History & Comment for October 3, 2025

A look at historical and current events on this day, comment and humor so dry it would make a camel thirsty. 

Transcript

This is History and Comment for Friday the 3rd day of October 2025.   

It is a pretty light day in historical terms.   So this will give us lots of time to look at some current events and offer comment.

I was in a discussion last evening that was heading towards some deep philosophical points.    Let’s be clear, while America is not officially a Christian nation and there has never be a religious litmus test on the Federal Level,  most of the 13 states did have a religious bias in their original constitutions.  Even without such hard positions, western Society is largely saturated with Christian thought.    Historically this has been true of England as well and Europe to  varying degrees.  

George Washington proclaims Thursday, November 26, 1789 as Thanksgiving Day on the day.  This was a single proclamation and one of many in the period.    Thomas Jefferson was a deisty and who was not given to the idea of divine providence and did not proclaim days of Thanksgiving.   Benjamin Franklin like Jefferson was low on the scale of religious among the founding fathers.   But, frequently in his writings we see him cite Divine Providence.   We see it in the Declaration of Independence.   Franklin strongly advocated for the inclusion of the phrase "firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence".    Then during the Constitutional Convention which was far from an easy process.  Franklin again sounds very religious, when he appealed for the assembly to begin daily prayers to invoke God's guidance, stating, "The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God Governs in the affairs of men,"

Then on this day during the Civil War, President Lincoln proclaim the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day.  President from Lincoln to FDR traditionally made an annual proclamation, most years for the Last Thursday of November.   FDR broke with tradition moving the day a week earlier.   Part of the motivation was to extend the Christmas buy season during the depression.    Congress will make the last Thursday the law beginning in 1942.  

Speaking of 1942,  it is the height of WW II and the Germans launch a V2 rocket to a record altitude of 46 miles. 

 WW II plays a part of the narrative in the Series of books known as All Creatures Great and Small which are autobiographical tales of a Yorkshire vet.    They are written under the pen name James Herriot.   James Alfred Wright was born on this day in 1916 in County Durham, England. Not far from the Yorshire Dales he made famous.  Those familiar with the stories will note an issue.   Wright moved to Scotland as a small child. 

During 1981 the seven month hunger strike in Ireland ends.  The whole affair is difficult to understand by those of us 3,000 miles away.   But the idea of a hunger strike and dying on the Kings doorstep in Ireland, dates back most of two millennia.   In Total 10 prisoners, either criminal or political depending on how you view the situation, die in the process.   

On to current events.   The big question might be, why does the world hate America?   Yes we are the largest economy in the world.    We are largely very prosperous. We have some of the best combination of soils and weather anywhere in the world, which allows us to be very productive in basic foods.    But we should also note that China, Brazil, India, Russian and Ukraine have regions that are on par with our Midwest.   What makes America so special?   

For one, and near the top of the list, we are free of historical class systems.    For two, we make a concerted effort to keep a level playing field for all people.   Despite what you might hear in the media, America has done more to lift people out of poverty than any country in world history.   That point is true despite our warts.  American is a young country, 250 years ago our founders looked at historical government systems and at great length debated the advanatages and weaknesses of each.   In the end they formed a Government system that allowed the individual that most freedom with the least amount of Government interference.    They also place the responsibility for ones welfare on the individual.    Further, the means of production would not be held by the Government either wholly nor in trust.   

There was also a heavy influence of Judea- Christian values and morals placed on Society.    Now before you run to Thomas Jefferson, as we said earlier, he was maybe the least religious of the founders and far from average.  Granted there was no recognized denomination at the Federal Level,  there certainly was at the State Level.   Which was in many ways more important in that period than the Federal.   

Abundant resources,  personal empowerment and moral code created an environment where America thrived.   From the Revolutionary War to WW I was only about 140 years.   We went from colonies on the far side of the world to a World Superpower.   Common people largely from Europe flocked to our shores.  And while there certainly were hardships, they had something they would never have in Europe or other places.   A level playing field and opportunity.    Live or Die, Succeed or Fail they had opportunity.   Far more than they did back in the old country.   It did not matter how well-bred you were or social status.  here you just had to buy into the idea that America offered opportunity,  throw off the old culture with its baggage and become an American.   

We talked about the Irish political strife.  That is centuries old and will never be settled.   In America, Irish and English can burry the hatchet and start over.   Each on their own merits.   And that has largely been true, where the old cultures have been allowed to fade.  Still there remain ethnic pockets that harbor the same prejudices and fights.   This might be one of the best things about flyover country.  The mix is more neutral.  The metropolitian areas tend to retain ethnic neighborhoods.   

Today, America has aged, we are approaching our 250th anniversary. Still young by world standards.    But the tracts of free or cheap land have been exhausted.   Life is not what it was in the 19th century, it is more complex.   Still America is seen as a land of opprotuntiy around the world.   In many respects it still is.   

The biggest flaw is large segments of our politic have made it a career and have fallen prey to the pitfalls of human nature.   It is possible to speak of government as the source of relief and the solution,  Old world ideas,  and garner power, prestige and money.   

Where once American stood for indivualism, more and more we are hearing calls for socialism and more Government.    The Antithesis to what built America.    One just has to study what Europe was like Socially for centuries to see a powerful ruling class and benevolent providers did not work.  Nor have any of the attempts at Government socialist societies.    British Prime Minsiter Margaret Thacher is noted to have said,  The trouble with Socialism is, at some point you run out of other people’s money.    

America remains a land of opportunity.   There is a reason folks flock to our shores.    Hopefully they understand the gold is not in the Government programs, but in the ability to make something on your own. 

The Pope has recently pointed a finger at US and questioning our moral compass.    I think he is barking up the wrong tree.    America offers far more than a very long list of Catholic Dominated Countries.    

America has provide the world with more than two centuries of example.  Virtually no place has taken our pattern seriously. The few that have tried all made serious concession towards stronger governments.   Canada might be the closest, and it is far off the mark.    

This bring us to the Super Bowl plans for 2026.   Until this week I had not heard of Bad Bunny.  What are the folks in the NFL thinking?   Beyond simple artistic license and style.   Why does this person feel they need to be angry and hate America?   As a person born in the US possession of Puerto Rico he has full American Citizenship.    He has all of the rights and privileges of a person born in Iowa.   Does he feel American has been unfair to his island home?   That they could be more prosperous as an independent nation?   

I am no expert on Puerto Rico. I am not keen on making them the 51st State for reason of balance of power in Congress.   The one big point would be the culture is far from American and holds more to its Spanish roots.   But for the same reason I would not favor Quebec becoming a State.  

Bad Bunny and Puerto Rico are not alone.    We have a long list of people who are plastered across the media who hate what American has been and can still be. They want to use the tired old idea of preaching the status quo is bad and if you just give me power I can make it more fair.  America is the most fair society on Earth.   They are playing an old slight of hand to gain personal power and wealth.  

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