History as Prologue

Year: 2012

  • Herbert Spencer’s Supreme Court Revenge

    —

    by

    Mark Thomas
    in ,

    In siding with neither his fellow conservatives, nor the more liberal members of the Supreme Court in his opinion upholding the a key element of the affordable Care Act, Chief Justice John Roberts took aim at one of the two most problematic parts of the U.S. Constitutional as viewed by contemporary conservatives. That ominous, deciding…

  • Self Evident Truths about The Declaration of Independence

    —

    by

    Mark Thomas
    in

    There seems to me a common thread that runs through impassioned references about the Declaration of Independence, that being a profound lack of basic knowledge of the historical document’s content. Worst among all claims relating to our nation’s celebrated artifact is the use of the Declaration by non-secular con artists whose livelihoods are made duping…

  • Why Levi Isn’t Eating His Vegetables

    —

    by

    Mark Thomas
    in

    This October 28, will mark the 214th anniversary of Quaker Abolitionist Levi Coffin’s birth. Among his many involvements in what were at the time the nation’s most prominent social developments, Coffin was active in the ill-fated Free Labor Movement. At the heart of that movement rests a central issue as compelling today as it was…

  • Nostalgia – History’s Greatest Nemisis

    —

    by

    Mark Thomas
    in

    Nostalgia has its rightful place at reunions, on anniversaries and within the pages of dusty photo albums; it has no place in the practice of history. Not be egregious, but words have meaning. They have precision. Words also have implication, a more subjective state of meaning, but one that demands the user bring to bear…