Posts by Rick Chromey
America the Republic: Why We Were Never Constituted as a Pure Democracy
TweetShareShare Lately, there’s been a lot of chatter about our democracy or democratic form of government. Some political commentators use fear to suggest our “democracy is in peril” if certain people from the opposing political party are elected. Unfortunately, this type of fear mongering has been around since America was constituted. The problem with that…
Read MoreHorace Mann: The Visionary Pioneer of Free Public Education in America
TweetShareShareIn the history of American public education few persons were more influential than its pioneering founder Horace Mann. Born on May 4, 1796 in Franklin, MA, Mann grew up in poverty. His dad was a farmer who produced little income for his family. Between his tenth and twentieth birthdays, the teen Mann received about six…
Read MoreJohn Quincy Adams: The Hell Hound of Slavery
TweetShareShareIt’s one thing to be a “career politician.” It’s quite another to be so influential that your very presence commands respect, honor and adoration. But John Quincy Adams was a “cut above the rest” type of man. In fact, few American leaders have exceeded the contributions of John Quincy Adams, the lawyer son of Founding…
Read MoreThe United Nations: How Roosevelt’s Original Vision for the World Changed
TweetShareShareThe United Nations has been keeping international peace and protecting human rights for nearly eight decades. But was this its sole original vision? And what is the forgotten back story to the United Nations? The initial vision for an international governing body emerged in the mind of Franklin D. Roosevelt. In his day, the threats…
Read MoreAlexis De Tocqueville: The French Man Who Saw America’s Past, Present and Future
TweetShareShare “[It’s] the most comprehensive and penetrating analysis of the relationship between character and society in America that has ever been written.”[1] That’s how one historian described Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America; a work many consider among the most influential literary works of the 19th century. Published in two volumes between 1835 and 1840,…
Read MoreAmerica the Secular? Flipping the Script on the Founding of a Nation
TweetShareShareSince the 1980s, it’s been a popular refrain to refer to America’s founding as secular in nature. Proponents of secularism often use selective quotes to promote their nonreligious agendas (1). Many Founding Fathers are now considered “Deist” (read: agnostic, atheist). These include heavyweights like Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine and George Washington. Perhaps we…
Read MoreThe Big Switch That Wasn’t: The Dixiecrats, Race and 1964
TweetShareShareIt’s known as “The Big Switch.” A historical moment when Southern Democrat politicians converted to Republicanism and refashioned the G.O.P. into a racist political party (according to their opponents). In an heated Twitter exchange between Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Ortez (D-NY) and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), this “big switch” was the grist of the Millennial Democrat’s argument.…
Read MoreJohn Ericsson: The Swede that Saved the Union
TweetShareShareWhen it comes to America’s naval history, few had more influence on battleship design than a man named John Ericsson. In fact, it’s a Swedish story better than ABBA. Ericsson was a Swedish American who revolutionized steamship propulsion through his invention of the screw propeller. He also invented the first submarine boat, self-propelled torpedo and…
Read MoreHarlan Sanders: The Kentucky Colonel Who Made Chicken Finger-Lickin’ Good
TweetShareShare The story of the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken is one worth knowing. Harlan Sanders (1890-1980) was a true late bloomer. He was also a man who relentlessly refused to give up on his dreams. And later, even his own soul. Sanders didn’t open his first restaurant until he was 40 years old, and…
Read MoreDred Scott: The Man Behind the U.S. Supreme Court’s Worst Decision
TweetShareShareMany legal scholars believe the Dred Scott decision was the worst by a U.S. Supreme Court. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes called it the Supreme Court’s “greatest self-inflicted wound.” But why did it happen? Who was Dred Scott? And why should we know his story? DRED SCOTT was born a slave in Virginia (1799). His…
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