford; here the river is much pent by the mountains on each side; previous to crossing we had the river to the left and the mountain to the right, for several miles. Here it was, at the time when General Washington was sending an army across the mountains in 1793, to quell the whiskey boys, about Fort Pitt, that the insurgents placed a grave old man in the highway to blast some rocks; the old man had some rocks bored and matches prepared; and at the very instant the light horse came in sight the matches were fired, which were about fifty in number, the report so frightened those brave men, that they immediately turned to the main army, reporting that the insurgents had raised an army of at least one thousand men. We rode one mile further, lodged with Mr. John Emich; here the mountains open and present a beautiful flat.
Thursday 18 – About sunrise this morning, we rode through Bedford, crossed the Juniata several times, and saw some excellent bottom; on leaving the Juniata, we rode ten miles on what is called Dry Ridge. The upland is broken, poor, and very stony, but produces excellent wheat. Lodged at night at William Dorsey’s Inn, two miles from the foot of the Allegany.
Friday 19 – Early this morning we ascended the Allegany, it being very rainy we travelled but about nine miles, put up at a private house with one Mr. Black, a very hospitable gentleman, who charged us nothing for three meals and horse keeping. I wish him an example for others to imitate. He has a large plantation, cuts about 90 or 100 tons of hay, and raises about one thousand bushels of wheat and as much rye. Here is what is commonly called the Glades.
Saturday 20 – It being very bad travelling, this day we proceeded but about fourteen miles; put again at a private house with one Jack Knave, who was really so more than fool.
Sunday 21 – We rode about twenty miles and dined at John Stackdar’s Inn, here we found no good in the people only that they deviated from the custom of the road in charging a higher price. Here too, we leave the Fort Pitt road to the right; proceeded five miles further to Lovengire’s Inn, here we were well used.
Monday 22 – We rode through the hilly rich fertile country, fifteen miles, crossed the Yohogany, and proceeded seven miles further to the banks of the Monongahela, put up at Joseph Beckett’s Esquire, a private house. Squire Beckett is a gentleman.
Perhaps the reader will be disappointed if I do not give a more full description of that mountain, distinguished from others by the name of Allegany. Foreigners are much mistaken concerning this mountain, for it is commonly thought we ascend from one part to near the middle when we reach the summit, and from thence descend to the foot – whereas in ascending we are near as high in going four miles, as in any part of it. This mountain is truly worth notice, great part of which abounds with excellent timber; in general, either oak, chestnut, or white pine, variegated according to the nature of the soil. That part of it called Savage Mountain is beautifully covered with stately white pines, which promise great advantage to the western country in process of time. In passing this mountain we cross many crystal streams, their junction forms the Yohogany, which again falls into the Monongahela, south of the place where General Braddock was defeated. The Laurel Hill is about ten miles wide, and is only the western part of the same mountain; but one reason why it is spoken of as a distinct place may be, the level land lying eastward, called the Glades, in breadth about 25 miles. In this are situated the great meadows where Washington was defeated; the entrenchments used on that occasion yet appear.
This mountain runs a southwesterly course, and is at present generally inhabited. Though part of the soil is so cold and subject to frosts, that little grain can be expected; yet it is said that grain of all sorts are produced on this mountain. In most places, the soil is good for grass and meadows.
It is very probable also, that it abounds with various mines, and if so, it will be of great utility to the adjacent states. It is said to be sixty miles across as you travel to Redstone. Through the whole as you travel, may lodge every night in very good houses. When we descend the Laurel Hill, which is both steep and stony, we come into that country which is known in distant places by the name of Redstone. This name cannot properly be applied to the greater part of this land, for Redstone is a creek, and the land adjacent makes a very small part of the country. This settlement abounds with more creeks that can properly be mentioned here. These all empty into the river commonly called Monongahela, the proper name of which, according to the Indian pronunciation, is Mehmanowangehelak, which signifies Falling in Bank River. From the richness of the soil, the banks of this river frequently break, and fall into the steam; hence, it takes its name. This river comes from the south, and sixty miles before it arrives at Fort Pitt, it is two hundred yards wide. Several ferries are kept on it, though it may frequently be rode in the summer season. On each side of this river, along the creeks, are settlements amounting to many thousand inhabitants in the whole. In this new settlement, several houses for worship are already erected. It is truly pleasing to see the worship of God here, in a land so lately overspread with heathenish darkness and universal ignorance of God. Who could have expected such a change? But all things are possible with God. There is also a furnace, and iron-works, and glass house. The country along the Monongahela is very fertile, exceeding most to be met with in the eastern states. It is certain that part of it is too rich for wheat, though other parts produce it in profuse abundance. Corn and potatoes are raised to admiration. A gentleman of respectability at Muddy Creek said, that one large potato cut in several pieces, produced the first year, one bushel and a half; the second year the return was sixty-four bushels; neither was any manure used, for the earth is sufficiently strong without it. The timber, which consists of black and white oak, walnut, butternut, and wild cherry; indicates the fertility of the soil.
Tuesday 23 – Very early this morning we started, were detained about two hours before we could cross the Monongahela. Here I should mention an imposition on us by Mr. Scott a tavern keeper, if I thought him a man worthy so much notice. We travelled within three miles of Washington, put up at a private house, name unknown.
Wednesday 24 – Proceeded through Washington, which lies about 20 miles south of Fort-Pitt, still travelled through a country of rich uneven land, yet not stony nor mountainous; till we came within six miles of Charlestown in Virginia; here we lodged at the house of Francis McGuire, Esq. He is a member of the legislature of Virginia. We were entertained in the highest taste, made very welcome, and invitations to make that house our home whilst we tarried in the neighborhood.
Thursday 25 – It being on Christmas morning, we concluded not to travel father than Charlestown this day and look for our passage by water to Cincinnati; accordingly, after taking breakfast at Esq. McGuire’s, we started for Charlestown at about 10 o’clock A.M. We had not travelled to exceed three miles when we were called to by one Alex. Crawford to stop and help him drink some peach brandy, he repeating the words that “Christmas comes but once as year.” Here, he with true Yankee freedom interrogated us of our nativity, and our business; we with as much freedom informed him. His brother Mr. Edward Crawford said he knew of an opportunity of our getting in an Orleans boat, which he believed would start sometime the next day, and that he himself was going down in it about 30 miles to the Wegee Bottom. He said, if we would not think him too officious, he would at any rate, take his horse and ride with us to Charlestown, and help us get our passage; we all went and agreed for our passage, to start on Saturday. Charlestown is a beautiful little town on the south-east bank of the Ohio. It contains a courthouse, a house of worship and an academy. Mr. Edward Crawford insisted on our returning to his brother’s and taking a Christmas dinner; we returned, partook of a fine repast; accompanied Mr. E. Crawford to his own house and was not a little surprised to see the generosity of the two brothers; could only say “Christmas comes but once a year.”
Friday 26 – This morning we agreed with Mr. Crawford to keep our horse until our return. Spent the day in assisting the owners of the boat, and the day following. Nothing remarkable happened.
Sunday 28 – About 3 o’clock A.M. we took water for Cincinnati, Mr. Crawford along with us, landed at the Wegee Bottom. This was the first time in my life that I ever set foot on the Indian shore, and to do it justice I must say it is a very beautiful place. We partook of a fine repast at Mr. Crawford’s son-in-law. Mr. Crawford accompanied us no further.
Here it may not be amiss to describe our situation aboard the boat; The owners were Joseph Snodgrass and John Potts; Snodgrass appeared to be man of good sense and much inclined to argumentation; He held with myself, that the sun is not fire nor even a body of heat; but that the heat we received was only occasioned by the force of its rays; but contrary to my belief, he held, that by means of its rays, it diminished every day.
