14 Years Ago Today: “The American’s Creed”

Site of the speech, more than
half a century later

By Moristotle

[Originally published on September 10, 2006, without an image.]

This morning I came across the text of my eighth-grade graduation speech. Typed single-space on seventeen 3x5 cards, its opening paragraphs say that the graduating class has just recited “The American’s Creed,” written by William Tyler Page. [I later found out that Page wrote it in 1917 for a contest, which he won, in competition with over 3,000 other entrants.] The eighth-grader I was says he’s privileged to speak on the second of the creed’s two paragraphs: “I therefore believe it is my duty to my Country to love it; to support its Constitution; to obey its laws; to respect its Flag; and to defend it against all enemies.”

Penny for Her Thoughts: Lock down...Day 123....

By Penelope Griffiths

The struggle is real. My whole body aches with longing to get out of this pandemic prison I’m locked in…Who am I kidding? – it’s a blast!
    So, the coronavirus continues to spread and devastate everywhere. Wear a mask, don’t wear a mask, stay three feet away – no, stay six feet away! Don’t socialize or, if you do, be responsible. Think of others, don’t be selfish – this and even more advice is given, but many people are ignoring it.

Goines On: Nazis...and Trumpzis?

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An epiphany had come with such force during a recent night that it rocked Goines: If Trump is as dangerous and destructive as his actions demonstrate, then it seemed fair to draw a parallel between his followers and Hitler’s followers of 80 years earlier (and neo-Nazis subsequently). Did unsympathetic relatives of Hitler’s Nazi followers have to gulp and tighten their mouths as Goines did with his Trumpist relatives? Weren’t they, effectively, Trumpzis? Was such a comparison of Hitler’s followers to Trump’s a fair one, or was Goines’ muse going nuts?

Goines On: Getting to agreeing to disagree

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Goines’ relative who slipped an evangelical pamphlet in with his Christmas card refused at first to discuss politics with Goines. Curbe (his name was pronounced the same as Kirby) insisted at first that they would just have to “agree to disagree.” But Goines nevertheless managed to engage Curbe in more than a dozen email exchanges in which they told each other their primary political principles. Perhaps surprisingly – and reassuringly, for the sake of family relations – they seemed to pretty much agree on the ones they actually discussed:

The Loneliest Liberal: Standing up for the right to silently kneel

By James Knudsen

Look, I get it, Facebook is a part of our world now; it links people from around the globe and helps bring people closer together. That is, when it doesn’t resemble a bathroom wall filled with scrawled screeds from people who really haven’t considered all the sides of an issue – or, at a bare minimum, two.

As the World Turns: Control the throne

A new strategy for Democratic government

By Ed Rogers

From my most recent novel, Unwanted President:

Adam Weishaupt realized that the real power was with those who controlled the seat of power, not with the one who happened to be sitting on the throne. [p. 71]
    [President] Benton forgot the rule of rules: the power is always in the dark behind the throne. [p. 277]

Correspondence: Decency & the U.S. Constitution

By Moristotle

I’m going to be a bit of a provocateur relative to Charlottesville.
    Can you believe Trump? A genius at the un-PC sound bite. Making it hard for his Republican friends. Pretty soon his core supporters will be the same as David Duke’s.