Three Up, Three Down

THREE UP

JOHN ADAMS: Thank author David Mc-Cullough for his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography unveiling the true greatness of an underappreciated American hero who was largely assailed in his day. Thomas Jefferson gets the ink in all the history books, but Adams’ devotion to the revolutionary cause knew no match. There’d be no fireworks today without him.

JIM DONOVAN: This retired Waynesboro Marine is more than doing his part to preserve patriotic sensibilities here and beyond. He fetched a massive American banner that will be unfurled today at the Thomas L. Gorsuch Building, downtown. And he helped form a detail to ensure that flags at the Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery are kept in tip-top shape, clean and crisp, like Donovan’s enduring service to his country.

THE AMERICAN SOLDIER: Freedom was won and has been preserved by those few brave souls willing to sacrifice life and limb for these United States. Thousands of them are somewhere abroad at this writing, driving an offensive in Afghanistan. Some of us talk about liberty. Others fight and die for it. We owe them our thanks.

THREE DOWN

ROBERT OWEN: Ever heard of this guy? Some of the same people who live out his thinking haven’t, but he lives in them. Owen was a British reformer – deformer is more like it – in the late 1700s and 1800s credited with being among the founders of the socialist movement. He promulgated the same lie that drives much of liberalism today, that utopia is possible here. In reaching for that impossible dream, leftists frequently trample on the same individual liberties that compelled revolution against the British empire. Owen’s thinking was bad medicine that we imbibe today like water.

WOODROW WILSON: Never mind his local roots, America’s 28th president was among this country’s greatest enemies of liberty. He pushed through a sedition act that made it illegal for Americans to “utter, print, write or publish any disloyal, profame, scurrilous, or abusive language” about the government. That led to the shuttering of some 75 periodicals. He nationalized the economy, helped ignite both world wars and sent dissenters to jail. His tenure gets a big, fat ‘F’ for fascist.

POP CULTURE: While Michael Jackson’s death dominated cable TV news, the House approved a climate bill that would overhaul the American economy, North Korea fired off more missiles and the U.S. Supreme Court made a critical ruling on racial preference in hiring. Michael mania cannot subvert the occurence of real news, just the recognition of it.