The owners had each of them a blanket, but as we had none, we had nothing to lie on but the wet bottom of the boat or barrels. Our furniture for cooking consisted of one tin quart measure, one bake kettle and three spoons. Our provisions were half a dozen fresh hams, a quarter of fresh beef, some hominy and some potatoes. This was owing to there being no necessary articles in Charlestown for sale.
Monday 29 – Had a pleasant warm day for sailing; saw much very good land on each side Ohio, especially about the mouth of the Muskingum.
Tuesday 30 – About two o’clock A.M. we were alarmed by the watch crying “all hands to the oars,” we immediately manned the oars, and experienced such a storm of wind as would make the heart of the stoutest sailor tremble. We were obliged to land and for safety we chose the Indian shore; this was the second time of my setting foot in the Northwestern Territory. As soon as daylight appeared I took a walk for some considerable distance, to view the country; nothing can exceed the richness of the soil: the timber chiefly black and white oak, black walnut, butternut, hickory, hard maple and sycamore. The wind continued to blow from the S.W. which made the river so rough, that most part of the day it was impossible to travel. Traders say, that the wind almost universally blows up [the] Ohio, especially in winter, nor do I remember it otherwise whilst on the river. This must be of great advantage to trade on this river. Perhaps it would puzzle the greatest philosopher to assign a natural cause for this; but it is plain, Providence has ordered it so. About 10 o’clock we made shift to get into the river again, but was` obliged to land again at about 1 o’clock P.M. four miles below the mouth of the Hockhocking. This is very beautiful country; perhaps no place on the Ohio exceeds it for goodness on all accounts. At about 3 o’clock the wind abated and we again proceeded on our way.
Wednesday 31 – We had a very pleasant day for sailing; viewed much good land on each side Ohio. This day too I saw Kentucky’s banks for the first time.
Thursday January 1, 1801 – This morning, as soon as the dawn ushered in, I was called on by the Captain to drink a toast for all aboard, which I did viz. “May liberty and equality, according to merit, universally prevail throughout the whole world,” which met the highest approbation of the Captain. This day the snow fell about two inches deep. We had a prospect of much good land; Kentucky side somewhat hilly. This night was very cold and tedious.
Friday 2 – Continued cold, yet the weather was not colder than our most moderate weather at Lake George. This day very early we passed the mouth of Scioto; no hill scarcely could be seen; this appeared to be as beautiful a country as anywhere in the world. We measured a grape vine that was twelve inches in diameter. This day also, we landed at Columbia, called on Judge Goforth, a gentleman from New York, and a man of good information: he treated us very politely; here we heard of our old acquaintance Mr. John Ferris; we returned to the boat and agreed to leave her; lodged this night at the widow Messer’s.
Saturday 3 – This morning, after a sweet night’s repose, we rose and took breakfast at Judge Goforth’s; after taking our leave we sat out to go and see our old friend before mentioned. The sun shone with unusual effulgence, the benignity which sat visible in the countenances of all with whom I conversed still heightened my imaginations, my heart expanded with joy at the beauty of this new world; when (but how it happened I cannot tell) I stopped at Major Still’s; Mrs. Still informed me my acquaintance Mr. Ferris was dead. Alas! How soon were my feelings changed, nature itself seemed to change her aspect! But why should I lament his death? His death was truly Christian! His death was magnanimous! His death was without fear! He died without remorse of conscience! He died with full assurance of a blest immortality!
The powers of his mind were strong from nature, but much improved by a judicious education and study. He relished with more than common satisfaction the writings of the ingenious. He was an entertaining companion; possessed with uncommon calmness of temper. He was an early advocate for liberty, and felt with keenest sensibility for the oppressed! Adieu.
January 27 and 28 – The weather was so warm that I taught school without a coat or fire in the schoolhouse.
February 12 – The snow fell about two inches deep and for several days the weather was cold and frosty. This was the first snow that fell after the first of January. No more snow fell this winter.
As a particular description of this north-western territory would be long and tedious, and swell this journal beyond its intended size, I shall content myself with giving the reader a general description, which I have obtained from gentlemen of veracity and information.
The country is in general level, nowhere mountainous, but gentle rises and descents, interspersed with innumerable rivulets and brooks, as if by art, that there be no deficiency in nature. In some places the winters are so mild that cattle need no fodder, and no where do they need much; It is said at Chillicothe, the present seat of government, that 5 cwt. of hay is more than sufficient to winter a cow.
The land is in general, of a rich black loam, producing all kinds of grain in the greatest plenty. Corn is raised to the admiration of all our eastern travelers; it is said to yield from 70 to 100 bushels per acre, and some say more. It produces wheat and rye, (when a little worn) beyond what is to be found in any of our New England States. Cotton is the natural production of the country. There is as great a variety of timber here, perhaps , as in any part of the world; it consists of white, black, yellow and Spanish oak, shagbark, and black walnut, hickory, butternut, black, white, and blue ash, hard and soft maple, cotton-tree, elm, Linn, cucumber tree, hackberry, sycamore, coffee-tree, etc. The coffee tree is the same as our imported mahogany, and bears a nut in taste much resembling our imported coffee. There are a few red cedars and pines in some places. Salt licks are to be found interspersed through the country: This must be considered by all as a peculiar blessing of Providence. The salt made from them is excellent, some of which I saw myself. Silver, copper, and lead mines are likewise found in plenty in many places. It is said that there is the richest and best copper mine on the Wabash that there is in the known world; and it is certain that there is silver and lead mines on the Scioto.
In some places a great plenty of coal pits are to be found; this will be in a short time of great advantage in making iron, as ore can easily be brought from the Allegheny Mountain. No country ever known exceeds this for game, and wild turkeys, it is universally allowed, are more plenty than the tame are in any of our eastern states; buffalo and deer are very plenty: the former of which are generally supposed to be the cattle made use of by the ancient inhabitants; there are likewise a great plenty of bears, wolves, foxes, raccoons, etc., etc. Excellent blue, red and white free stone and lime stone abound in many places. Prairies or natural meadows are numerous and some of them extensive; these yield grass spontaneously to the height of a man’s head, and some much higher; this land when tilled, produces wheat, rye, corn, oats, peas, barley, hemp, and flax in the most luxuriant plenty. Fruit trees of all kinds bear incredibly. The greatest curiosities of this country are old Forts and Mounds. I have seen the ruins of some of these Forts (the walls of which are 4 or 5 feet high) that contain ———————–. When or by whom they were built, tradition nor history gives any account; the trees on them are of equal size with the other timber. I have seen white oak trees on and within the walls of these Forts that were at least three feet in diameter. It is judges by the common way of computation, that these trees are 500 years old. The mounds or pyramids are in general about 20 feet base and about 15 feet high; yet there are some not so large, and some that are 20 feet base and 30 feet high. These mounds are filled with human bones, the size of which are very uncommon, such as was never known among Indians of our acquaintance: here are skull bones that will fill the largest crowned hat I ever saw; jaw bones that will completely set on over the largest visage, and from other bones in these mounds that are not entirely demolished, it is judged that there must have been men from 10 to 12 feet high, some say more. In these likewise are to be found, jugs, bottles, breast-plates, etc. Tradition gives no account of what race of beings these must have been, or when, or how, or in what manner they have been extinguished. It is however judged by some that they must have been of a giant race, and that some pestilence or war has swept them entirely off. However, it will forever remain a matter of wonder and admiration.
These mounds are all adjacent to the forts and nowhere else found.
