Peter Spung > Recent Status Updates

In Chap 3, Hate America, Inc, Levin outlines the century-long effort to erode Americanism through an Americanized Marxism spread via academia and social engineering. He profiles key Marxist thinkers and leaders and warns of indoctrination in education, linking it to modern policy pushes like free college. The goal: reshape society toward a godless utopian ideal, despite its deadly global legacy and massive failures.

Both Hildreth and Cutler led complete lives, upstanding Christian men of impeccable character to whom Ohio is forever indebted. in 1860 the population reached 2 million, and William Cutler was elected to Congress. He gave passionate abolition speeches, just as his father Ephraim often did. In 1863 the Confederates under John Morgan fought the Ohio militia across southern Ohio before surrendering in Salineville.

In his early 80s in the early 1850s, Cutler regularly rode on horseback 28 miles one way to his farm in Amesville. In 1853 his horse stumbled and threw him. He died July 8 1853 of internal his injuries, having never missed an Ohio U trustees mtg. Just before and much to his delight, Uncle Tom's Cabin was published in 1852 about stories from black servants in Cincinnati. Dr Samuel Hildreth died 16 days after Cutler.

Ephraim Cutler, the most notable of Ohio's pioneers aged gracefully in his tight family. His son William was very mild mannered and humble, and became Speaker of the House in the Ohio state legislature. In June 1846, matriarch Sally and Ephraim's wife of 38 years died. Son Charles died in 1849 of cholera in California, having joined the gold rush. Marietta remained a small town of less than 4,000 people in 1850.

John Quincy Adams travels west at 76 y.o. to dedicate a new observatory (and the largest in the western hemisphere) in Cincinnati, then visits Marietta w/ fanfare. Discussion on a boat trip north with Ephraim Cutler, Caleb Emerson, and Joseph Barker, Jr. covered a wide range of topics: the 1783 Treaty of Paris & NW Territory and John Adams, the Ohio Constitution, and the Underground Railroad thru Marietta and Ohio.

Many from afar visited Ohio and the northwest territory. The erudite socialites were not impressed by the earnest and hardworking in the Marietta area. Charles Dickens was astonished and charmed by Cincinnati. Dr. Hildreth took three months to visit his family in the east via carriage, steamboat, canal boat, train coach and many stops at rapidly growing towns. A visit to his alma mater Yale was especially endearing.

The end of the war of 1812 brought optimism and growth to Ohio, now at 500,000 people. The state Capitol again moved, to Columbus. Ephraim Cutler strives for state education and the Ohio University. Dr. Hildreth builds a mansion in Marietta with barter labor from some of his 600 patients. Manesseh Cutler & Rufus Putnam die. Ohio passes an equal tax, state education, and a canal. Marietta College was founded in 1834.

Teacher & later country doctor Samuel Hildreth arrived on the Ohio frontier from Massachusetts in 1806 at 23. Marietta had 180 dwellings and 1,500 inhabitants. From 1800 to 1810, Ohio grew from 45K to 231K people as "Ohio Fever" moved people west. Ephraim Cutler's beloved Leah dies of consumption, who picks out his next wife Sally Parker. Earthquakes, floods, epidemics, battles and steamboats make life interesting.

Aaron Burr the former US VP arrived in Marietta a year after killing Alexander Hamilton. Ever charming, plotting and scheming, he had 15 boats built at Blennerhasset's expense to either overthrow Mexico or divide the Union's western states from the east. Jefferson had him arrested and tried. He was acquitted. Blennerhasset's exquisite home and island were destroyed, and the family disbursed and each died penniless.

The Treaty of Greenville signed by American officials and Indian representatives on Aug 3, 1795, ended 4 long years of fighting. A new era and a wave of settlers arrived, including fewer federalists and more republicans including Irish immigrants. Thx to Ephraim Cutler, Ohio's constitution narrowly averted a slavery clause, and was approved by Pres Jefferson and Congress. It became the 17th state on Feb 19, 1803.

... Was epic, worse than any suffered by the American army during the entire Revolution. 623 soldiers dead and 200 others. The Indians suffered 22 dead and 40 wounded. Ebenezer Denny traveled east to break the news to Washington and Congress, which took a month in treacherous conditions. A more professional army was raised with a new commander, who won a big victory on Aug 20, 1794. The settlers felt relieved.

Havoc! After many isolated attacks, the Indians promised by next spring (1791), no smoke would come from settlers cabins. Letters to Pres Washington and Congress spur action. An army of 2,000 ruffians under Gen St Clair was raised. He had no interest in gathering intel on the Indians and spent many weeks marching, clearing trees, building roads and forts. Nov 4 the attack and slaughter came. St Claire's Defeat...

