#freedom

Jul 10, 2020
2 min

Two Voices from the Past for Today

While my wife and I were visiting out-of-state relatives recently, one of our daughters was taking advantage of her public library’s provision of a free genealogical program to do some research on her ancestors. (Finally! I thought. Family history holds interest for her, if not yet for her siblings!) Nearly every day of our vacation, she e-mailed me to share new discoveries she was making. In one such e-mail, she quoted from a letter that one relative had written to another.

Dennis L. Peterson

Nov 22, 2019
2 min

Thanksgiving Thoughts

I’m thankful that I live in a country that affords me great freedoms, of expression, of worship, of opportunities to better myself, and of so much more that people of other countries far different would die for. No matter how turbulent, divided, muddied, and poisoned the political waters are at the moment, I’m still privileged to live in the greatest country on earth. I’m thankful for so much more, but time and space won’t allow me to keep listing them all. The act of giving

Dennis L. Peterson

Jan 1, 2019
1 min

Happy New Year–New Beginnings

Happy New Year to all the readers and followers of this blog. A new year is also an opportunity to evaluate what was done in the past and to make adjustments as necessary. Often, however, it’s good to find someone to help us do those evaluations and make the changes that we determine are necessary. I’m doing exactly that with this blog. I need and value your input. I have considered the possibility of reducing my posts to once a week. If I do that, however, I need to know whi

Dennis L. Peterson

Nov 12, 2018
1 min

Thank You, Military Veterans!

As we approach the Veterans Day weekend (and the actual date on Sunday, November 11), we owe a great debt of gratitude to everyone who is a military veteran for helping us maintain our freedoms. Perhaps no one said it better than one of those veterans, Charles M. Province. (Please note that when he uses the term soldier, we should also add the words sailor, airman, Marine, and Coast Guardsman because every veteran of every branch of our military played his or her part.) It is

Dennis L. Peterson

Oct 19, 2018
1 min

Could This Explain the Mess We’re In?

At the heart of the study is the U.S. citizenship test of basic facts about our nation’s history. Among the findings of the study are these: Only 1 in 3 Americans can pass the citizenship test, which requires only a score of 60 percent. Most of those in the study didn’t score even that low grade. 72 percent couldn’t correctly identify the original 13 colonies. Less than one-quarter knew why the colonists had fought the British in the first place. Double-digit percent thought

Dennis L. Peterson

Oct 9, 2018
2 min

The Project that Birthed Death and Life

On this date in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved a secret project that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and ended World War II. But it also led, in the long term, to the birth of a city and numerous other projects that resulted in countless prolonged and enhanced lives. On October 9, 1941, President Roosevelt signed off on what became known as the Manhattan Project. It was a military operation the likes of which the United States and the worl

The Origins and Proper Observance of Patriots’ Day

Dennis L. Peterson

Sep 11, 2018
3 min

The Origins and Proper Observance of Patriots’ Day

All of us who are old enough to remember the event, remember where we were and what we were doing when we first heard the news of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. (The scary part, to me, is that an entire generation does not remember!) I was editing a book manuscript for a client when my sister called and tersely said, “Turn on your TV. Just turn on your TV.” Three days after the attacks, while Americans were still trying to come to grips with what had happened to

Reflections on American Citizenship by a Former Alien

Dennis L. Peterson

Jul 24, 2018
2 min

Reflections on American Citizenship by a Former Alien

BBC’s Nik Gowing hosts a live “Special World Debate” with panelists Economic Historian Niall Ferguson, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, Goldman Sachs Jim O’Neill, International Monetary Fund’s Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Chairmwoman of Sabanci Holding Guler Sabanci at the Istanbul Congress Center October 3, 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey. The Annual IMF/World Bank meetings are being held this year in Istanbul, Turkey. IMF Staff Photo/Stephen Jaffe I recen

Dennis L. Peterson

Jul 7, 2017
3 min

Builders of the American Dream

Our recent celebration of Independence Day set me to thinking about how many of our holidays focus our attention on what has made America great and how it came about. Independence Day, of course, emphasizes the colonists’ declaration of independence from the British king’s tyranny and the freedoms we gained by that independence. Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day emphasize the men and women of subsequent generations who served and often died or were wounded to preserve and mainta

Dennis L. Peterson

Jul 3, 2017
2 min

Symbols of Our Independence

With the approach of this Independence Day, in spite of the many distractions and interruptions that are accompanying the lead-up to it, I’ve been thinking about how this holiday is rife with symbolism. Although many other examples exist, I’ve chosen to focus briefly on five that seem to carry special significance and meaning for me. At the same time that I’m proud of these symbols, I’m also disheartened by the seeming increase in people’s ignorance of them and what makes the

Dennis L. Peterson

Sep 16, 2016
3 min

Learning from the Trail of Tears

Today is the Trail of Tears Commemoration Day, the recognition of a national tragedy. The seeds of what culminated in the near-annihilation of several entire tribes of Native Americans, most notably the Cherokees, were planted in the soil of the sinful souls of fallen, materialistic men. Settlers had always moved west, coveting the opportunity to settle the fertile Indian lands, but that temptation was intensified by the discovery of gold in northeast Georgia, the heart of th

Dennis L. Peterson

Jul 1, 2016
3 min

Celebrating the Fourth

Since most of us will be indulging in cookouts (weather permitting) on this holiday, allow me to use a food-related analogy. If one has fed on nothing but hot dogs–even the real, bun-length, all beef dogs, not the mushy chicken-pork composites or the fake turkey dogs–his entire life, and he looks at other people who’ve eaten nothing but potted meat, his diet looks fabulous. He feels really good about it. But he’s ignorant of the fact that something infinitely better is actual

Dennis L. Peterson

May 27, 2016
3 min

Memorial Day Now Much More than Trivia

Since that year, however, I have included among those whom I honor on Memorial Day one of my own family. My nephew, Captain Justin Peterson, USMC, was killed in Iraq on September 30, 2006. That puts the entire Memorial Day holiday in an entirely different light. Now Memorial Days will never be the same. I offer the following information in this blog posting to Justin’s honor. So you think that you know about Memorial Day? Take this little quiz and see how well you really know

Dennis L. Peterson

May 23, 2016
3 min

Another Constitutional Convention?

Although delegates from several states had already gathered before May 25, 1787, they had had no quorum and therefore could not conduct official business until that day. With the quorum achieved, however, they finally began. Initially called merely to amend the Articles of Confederation, resolving its inherent weaknesses and thereby making a better government (“to create a more perfect Union,” as the preamble of the resulting Constitution stated), the Convention actually disc

Dennis L. Peterson

Apr 16, 2016
3 min

Many Anniversary Events, One Theme

Lenin (April 22, 1870) and Hitler (April 20, 1889)were born this week . The former brought Communism and death to millions in Russia; the latter brought Nazism and death to millions in Germany and, through World War II, many other places. As a result of these two men’s beliefs and totalitarian regimes, millions of people lost their freedoms, and war and destruction wracked not only Europe but also countless countries around the world. On April 17, 1961, U.S.-trained Cubans la