The principal rivers, beginning at the eastern part of this territory, are the Muskingum, Hockhocking, Scioto, Miami, Wabash, and Illinois; the latter of which empties into the Mississippi, the other all empty into the Ohio. These universally abound with a great plenty of excellent fish: cat, carp, perch, and bass are the most numerous; the cat and bass it is said, often weigh from 30 to 80 lb. Besides these there are a great many more of less note.
By an ordinance of Congress this territory has been divided into two distinct governments; the line of division begins at the mouth of the big Miami, from thence follows the river to the head, thence to the mouth of the Miami of the Lakes. When either of these shall have 60,000 inhabitants, they are to be allowed to form their own constitution, provided it to be republican, and nothing in it repugnant to the federal constitution: they shall then be allowed to choose their own members of Congress, and have all the privileges of the other states. They are at present governed by a General Assembly and Legislative Council, without any guide to go by except a Governor appointed by Congress, who has the sole power of appointing judges during good behavior. By another act of Congress the land owned by the United States was exposed to public sale in April and May 1801: it could not be sold for less than two dollars per acre the one fourth in hand. What was not sold at public sale may now be had at private sale at two dollars per acre by paying the one-fourth down, the remainder in annual quarterly payments as before. This country is worthy of notice and justly admired and esteemed by all. Here the farmer will be more independent than in any other country, here he can raise all the necessaries of life and much more, here he can raise as good flax and hemp as are raised in any parts of Europe. The mulberry tree grows spontaneously and certainly the silk worm will flourish and do well; hence he may have plenty of silk. The industrious house wife by overseeing her domestics will cause the same to be manufactured. Here the fair sex will only be educated in the necessary accomplishments of life, science and arts will be the height of their ambition; each one will be emulous to excel in the polite art of making silks, linens, cambric, lawns, gauzes, etc. Here the industry of the fair will give elegancy at home, and fashions to the rest of the world.
April 12, 1801 – This day I left Mrs. Ferris and sat out for home; but to give the reader a particular description of the country through which I came, would swell this journal even to a volume. I shall only take notice of things which I think mostly merit our attention.
To observe the country I chose to go up the big Miami to Mad River, from thence to the forks of Scioto, etc. This day I rode through Hamilton on the big Miami containing about 40 elegant houses, and bids fair to be a place of great business; proceeded across the big Prairie, which is about 27 miles in length, and is divided near the middle by the Miami. Lodged at Mr. John Steele’s, a private house.
Monday 13 – I proceeded through Franklin, Dayton, followed Mad River to its source, struck across to Darby Rover, and on the 16th we came to Franklin, on the forks of Scioto. This town contains about 150 elegant houses, which have been all built within the space of two years.
Monday 20 – I arrived on the Muskingum, 60 miles N. of Ohio; this country is rather uneven yet not mountainous nor stony. The water here is equal to any in the world. The inhabitants are chiefly from the New England states. Here I tarried two days.
Tuesday 28 – This day early I crossed the Ohio, came to Mr. Edward Crawford’s in Charlestown, where I had left my horse when going down. Being unwell I tarried until Thursday.
Friday, May 1 – I arrived at Fort Pitt, now called Pittsburgh; this is a beautiful little town and a place of considerable business. It stands on the head of the Ohio, made by the junction of the rivers Monongahela which comes from the south, and the Allegheny which comes from the north.
Monday 4 – I arrived at Fort Franklin on the Allegheny and at the mouth of the French Creek, 68 miles north from Pittsburgh. The country in general is well adapted to the raising of wheat.
Thursday 7 – This morning I arrived at Fort Le Boeuf on French Creek. Le Boeuf is French and signifies fat cattle or moose; hence it takes its name. Here too are some excellent prairies. This day came to Colt’s station, a pretty little town called Greenfield, 13 miles S. of Lake Erie.
Friday 8 – I stored myself with provisions for three days, travelled to the S. bank of Lake Erie, lodged at Squire Robinson’s, about a mile west of New York line.
Saturday 9 – I had this morning to set out alone to travel 96 miles through the wilderness on the S. bank of the Lake. This, my reader, was a dreary journey.
Sunday 10 – Early this morning I met 170 cattle and 5 men bound for Presque Isle and New Connecticut. At about 10:00 o’clock I arrived at Cattaraugus, a large Indian settlement. The land on this river is much like that in the N.W Territory, and the land previous to this was, in general, very good for wheat. From this I had 36 miles to ride on the beach; in some places the high rocky banks were such that I was obliged to ride where the water was 4 or 5 feet deep. Lodged this night at an Indian camp – the Indians appeared very friendly.
Monday 11 – This morning I arrived at Buffalo Creek, near the mouth of the lake. This day I left my horse, crossed the lake to Fort Erie, spent the day with some British officers, returned at night.
Tuesday 14 – I arrived at Capt. Lawrence Townsend’s in New Jerusalem, commonly called Jemima Wilkinson’s settlement. Jemima Wilkerson is held by her adherents, 152 families, as a priestess and prophetess; they, in imitation of the Apostles and primitive Christians, hold all things in common, and in their conversation use the simple and undisguised style of the Quakers. Strange it is indeed, that this woman should have so many followers, who believe her sent from God, and capable of holding converse with celestial spirits!
Saturday, May 23 – This evening returned to Lake George, in good health, and found my family all enjoying the same blessing.
KENTUCKY is bounded N.W. by the Ohio, W. by Cumberland River and the State of Tennessee, S. by North Carolina, and E. by Sandy River, and a line drawn due S. from its source, which separates it from Virginia. This country was formed for opulence, for ease and for social happiness. From the richness of the soil, and the temperature of the climate, which exceeds any other of the United Sates, all the various grains and vegetables of the Atlantic States are raised here in profuse abundance; in many instances even to exceed credibility; wheat, rye, corn, oats, peas, barley, hemp, flax, and even cotton are raised to astonishment. It is asserted by gentlemen of veracity, that corn often exceeds one hundred bushels per acre. From the shortness of the winters, which are seldom more than two months, and never exceed three, and the soil being naturally inclined to grass, cattle are raised with greater ease and less expense than in the Northern States; and from the great plenty of corn, the farmer can and does keep his cattle, horses, sheep and hogs, continually fat throughout the whole year, which has enlarged their breed of domestic animals, and made them superior to those of most of the other states. It has been long thought the Silk Worm would flourish here, and experience for a few years past, proves the conjecture not to be ill-founded. The timber which appears to be the most natural to this state is the sugar tree, black and honey locust, white and black mulberry, and the paupaw; besides these, there are great quantities of other timber, which consists of wild cherry of a large size. “The buck-eye, an exceeding soft wood, is the horse chestnut of Europe. The magnolia bears a beautiful blossom, of a rich and exquisite fragrance. Such is the variety and beauty of the flowering shrubs and plants which grow spontaneously in this country that in the proper season the wilderness appears in blossom.”
As far as yet been discovered, the eastern part of the state lies upon a bed of solid limestone rock, in general about ten feet below the surface of the earth, except in valleys where the earth is not so deep. The northern part of this state, along the banks of the Ohio, in breadth from ten to 15 miles, is somewhat hilly; the other parts are agreeably uneven, gentle rises and descents at no great distance. The principal rivers are the Sandy, Licking, Kentucky, Salt, Green, and Cumberland. “These again branch in various directions, into rivulets of different magnitudes, fertilizing the country in all its parts.”
Springs of the greatest note are “the higher and lower blue-springs, on Licking River — the big-bone-lick, Drenson’s lick, and Bullet’s lick, at Saltsburg.” The last of these licks has supplied this country with salt at a low price. Besides these, there are three others of the bitumen kind, they form no stream but empty into one common reservoir: The oil gathered from them answers all the purposes of the best train oil; and it is thought to be efficacious for the rheumatism, sprains, bruises, and the asthma or shortness of breath, scald-heads and burns. The common way of gathering this oil is by sinking a blanket or piece of flannel, and ringing it over a tub or kettle.
