I Am, As of Today, Thoroughly Enthralled With American History

July 03, 2008

I feel a surge of energy right now — a sense of excitement. The feeling comes from realizing how little I actually know about our country. Everything I know about our current political struggle exists in something of a historical vacuum, devoid of historical context.

It’s repugnant, really.

Well, perhaps not quite that bad, but close. History has just become fascinating to me. It’s the knowledge that supports well-vetted positions. It’s the foundation on which to build solid arguments.

History is to political ideas as experimental data is to a physics experiment. Without this data it’s impossible to temper fledgling ideas into something that can withstand the heat of debate.

So, this is my declaration of war against ignorance of our country. Here is a short list of people/concepts that I intend to become extremely familiar with:

  • The Constitution

  • The Bill of Rights

  • The Federalist Papers

  • Thomas Jefferson

  • George Washington

  • Alexander Hamilton

  • Aaron Burr

  • The Federalists

  • The Anti-Federalists

  • The Democratic-Republicans

If you are well-versed in political science and would like to help with my education I would be ever so thankful.

Also, I’d like to explicitly thank my friend Brooks Garrett (http://brooksgarrett.com/) for helping me on this path of discovery. If it weren’t for our discussions on gun law I might not have stumbled onto this line of thought for some time.

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