What did the Founders think of Caesar? That he was a tyrant and compared George III to him. That’s why they idolized Cato and Cicero, Caesar’s political opponents. In fact, George Washington’s favorite play was Joseph Addison’s “Cato,” and John Adams had a Cicero portrait.

Sound advice from Martha Washington.

The amount of CCP-connected money funding US policy and academic work on China is a scandal. The CCP’s entire ‘united front’ strategy is to compromise & co-opt those *outside the Party,* and distort the American conversation into propaganda. ❗️AHEM ❗️Exhibit A👇

Sandefur’s book is a great read, particularly for those who know enough American history to have been disappointed with the Ken Burns series on the American Revolution. Essential details on the legal debates that eventually led to Richard Henry Lee’s resolution for independence.

“Power must never be trusted Without a Check.” - John Adams, 1816

“Happiness the aim of life. Virtue the foundation of happiness. Utility the test of virtue.” - Thomas Jefferson, 1819

🇺🇸 Happy Flag Day Find someone who loves you like Rick Monday loves his flag. On April 25, 1976, while playing outfield for the Chicago Cubs as a U.S. Marine Corps Reserve veteran, Rick Monday saw two protesters soak the American flag in lighter fluid, ready to burn it. He didn’t hesitate. He sprinted in, grabbed the flag, and carried it to safety. One of the most American moments in baseball history. Thank you, Rick Monday, for honoring our flag. 🫡🇺🇸

A culture that cannot explain why virtue matters will eventually stop producing virtuous people.

On June 12, 1963, a WWII veteran was shot in the back in his own driveway while his wife and children hid inside. It took 31 years to convict his killer. Medgar Evers stormed Normandy at 19. He came home to Mississippi and was turned away from voting at gunpoint. So he dedicated his life to the NAACP: investigating the Emmett Till murder, organizing boycotts, registering Black voters. He knew it would kill him. "If I die, it will be in a good cause," he said. Hours before his death, President Kennedy gave his historic civil rights address on national TV. Evers came home after midnight carrying NAACP T-shirts that read "Jim Crow Must Go." Byron De La Beckwith was waiting across the street with a rifle. The details still stop your heart. Evers was initially refused admission at the local hospital because he was Black. He died there 50 minutes later, the first Black man ever admitted, too late. Beckwith was tried twice in 1964. Two all-white juries deadlocked. He spent decades free, bragging about it at Klan rallies. That bragging became evidence. In 1994, new testimony and a new jury finally convicted him. He died in prison. Medgar Evers is buried at Arlington with full military honors. He was 37 years old. He died 63 years ago today. Remember him.

Even more important, Virginia delegates added the phrase “when they enter the state of society” to the “equally free… and have certain inherent rights” line. Jefferson knew about that caveat. It was added to exclude those enslaved. Jefferson left out that caveat.

Applebaum: What binds Russia, China, Iran and North Korea is not religion or ideology. China is communist, Russia nationalist, Iran theocratic. What binds them is fear of liberal language: rights, rule of law, separation of powers and independent courts. 1/

America 250.

“… the sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written as with a sunbeam in the whole volume of human nature by the hand of divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.” -   A. Hamilton, 1775

.@PepperdineSPP professor Steven Hayward's latest for the @CivitasInst on Gordon Wood. "There is, however, an arc to his career and thought as a historian that offers encouragement that, in this time of doubt and division about the character and future of American democracy, it is possible to capture and celebrate America’s complex and enduring foundations." civitasoutlook.com/research/…

You must make yourself. "Having been a sickly boy, with no natural bodily prowess, and having lived much at home, I was at first quite unable to hold my own when thrown into contact with other boys of rougher antecedents. I was nervous and timid. Yet from reading of the people I admired-ranging from the soldiers of Valley Forge, and Morgan's riflemen, to the heroes of my favorite stories-and from hearing of the feats performed by my Southern forefathers and kinsfolk, and from knowing my father, I felt a great admiration for men who were fearless and who could hold their own in the world, and I had a great desire to be like them. Until I was nearly fourteen I let this desire take no more definite shape than daydreams. Then an incident happened that did me real good. Having an attack of asthma, I was sent off by myself to Moosehead Lake. On the stagecoach ride thither I encountered a couple of other boys who were about my own age, but very much more competent and also much more mischievous. I have no doubt they were good-hearted boys, but they were boys! They found that I was a foreordained and predestined victim, and industriously proceeded to make life miserable for me. The worst feature was that when I finally tried to fight them I discovered that either one singly could not only handle me with easy contempt, but handle me so as not to hurt me much and yet to prevent my doing any damage whatever in return. The experience taught me what probably no amount of good advice could have taught me. I made up my mind that I must try to learn so that I would not again be put in such a helpless position; and having become quickly and bitterly conscious that I did not have the natural prowess to hold my own, I decided that I would try to supply its place by training. Accordingly, with my father's hearty approval, I started to learn to box.” — Theodore Roosevelt:

Notably Jefferson’s draft defines “MEN” (his emphasis) as the men, women, and children bought and sold as part of the slave trade. That’s the foundation of this nation - recognizing the inherent equality of ALL under the law - despite what misinformed and dishonest actors say.

Sherman is actually one of the under rated GOATs. Not only did he serve on the Declaration’s drafting committee, he kept the false concept of “property in man” out of federal positive law in the U.S. Constitution, working with Madison. More on Sherman: instagram.com/p/DD-JQ78y2dP/…

Perhaps all Americans know the words. But how many know it was a 60 yr old Revolutionary War veteran, Samuel Smith, who led the defense of Baltimore that inspired it? More on Smith: instagram.com/p/DJRye_VJTVH/…