Nature has been very bountiful in furnishing Kentucky with some of the greatest curiosities ever known. The high perpendicular banks of Kentucky and Dick’s river certainly claim a superior rank among the natural curiosities of the world: Here the eye of the traveler beholds, with astonishment, a rock of 3 or 400 feet perpendicular, appearing like an artificial canal, in some parts of the limestone kind, and in others of fine marble and curious strata.
The banks of the rivers are covered with large red-cedar groves.
The caves of Kentucky are considered by all as the most remarkable phenomena; no one as I have ever heard has yet attempted to say whether they are the work of art or of nature. These caves are between two and three miles in length in solid limestone rock, and about 12 or 15 feet high, supported by curious pillars and arches; they have in all cases perpendicular sides for about 4 feet with a platform, then that widens to about 5 feet, then perpendicular to the top, and as smooth as if polished by the most curious artificer. They are three in number, and have all wells or springs and subterraneous brooks that pass through them. They are made use of, in the summer season, by the inhabitants living near, as storehouses for butter, meat, etc. The next thing which claims our attention is the sink or deep spring a little west of Big Licking.
This is 75 fathom deep, and about 18 inches diameter at the top. It was found in the year 1798, by a gentleman looking hogs after a light snow; he tracked one that accidentally fell into it. He immediately made a platform, and erected a curb, and from this spring drew, perhaps, the coldest water that ever came from the bowels of the earth.
But as to social happiness nature has here been counteracted: Here are inhabitants boasting Christianity, boasting independence, boasting Liberty and Equality, boasting republicanism, whilst, at the same time, they are, themselves, tyrants and despots; degrading one part of the human species below that of brutes, and denying that they have human feelings, whilst they themselves live in affluence and ease. Oh! How I do blush, whilst I relate facts that are incredible to all, who have not been eye witness of them. Here it is common to see those pretended patriots, all frantic with rage, drag from among their affrighted slaves, one of them trembling and naked, bind both his hands with a cord, stretch him up, until his feet will but just touch the ground, bind both his feet in like manner, crowd a heavy rail between his legs, to prevent his wreathing; then with oaths, that one would think would frighten even the infernal spirits, begin by applying the hickory or cow skin, until there is not a piece of skin, even the width of your finger, from his shoulders to his hips; all the while the poor wretch cries, “for lord Jesus sake, pray don’t master, pray don’t master.” But this imp of the furies, as if hell was not satisfied with pain, without exquisite torment, prepares a cup of fine salt and applies it to the wounds, this makes the poor victim of his rage lament in the most piteous tone of voice, as if ready to expire; but his hard hearted master, callous to pity, again applies the whip; this is called pickling. O poor wretches! How often have I shed tears of compassion for your sakes without being able to relieve you. O ye inhabitants of the southern states! How can you hope for mercy, when you yourselves do not show it? “He that admits no right but force, no justice but superior violence, arms every man against himself, and justifies all excesses. If it be lawful to enjoy because we can; if we may seize the property of another, insult his person, or force him to labor for our luxuries or caprice, merely because he is weaker; this principle will be equally fatal to ourselves.” It justifies your slaves, the instant they become the stronger, in taking you, your wives and children, and separate you from each other, force you to labor to the music of whips and chains, from 4 o’clock in the morning till 8 at night, without refreshment but a little Indian meal and water, half naked (yes on some plantations quite naked) half-starved and cooped up together at night in a cold, dirty hovel, covered with “wounds, bruises, and purifying sores:” robbed of everything that is dear; flogged for praying, and tortured for preaching consolation to your fellow sufferers; and after having exhausted your youth in servitude, you are abandoned in old age, to wretchedness and disease. This is not an exaggerated statement of the case, but a real and true representation of things as they are in Kentucky and some of the other southern states of America, in the year 1801. O shame! Where hast thou fled!
“Oh most degrading of all ills that waits
On man, a mourner in his best estate,
All other sorrows virtue may endure,
And find submission more than half a cure.
Grief is itself a medicine, and bestowed
To improve the fortitude that bears a load;
To teach the wanderer, as his woes increase,
The paths of wisdom – all whose paths are peace.
But Slavery, virtue dreads it as her grave,
Patience itself is meanness in a slave,
Nature imprints upon whatever we see
That has a heart and life in it — BE FREE!”
The author would not be understood to represent that there are no sincere Christians in Kentucky – he believes there are many who sincerely worship God – who in their hearts disdain tyranny and oppression, and disapprove of Slavery, yet they are the minority. Slavery is chiefly carried on among the Virginia and Carolina Settlers.
I have said nice things about many of the tech leaders who sat down in a secret meeting with the GOP establishment to scheme ways of destroying Donald Trump’s run for president. I still think what they are doing is important work for the future of our economy. But, they are not bastions of conservative principles and I find it very strange that they’d be included in a meeting with people like Mitch McConnell, Karl Rove and many others plotting an end to Donald Trump. This only supports what I have said many, many times—the people running the Republican Party, are not very conservative. They are easily swayed by the currents of finance and if those currents trend toward liberalism—then they adopt those positions to protect their party and their role in it as benefactors. When news broke of this secret meeting, I found the information extremely disrespectful of the American electorate. Not that it surprised me—I have been writing about such motivations for years. However, in the back of my mind I did hope to be wrong. The reality is quite the opposite—even more so than even the most conspiratorial mind could previously fathom. The GOP is far more corrupt than anybody thought and the situation is dire.
Not to put Donald Trump down, but I’d vote for a venereal diseased whore giving speeches for president topless and in a G-string at this point if she called herself a Republican—because at least she would be from the private sector. Even though her profession is illegal, she at least would understand money to some degree and how it’s made. Such a disgusting person would be better than the crop of politicians the GOP has been handing us for decades. Yet with quite a lot of presumption, they wish to rule us through an aristocratic commitment to a Party that has European foundations toward collectivism—and in America—it’s quite disgusting. Speaking for myself, I recognize no person on planet earth or in the entire Milky Way galaxy as my “better.” I recognize no king, no authority that is supreme to my individual integrity. Nothing is bigger than me—which to many may sound preposterous—especially with religious backgrounds. But it is the proper way to understand our role in this universe. Our minds are far more important than anything thing a black hole or celestial orbit might produce and it’s about time that Republicans learn that at the heart of conservative value and Constitutional principle is the preservation of the pronoun “I.” They often confuse the issue with religion which sways often into the fray of socialism, meekness, and putting bigger things ahead of individual identity. This is a failure in philosophy—which has not properly divided up religion and politics in the minds of mankind in spite of the founding fathers insisting on a separation of church and state for the very reasons that the Republican aristocracy uses both to hold themselves into power.
Trump is the perfect candidate for this new century and it gave me great satisfaction to watch him defend his record against Mitt Romney by holding a press conference to accept his winnings of Michigan and Mississippi offering members of the press high-priced mementos of his very successful life to take home with them. The whole situation reminded me of one of my favorite movies of all time, Tucker: A Man and His Dream.In that film Tucker was threatening the Big Three auto manufacturers with a much more advanced automobile at the time. Senator Ferguson set out to destroy Tucker for bringing harm through unwanted competition to GM, Ford and Chrysler. The Karl Rove meeting with top tech industry people who certainly lean liberal is the kind of stuff which indicates massive corruption and Trump had to do something to get out ahead of it. In the movie Tucker the hero of the story Preston played by Jeff Bridges had to deal with false reports that his car was a danger to the public, that it underperformed and that Tucker had misled investors with a massive scam. Tucker had no other option, so he took his prototype car out onto the streets and picked a fight with the police—forcing them into a car chase. Tucker’s highly advanced car ran circles around the police cars embarrassing them intensely. Tucker ended the chase by surrendering himself to the police at the police station in front of a mob of press who had witnessed the entire event. The public had witnessed that Tucker wasn’t a fraud the way the media had reported it, and the point was made.