Winter of 1788-89 was rough. The little provisions were soon gone, w/o enough salted meats. Indians drove the game away from the settlement. The first wedding was performed on Feb 6, 1789. Interesting characters and skills arrived in the spring from New England and France as the settlement grew. Long days of hard physical labor and grit were needed to survive. Measles and slaughter by Indians impacted that.

Two parties totaling 48 people headed west for Ohio, 700 miles on foot in the winter of 1787/88. It took two months to reach the Ohio River near the 150 cabin outpost of Pittsburgh. Then two months to build a boat to carry them to the Muskingum River, where Marietta Ohio was established after a warm season of tree and land clearing. An Indian peace treaty signed in Jan 1789, had little effect. 132 people faced winter

Rev Manessah Cutler has a bold vision: expand the US north and west of the Ohio river. Through amazing persuasive leadership, his Ohio Company is born, and on July 7th, 1787, Congress contracts 5M acres for $3.5M, and the US doubles in size, adding a region the size of France that will become five States: Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and the Great Lakes, Illinois and Wisconsin. Expedition planning began in earnest.

…despite its trail of mass death, enslavement, and impoverishment (eg, the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Venezuala, and every else it’s been tried & failed.)

He uses the Antifa and BLM movements as case studies, and Piven and Cloward’s essays as the playbook. “Disillusion [by the dispossessed rabble] of the status quo is key. Marxism presents a “new faith” … which promises a new and better society, for which a passion of not obsession is inculcated in future generations— … ”

In Ch 2 Breeding Mobs, Levin describes the ongoing allure of utopianism & project to foment cult-like mass movements to cancel the current culture, destroy institutions, and terminate the state. Then, replace it with economic socialism and cultural Marxism. Levin dives into the intellectual history and experience with Rousseau, Hegel, and Marx to show the foolishness of this, and the 100 million killed thus far.

A new movement was afoot that was liberal, and spoke the language of ethnic diversity, class warfare, and internationalism.

"Bureaucrats, like headless nails, once pounded in were impossible to extract." Many became corporate shills instead of public servants. By the 1920s, progressivism was dead as a political party and movement. The greatest casualty was republican government and the rule of law. Culturally, expert oversight made people dependent, uncertain of themselves, and less responsible.

Ch 2 on Progressivism concludes with Laying a Wreath on Uplift. Many believed WWI had been for corporate interests. In 1920 Americans voted for Harding's "return to normalcy" and a business-friendly era. The war resulted in a new cynicism of progressivism's bureaucracy, which became a different sort of political spoils system for an educated elite who became entrenched.

Three Progressive Presidents are described next in Ch 2: Roosevelt, Taft & Wilson. Examples are used to show how businesses were subject to increased administrative rules & regulations. A central income tax and central bank were established, further asserting the polity over the economy. Examples from the FTC, ICC and WWI are included. Federal spending increased tenfold and bureaucrats doubled from 1916 to 1918.

At the state level, expert professors from universities were tapped to endorse progressive policies and make rules, in exchange for prestige and high salaries.

A science of administration arose, that implemented rules by experts. The old separation of powers was rejected. The legislative policy-determining function was combined with the executive policy-executing power. This first rolled out in the early 1900s, eventually across 400 cities nationwide.

Ch 2 continues with The New Political Science. Progressives rejected the older republican citizenship based on natural law & rights. The state became the source of individual liberty; other sources were deemed "dangerous and ahistorical". A new positive conception of liberty by government provided for each individual's physical and mental cultivation (far beyond mere protection of life, liberty & property).

Due process rights and liberty suffered as deference was yielded to experts.

births, vaccinations, diet, clothing, housing, marriages & (inter-)breeding (eugenics), sexual acts, diseases, medical care and deaths. "The family was no longer ... viewed as a contract or a private entity within domains of kin, neighborhood, and church, but as part of a web of social institutions with evolving standards directed by a growing body of experts."

Slack continued Ch 2 describing the new conception of health and the family. Activities of bare life were shaped and ruled by experts because their vocation and training made them value-free and public spirited, and progressives did not think citizens should control their own health decisions. Department of health bureaucrats & medical officials registered or regulated womb, to tomb...

Ch 2 continues Slack's description of Progressivism with The Collapse of Faith. A new ascetic and politics emerged amid disaffection with trusts and tycoons, deplorable working conditions, inner city and immigrant tenement squalor, and democracy as vote calculations and patronage by party hacks. Society and evolution could be controlled by social science and education, and ministering and uplifting the collective.

The Epilog recounts the fallout from and renewed interest in the murderous 1898 Coup, including the decline of the black population & livelihoods in Wilmington since, the rise in white supremacist voting laws across the south similar to NC's, attempts at reconciliation catalyzed by the 1998 Centennial, and recounts of descendants. The actions and ethos of the time are hard to comprehend and square with my morality.