To watch Trump after all that has been said about him, and all the millions of dollars in negative ads attacking him, point to the products that supposedly didn’t exist and offer them to the press was a Preston Tucker moment—and it was very stylish. Trump has such a large empire of business holdings that he doesn’t even consider little things like those products criticized to be a big deal. He owns them to facilitate his organization with internalized branding. If he sold them in local grocery stores it would cheap their value—they are part of the exclusivity he offers his customers. The people critical of him can’t even remotely compare themselves to his achievements. It’s laughable. And the debate format traditionally favors “back of the train types” (see the metaphysics of quality)—people who know what’s on the train and have memorized ways of regurgitating the information. Trump is a “front of the train” type, someone who moves fast, takes very few notes but remembers most everything, and delegates tasks to the best people he can manage to recruit. That’s how he’s been so successful. Politicians can’t understand that type of person. They only know how to give speeches to extract money from wealthy people in the form of donations. Trump, in 2016 has given so much money to so many politicians from both sides over the years, he finally just decided to do things himself because they were so ineffective. And that terrifies everyone who has made good livings off that corrupt system. If Trump succeeds the whole game of politics changes forever—there will be many copy cat-sub-retired executives who will follow in the wake and they will do a much, much better job at managing resources than the political class for years has—and that is something to cheer for. Again Trump is not to be compared with a mindless slut, but such a low-grade woman would do a better job at managing the country than ANYONE from the political class—anyone in that meeting with Karl Rove—because at least they know and understand how to make money by providing a service as opposed to the political class that is just in the business of begging for it and giving nothing in return.
The Big Three fought Tucker hard, pushing him out of business. Tucker did build the cars he promised, but his funding ran out, and he almost went to jail over the issue after Senator Ferguson drove him into a tough court case over fraud to protect his donors. It took twenty to thirty years for the Big Three to adopt the technical innovations that Tucker proposed in those delicate years between World War II and 1950. Eventually, they had no choice and of course they took all the credit leaving only history buffs to remember Preston Tucker. Nikola Tesla could tell a similar story. The political class of 2016 is trying to hold off innovation for their own protection. They are resisting the political innovation that the public is demanding to preserve the power it gives them. Trump is the biggest threat to them that they have because he will make the job look easy and others will see, and the end of their way of life will emerge. That is what they are so terrified of. Trump as he announced at his Florida press conference has an impressive résumé and since it has come into question, he has a right to defend it—which he did with a lot of style—and a measured amount of grace. Trump has expanded the Republican base, he has withstood all the incoming that a single person could expect to endure, and he is still winning. And he is by far more conservative than many of the Republican establishment types—as the proof of the meeting participants exhibits quite brightly. But they have been caught. Trump has been the perfect presidential candidate for the GOP, he’s a winner, he is great with the press, he can expand the base, market the party—if the goal was conservativism—Trump is perfect. Constitutional purists the Republican Party isn’t—going behind the people’s back the way they did to destroy a candidate—that is not how a Constitutional Republic functions. There is no way Ted Cruz can fight these guys off—he just doesn’t have the tools in the tool box. But what Trump did was get the establishment to show all their cards and the public has responded. And Trump had a reason to smile a little bit and take a victory lap. Tucker tried it years ago on a smaller stage—but he eventually failed. Trump has succeeded where nobody else has in history. And that is something to be proud of no matter what side of politics someone might happen to be on.
There is some debate about whether or not Chuck Yeager actually put the following endorsement of Donald Trump up on his Facebook account. Yeager is someone I personally admire, and I’ve been a fan of him for most of my life. He’s certainly one of the greatest American heroes we have, not only as a World War II ace fighter pilot, but as a test pilot, most spectacularly being the first person to break the speed of sound. Reading this endorsement it sounded like him. But, he is a military man, and I can see a scenario where he might have posted it but was told to take it down for all the same reasons that Mitt Romney came out against Donald Trump. Regardless of its authenticity, it does make a very compelling case in favor of Donald Trump and is worth consideration ahead of the upcoming statewide primaries across the nation. I’m inclined to believe that Chuck Yeager believes what is aforementioned written, but the words are worth their weight free of official endorsement because they capture the essence quite well of what the Donald Trump phenomena is really about. God bless the World War II generation for their logic and resolve.
Chuck Yeager’s endorsement is printed below, in full.
Donald Trump……..who he REALLY is….The criticisms of Trump are amazingly missing something. They are lacking in negative stories from those who work for him or have had business dealings with him. After all the employees he’s had and all the business deals he’s made there is a void of criticism. In fact, long term employees call him a strong and merciful leader and say he is far more righteous and of high integrity than people may think.
And while it may surprise many, he’s actually humble when it comes to his generosity and kindness. A good example is a story that tells of his limo breaking down on a deserted highway outside of New York City. A middle-aged couple stopped to help him and as a thank you he paid off their mortgage, but he didn’t brag about that. Generous and good people rarely talk of charity they bestow on others. But as much as all this is interesting, the real thing that people want to know is what Donald Trump’s plan is for America. It’s funny how so many people say they don’t know what it is, or they act like Trump is hiding it. The information is readily available if people would just do a little homework. But, since most Americans won’t do their own research, here, in no particular order, is an overview of many of Trump’s positions and plans:
1.) Trump believes that America should not intervene militarily in other country’s problems without being compensated for doing so. If America is going to risk the lives of our soldiers and incur the expense of going to war, then the nations we help must be willing to pay for our help. Using the Iraq War as an example, he cites the huge monetary expense to American taxpayers (over $1.5 trillion, and possibly much more depending on what sources are used to determine the cost) in addition to the cost in human life. He suggests that Iraq should have been required to give us enough of their oil to pay for the expenses we incurred. He includes in those expenses the medical costs for our military and $5 million for each family that lost a loved one in the war and $2 million for each family of soldiers who received severe injuries.
2.) Speaking of the military, Trump wants America to have a strong military again. He believes the single most important function of the federal government is national defense. He has said he wants to find the General Patton or General MacArthur that could lead our military buildup back to the strength it needs to be. While he hasn’t said it directly that I know of, Trump’s attitude about America and about winning tells me he’d most likely be quick to eliminate rules of engagement that handicap our military in battle. Clearly Trump is a “win at all costs” kind of guy, and I’m sure that would apply to our national defense and security, too.
3.) Trump wants a strong foreign policy and believes that it must include 8 core principles (which seem to support my comment in the last point): American interests come first. Always. No apologies. Maximum firepower and military preparedness. Only go to war to win. Stay loyal to your friends and suspicious of your enemies. Keep the technological sword razor sharp. See the unseen. Prepare for threats before they materialize. Respect and support our present and past warriors.
4.) Trump believes that terrorists who are captured should be treated as military combatants, not as criminals like the Obama administration treats them.
5.) Trump makes the point that China’s manipulation of their currency has given them unfair advantage in our trade dealings with them. He says we must tax their imports to offset their currency manipulation, which will cause American companies to be competitive again and drive manufacturing back to America and create jobs here. Although he sees China as the biggest offender, he believes that America should protect itself from all foreign efforts to take our jobs and manufacturing. For example, Ford is building a plant in Mexico and Trump suggests that every part or vehicle Ford makes in Mexico be taxed 35% if they want to bring it into the U. S., which would cause companies like Ford to no longer be competitive using their Mexican operations and move manufacturing back to the U. S., once again creating jobs here.
6.) Trump wants passage of NOPEC legislation (No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act – NOPEC – S.394), which would allow the government to sue OPEC for violating antitrust laws. According to Trump, that would break up the cartel. He also wants to unleash our energy companies to drill domestically (sound like Sarah Palin’s drill baby, drill?) thereby increasing domestic production creating jobs and driving domestic costs of oil and gas down while reducing dependence on foreign oil.
7.) Trump believes a secure border is critical for both security and prosperity in America. He wants to build a wall to stop illegals from entering put controls on immigration. (And he says he’ll get Mexico to pay for the wall, which many have scoffed at, but given his business successes I wouldn’t put it past him.) He also wants to enforce our immigration laws and provide no path to citizenship for illegals.
8.) Trump wants a radical change to the tax system to not only make it better for average Americans, but also to encourage businesses to stay here and foreign businesses to move here. The resulting influx of money to our nation would do wonders for our economy. He wants to make America the place to do business. He also wants to lower the death tax and the taxes on capital gains and dividends. This would put more than $1.6 trillion back into the economy and help rebuild the 1.5 million jobs we’ve lost to the current tax system. He also wants to charge companies who outsource jobs overseas a 20% tax, but for those willing to move jobs back to America they would not be taxed. And for citizens he has a tax plan that would allow Americans to keep more of what they earn and spark economic growth. He wants to change the personal income tax to:
Up to $30,000 taxed at 1% From $30,000 to $100,000 taxed at 5%From $100,000 to $1,000,000 taxed at 10%$1,000,000 and above taxed at 15%
9.) Trump wants Obamacare repealed. He says it’s a “job-killing, health care-destroying monstrosity” that “can’t be reformed, salvaged, or fixed.” He believes in allowing real competition in the health insurance marketplace to allow competition to drive prices down. He also believes in tort reform to get rid of defensive medicine and lower costs.
10.) Trump wants spending reforms in Washington, acknowledging that America spends far more than it receives in revenue. He has said he believes that if we don’t stop increasing the national debt once it hits $24 trillion it will be impossible to save this country. Even though he says we need to cut spending, he does not want to harm those on Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security. He believes that the citizens have faithfully paid in to the system to have these services available and that the American government has an obligation to fulfill its end of the bargain and provide those benefits. Therefore, he wants to build the economy
It is very interesting that one of the biggest faults being leveled at Donald Trump for president is that he is willing to compromise and make deals from the Executive Office and that makes him in the eyes of establishment Republicans–untrustworthy. Given the nature of our Republic, that is the means of managing our government–negotiations. Ted Cruz on the other hand represents an uncompromising approach to upholding the Constitution—which sounds great on the surface, but as he says, the Washington “Cartel” has no interest in the Constitution, and will simply outmaneuver him at every juncture would he be in the White House instead of Trump. That is why I say that Cruz would be perfect for a 2024 run, but Trump is perfect now—because Trump has the skills to come out on top in the current deal making culture that embodies modern Washington. Cruz needs to have some things fixed before he could be effective. Essentially, the party rule that is currently in place on both sides needs to end—before someone like Cruz could be effective in the White House. In its present form, Cruz would be paralyzed by the bureaucracy.
The most epic condition of compromise and coming out on the bad side of a deal was Ohio’s very own Governor Kasich and Speaker of the House John Boehner who went golfing with President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. The Republican Party was essentially neutered in that exchange leaving neither Boehner nor Kasich able to do anything against Obama after it. I expect deals to be made in Washington. Our own Constitution was written by making deals between the Anti-Federalists and the Federalists—with Alexander Hamilton coming out mostly on top giving us the Constitution that Ted Cruz reveres so fervently to this day. Later the Bill of Rights was added to appease the Jeffersonian Anti-Federalists because the Constitution didn’t go far enough and they screamed and pushed until somebody listened.
I’m a pretty rigid person—I stick to my guns on things. But I also negotiate a lot. I work with professionals intensely at times, I negotiate around my community, within our family—dealing with children is a constant negotiation—(you can have this if you do that….etc.) But I most of the time get exactly what I want out of the situation. I know where my inner bar is set and what parameters I can live with—which is the benchmark of sales ability. Ted Cruz apparently is missing that. Honesty is a wonderful trait so long as the people you are dealing with don’t want to play any games—but the human race is currently addicted to games and that is unlikely to change anytime within the next thousand years—so the skills needed to lead a capitalist country like America swarming with socialist sympathizers, aggressive global banks, and clandestine terrorists are elements that must be well represented in the White House. And Trump is the only guy in centuries able to even come close to performing such a tricky job. The other one that I can think of was Andrew Jackson, whom even though he was a Democrat, I think a lot of. He did many things wrong, but he had a swagger that was uniquely American and he paid down the debt. Trump reminds me of that type of potential president—which after all the cross-fire and debate, helped make America one of the greatest countries on earth. We wouldn’t have Florida if not for Jackson, and likely would have lost the War of 1812. American needs charismatic characters in the White House once again to rebuild the Republican brand, because right now, that brand is terrible. And before everyone says that Jackson was a racist and was vile, understand that Woodrow Wilson, the progressive hero was far worse. Understand history before placing characters from the past into present context.
I am not disturbed at all by The Washington Times secret tapes. Trump cannot be literal in anything he does because in his mind he knows where his margins are. Do the American people deserve to know where those margins are—traditionally yes? But under the circumstances of our present condition, where you can’t trust politicians or understand what their real motivations are—or trust the media and the hit groups behind them which fund everything—information in this day and age has to be somewhat obscure. It’s a game that has to be played—and the only people you can trust are people who have actually done things. With Trump, I can see the things he’s built. I see his nice family, and that is résumé enough for me. I have a pretty good idea where his margins are based on what he produces. As it stands for instance our immigration policy is an open sore that is guided by George Soros policies. That effort has to be undermined by a really good negotiator who can convince a majority of congress, the senate, and the media of its relevance. A good salesman knows that there is no chance of that happening unless the other party thinks it can get something out of it. Trump knows that the best way to negotiate is to start off with a strong position that scares that crap out of everyone, then working back from that position to make the other side think it got something out of the deal. In reality, Trump gets what he wants, which is an enforceable immigration policy and people will eventually be happy with it—as opposed to the Ted Cruz method which is to draw a line in the sand and force a floor battle over budgets and policy that just angers everyone—and gets nothing done at all. Good management often requires this constant back and force in negotiations, and a good manager knows where to set their high points and how to achieve at their margin without breaking the other side. Optimally, the other side will feel like they got something out of the deal and everyone walks away happy.
I know this game—but I am surprised that more people in politics don’t understand it. It could be said that they don’t know it out of convenience. But after watching the barrage of establishment Republicans berate Donald Trump over the last couple weeks—after the Super Tuesday wins made it very evident that he was really in a position to win the nomination—I was convinced that they really are just stupid. For that reason, they shouldn’t even be in public office. Ted Cruz is a legal mind, and we certainly don’t need people like that negotiating anything. They’ve been doing it for years and they lack the imagination to set a bar at a high mark that they can work to a margin to show compromise. It sounds good on a campaign trail to tell people you won’t compromise, but the Cruz rigidity has given him no ground as a senator to work from. He has no allies, and as a President members of his own party will defy him just to spite him. I think Cruz would have the best of intentions but we all know the path to hell is always paved with good intentions. Personally, I don’t want any more paths to hell. I want a president who knows how to win negotiations domestically, and internationally.
What I want out of a president is a guy who can golf with a couple of politicians and win for a change at the real game being played—the negotiations on position. I was so embarrassed by Kasich and Boehner because they were out-witted by a guy so inept, and has no background in achievement, that they came out looking like fools. Kasich and Boehner came away from that famous golf game licking the feet of Barack Obama. I want a guy on the Republican side who can turn those tables for a change, and leave Democrats thanking Trump for all his hospitality afterwards—for expanding the economy, enforcing immigration, opening up the Second Amendment, getting rid of Common Core, and many other things—then stripping down naked to sell their cloths to a charity that Melania Trump is hosting—then thanking the couple and asking for another chance to give their very shirts off their backs again. That is how Trump will win where Cruz will just create more government gridlock.
You know the situation is dire when the Republican Establishment is dying for Ted Cruz over Donald Trump—even after Cruz had called them essentially an organized crime syndicate. They figure that they can at least stand up to Cruz and make him appear ineffective—and punish voters for going in his direction. But with Trump—they can’t deal with a private sector guy in the White House. Trump would change their culture and that is something that terrifies them. And what we’d end up getting as a result would be so much more than we have right now paving the way for a true Constitutional Republic in the aftermath.
When playing this kind of chess, you sometimes have to think not just four or five moves ahead, but four of five games ahead. That is what is needed to beat these establishment types. This election with Trump is only game one—and we need a lot more victories than one. We need to start winning for the next 100 years. People need to start thinking bigger and working toward those goals with an understanding of how the game is played. This isn’t checkers. It’s certainly chess. Ted Cruz and the rest of the GOP are playing checkers.
It continues to be astonishing how limited most people view the world. They look at a guy like Donald Trump and think that he’s only about rhetoric and bombastic WWF type speech—but fail to comprehend that in private he’s extremely articulate and serious. As seen during the Super Tuesday speech from Florida he can switch from a big time wrestler in the arena of life to a stoic presidential candidate really in the blink of an eye. Even as you are probably reading this, the presidential debate for the Republican party from Michigan is proceeding and again Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are lashing out with everything they have to try to knock Trump down—but the billionaire business mogul and entertainer has now seen the lay of their strategy and he’s prepared. Like any great strategist you must always get your enemies to reveal their plans and Rubio certainly did that in the days leading up to the debate. He put his whole game plan out in public for Trump to analyze and develop a strategy against. And now all that hard work is showing not to Rubio’s advantage.
Smartly, Trump has left Cruz relatively untouched pulling away all the establishment vote heading into the more mainstream states which Cruz isn’t playing out so well in forcing Rubio and Cruz to fight each other just for the possibility of getting delegates. Meanwhile Trump does his thing and continues to rack up respectable endorsements at key times leaving everyone else in the field to fight like dogs over his scraps. The Trump campaign has been brilliant providing a gift to establishment Republicans. They should consider themselves lucky that he’s on their team. They could learn a lot from him.
This all points to a showdown in Florida on March 15th which will likely put a stake through the heart of Rubio—I’m sure the fight will be hard, but it won’t be enough. There will be fights elsewhere and only Trump can cover them all with his private 757 and boundless energy. All the Superpacs in the world can’t outspend him and these days people flip through DVR recordings of their favorite television shows not hearing all the smear campaigns against Trump. Trump is the content that people scan through commercials to get to—and traditional politicians have not yet figured that out. But people do see his 757 flyovers and the big crowds on news reports and that is something the other candidates just can’t do—because they are not as personally successful as Trump has been. The Trump campaign is re-writing all the old rules and nobody is prepared for them. Rubio and Kasich are still using the old ones, and they are failing gradually.
The David Duke situation with Trump was clearly carefully calculated by him to lure his opponents into an easy kill. Trump denounced the KKK leader on a Friday night then stumbled through a question about Duke on Saturday provoking Cruz and Rubio to sense blood in the water—but it was blood Trump poured in—and they ended up looking petty and foolish for making much about nothing causing them to cry wolf one too many times. And that realization is present on the Detroit debate stage—a desperation in chasing after the wrong bait—this is the difference between a hardened professional—which Trump is—and a career politician who has learned to be skilled in raising money for the party—but not much else. Someone like Rubio can say all the right things but he’s powerless to implement anything. Cruz knows how to draw a line in the sand and not cross it, but often he’ll be the only one standing there. Trump is right, someone has to have the skill to draw a line and convince everyone to come over to where he drew it and cross it on his terms. Trump has a long history of that and he’s showing the Republican Party that presently.
The establishment showed from the outset a grim resistance to Trump but by March 15th most of them will be moving over into the Trump camp because everyone loves a winner. Trump will be doing the same type of thing to the rest of the world, with China, with Russia, the Middle East, South America, Mexico—everywhere. The trick of a good salesman is to achieve all your goals by making the customer feel privileged into accepting your parameters of success. Everyone in the beginning of a negotiation has their own vantage point—but by the end—the more successful salesman has to get everyone into their version of that success. That is what Trump is doing to the Republican Party—which has needed to happen for a long time. Once Trump wins the presidency, he’ll do it to the rest of the world convincing them to eat out of the hand of America—and they’ll thank us for it. That is the big difference between years past and years yet to come.
It should have been clear to all Republicans on Super Tuesday. But Rubio represents the old school politicians who think all this ability Trump has is a con game. They are like the European idiots who thought the world was flat in 1492—even though many had figured out that it was in fact round. There is a method of politics that has not yet been discovered that will greatly favor Republicans—but they do not yet understand it. Trump has been exhibiting it—but they don’t yet comprehend how it works. However, they will in time begin to see it. Trump will do what he does, he’ll create a whirlwind in Ohio and Florida that will culminate by March 15th and the spill over into other states will likely secure his nomination. All the old schoolers will be left looking at each other dumbfounded. When people ask how Trump will build a wall between Mexico and the United States making them pay for it—this is precisely how it will be done. Mexico will by the time all is said and done be thanking Donald Trump for letting them help build a wall. To lesser minds they may think this is the work of a con artist—because they don’t understand the skill. But, to those who know better, that is the work of an extremely skilled professional negotiator. And that is why Donald Trump will be a fantastic president.
Not that it’s a massive government conspiracy, but such tragedies do play a role in the desire of all government workers to expand their influence with inflated drama in times of crises. The shooting at Madison Junior/Senior High School in Ohio—virtually in my backyard, is just such an example—which was a very minor incident that garnered national press. Here is how USA Today reported the issue.
Four students were injured and a 14-year-old boy was in custody Monday following a shooting at a high school in Butler County, Ohio, authorities said.
Madison Junior/Senior High School remained in lockdown for a short while, but all students were safe, the school said in a statement on its Facebook page. None of the injuries was life-threatening, the statement said.
Two students were struck by gunshots and two were injured by either shrapnel or while trying to get out-of-the-way, Butler County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer said. The shooting took place in the school’s cafeteria.
All schools in the district in Butler County’s Madison Township were placed on lockdown, which was lifted shortly after 12:45 p.m. Roads to the school quickly backed up with parents and relatives trying to get to the school to pick up students.
Bob Hollister, of Trenton, whose grandson attends the school, said he had been sitting in his daughter’s van for about 45 minutes when the lockdown was lifted. He has another grandchild in grade school. He described the morning as “chaotic.”
When he first arrived, Hollister said he saw police with shotguns and assault rifles.
Seriously, assault weapons—school lockdowns, and general crises and mayhem—over essentially a couple of kids having a fight? Sure a gun was involved, but it was a relatively harmless conflict that could have been resolved quickly and without so much fanfare. The kids weren’t killed and the shooter had much more systemic problems to deal with which provoked him to resort to a firearm to inflict harm that all the adults around him obviously missed and didn’t take the time to diffuse leaving all the public officials running around patting themselves on the back for being nearby and making much more of the incident to garner more national attention. Honestly, the case should have been diffused in the media as it was within moments with the on-site cop. The threat neutralized—which it was. And that should have been the end of it. Everyone should have stayed in class. All the schools should have remained open. Sheriff Jones shouldn’t have even been on the radio talking about the issue with Bill Cunningham on 700 WLW dramatizing the issue like it was the end of the world. Everyone wanted to be a hero as the situation was clearly blown up to make it part of a national effort by progressives to demonize guns and install fear into the weak.
Just a few days earlier I was doing some shooting with some people who don’t spend much time around guns. I was displaying my Cowboy Fast Draw set-up and how the wax bullets work in target shooting and everyone wanted to know if the gun was real. When I explained that the .45 Vaquero that I was using was in fact a real gun that would feed real bullets in its current form a slight fear washed over the observers. That fear was totally unfounded, but was put there by a media culture that has taken issues like this Madison Junior/Senior High School shooting and blown them out of proportion to inflict negative opinion against firearms for the progressive aims of banning them. Every little issue where shootings come up is highlighted to drive the point home and feed that fear into people not privy to their frequent use. This shooting at Madison was so small it shouldn’t have been reported outside of the immediate media market—because it was essentially a non story—a dispute among teenagers. But because it happened in a public school and the public police force needed to justify themselves—much more was made of the issue for the benefit of marketing government services to the public at the expense of Second Amendment freedom.
The fault of the issue is in the parents who obviously did not have control of their child and allowed the kid to think it was OK to take a gun to school and shoot some other kids. Somewhere the parenting broke down to allow the incident to occur, and that is the root cause of the tragedy. But since government has for many years designed their public school system to triumph over parenting leaving neither party to do the job very well—as parents now defer the responsibility to the schools and schools when something like this goes wrong on their watch defer to the parents—kids are raised by media to copy off movies, music, video games, and every panic driven estrogen laced diatribe on the nightly news. There is no mystery why this 14-year-old shot some kids at a school—it’s because he had terrible parents—and the school fostering peer pressure incessantly missed the opportunity to let some steam off the situation before something like this happened.
Parents of the Middletown School system were even more embarrassing. Many showed up to rescue their children from the clutches of danger imprinting on the minds of the youth forever the anxiety of that tragic day on a leap year February. What they should have done was explained to their children that there was nothing to fear, the situation was solved within minutes of the shooting. But the parents were guilty themselves of making too much of the situation because they wanted to go back to their offices and bloviate how their children were involved in a mass school shooting so that they could garner some sympathy and secret need for attention. The parents behaved abysmally.
Everyone abused the situation without diagnosing the cause of the quandary. Instead the situation was perpetuated for the furtherance of statism in all its grotesque forms seeking to profit off the misery of a diabolical tragedy. At the conclusion of the news cycle on the story guns were made to be feared even more, acceptance of more police presence in our lives made more fashionable, and schools had a chance to show themselves as the umbrellas of safety and decision herding around a bunch of panicky ill-equipped parents under the authority of the “state.” And the forces of government expansion had a field day exposing the misery of a small town school and a fight between a few teenagers for the furtherance of statism through a gradual decline of the American love of firearms. The whole scene showed why most people just aren’t intellectually equipped to manage a constitutional republic—and that is the fault of our public education system.
When someone asks for a plan what they are essentially dong is demanding a report that their minds can follow. Plans are good to have to define a strategic objective, but someone like Trump knows that you can’t fall in love with anything because lots of other people have to provide their input from their perspective. By the time that happens and everyone arrives at some sort of consensus a “plan” will change a lot, and a lot of valuable time will have gone by—which is why government has such a difficult time accomplishing anything substantial–ever.
I can say from personal experience that when someone has asked “what’s your plan” it is a code term for a second-hander who wants to loot the effort of people who have a superior mind and perspective so that they can feel included in the process. People at the front of the train know where they are going. They are the bold daredevils who make the world work. People at the back are the cowards who perpetually plan so that they can pretend to be a part of the process. They can provide some value, but often they aren’t worth the cost of extracting it. Someone like Trump moves very fast from the top of his companies. He identified the problem with health care insurance and he intends to solve it with a free market solution—similar to what happened when phone companies were deregulated. Insurance companies today are very similar to how the phone companies used to operate. Once deregulation was introduced the path toward the modern cell phone was created and prices dropped along with all kinds of options that we presently enjoy.
Out there not yet invented is the iPhone of health insurance but to get to it you have to trust free market capitalism to extract it. There is no plan that can arrive at that destination—because nobody yet knows who will be the inventor. But experience understands that when you take away the regulations to an idea that free market solutions emerge and opportunities are thus created. Trump’s plan on health care is actually the best one out of all the candidates in the GOP—his plan is to get government out-of-the-way and let the free market create a solution. Then he is planning on some kind of spill over tax that will assist those lacking means to get the care they need because the profits will be so extremely good that the less fortunate will have access by default—kind of like getting free wifi at a Starbucks. Millions of people pay for Internet service in their homes, but they do have a need for free wifi at times. People who can’t afford the luxury of such vast coverage still have the opportunity to get what they need from free wifi. Wealth building exercises create opportunities not yet known and no plan can tell you what they will be because they don’t exist yet to list as an option.
Both Rubio and Cruz supposedly come from Tea Party backgrounds. Cruz claims to love the book Atlas Shrugged. He of all people should understand what Trump is thinking—yet both politicians piled on with some insistence that what Trump was talking about was socialized medicine and giant government mandates. That isn’t it at all. The real solution is to decentralize the medical insurance industry so they can sit back within their state borders and count the residents of those states and dived them by the number of insurance providers to calculate their profit—which is what they love about Obamacare because it dictates that everyone have by law health insurance. Once people are compelled to buy something, there is no work for the insurance companies to perform other than to divide up the revenue. The type of deregulation Trump is talking about will wreck that model and offer much lower prices because of the competition.
The answer is as easy as saying “remove the lines” and insurance rates will drop, plans will erupt with competitive options, and innovation will naturally take over so to take advantage of emerging markets. This ridiculous business of wanting to keep people sick and stuck to oligopolies of insurance providers locally selected is just as stupid as the idea of the government school that is bad but giving no choice to parents who happen to live there to just take what is offered because they are compelled by law to attend the nearest education institution. School choice is an option that terrifies public schools because it allows competition to drive up the quality of schools by allowing parents to vote with their feet. Teacher unions do not like that—so they fight that concept actively. Likewise, the insurance industry is concerned with the very same view-point. They want their customers to have limited options so they are stuck with their price increases.
Trump knows from the front of the train that this health care problem could be solved in one business quarter if he could only get politicians to buy into the solution. But most politicians are attached to insurance industry lobbyists and they don’t want the gravy train to go away. So they sent their little attack dogs after Trump in a really vicious way. I was surprised to see how Rubio and Cruz participated so actively in trying to destroy what Trump was offering. When the plan is deregulation there isn’t much paperwork to display. It just means, “take way the lines” and the prices will drop, and innovation will escalate based on free market capitalism. The moment health insurance is deregulated by the lines that divide up the country, insurance plans with great options and prices will pop up overnight like grass after a spring rain. It is very simple, but politicians like Rubio want to hold the status quo even as they are supposedly running as Tea Party darlings. Free markets are the plan, and it would work instantly. All that has to happen to have it would be to elect a president who understands such things. And sadly, only one presidential candidate does in 2016, and it isn’t Cruz or Rubio.
