Posted on 03/22/2026 7:46:29 AM PDT by Starman417
Dear Leader Thune,
From 1776 to today, the total number of Americans is estimated to have been around 600 million. That’s about twice what the population is today. One wonders how many historical figures most Americans can name. There are, of course, the obvious ones like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and MLK, who are probably at the top of the list for most Americans. They were all known for having done great things.
Most of the rest no one remembers. According to Grok “The average American can likely freely name 10–30 historical figures without much prompting—mostly U.S. presidents, Founding Fathers, major civil rights icons, and a few global names like Einstein, Hitler, or Napoleon—depending on education, age, and interest in history.” Sure, guys like Victor Davis Hanson and Al Franken could probably rattle off thousands, but for the mere mortals among us, a hundred or two probably tops us out.
There is one name, however, that, while it likely doesn’t come up in the first go around for most Americans, is certainly known by a majority: Benedict Arnold.
Arnold was a brilliant general and a true American hero. In fact, the United States may never have succeeded in defeating the British had it not been for him. He was the second in command to the feckless and incompetent General Horatio Gates at Saratoga in September of 1777. At the time, the Americans were on the ropes; they had lost New York, had just taken another beating at Brandywine, and were in the process of losing their capital, Philadelphia, for the second time in less than a year.
What’s more, their pleas for assistance across Europe were falling on deaf ears. No one wanted to waste resources on some bedraggled rebels who didn’t have enough munitions, supplies or experience to take on the most powerful military in the world. Giving them money was a great way to go broke while antagonizing an enemy. Things were looking very bleak indeed.
So this was the background in mid-September when General Gates wanted to take a cautious approach at Saratoga, despite having the British General John Burgoyne’s troops outnumbered 9,000 to 7,000. Arnold was vociferous about being more aggressive, and eventually Gates relented. The battle ended as a draw, but the patriots had held their ground and survived. Nonetheless, Gates’ and Arnold’s relationship had deteriorated to the point that Gates dismissed him.
Three weeks later, the second of Saratoga’s battles would take place, and Arnold wasn’t about to stand around and do nothing. Without authorization, he rode out into the battlefield, led the men on horseback, and played a pivotal role in the decisive assault that resulted in the British surrender and the capture of 6,000 of Burgoyne’s men.
The victory at Saratoga, something of a shot heard round the world, was very possibly the single most important engagement in the war. That battle signaled to the rest of the world that the rebels just might be able to beat the British and convinced European powers, particularly the French, to support the Americans with men and money. And without Arnold, it’s possible that none of that would have come about. We can’t know for sure, but Arnold was hailed as a hero.
But that’s not how he’s remembered. No, the hero who played what might have been the most critical role in the most important battle of the American Revolution is instead remembered as a traitor.
Unhappy with the way he was treated by Congress and highly in debt, Arnold allowed his loyalist wife to lead him to betray the country by attempting to give the British the fort at West Point, which was strategically located above the Hudson River.
Sure, that was 250 years ago, but the name Benedict Arnold is one of the very few that Americans still remember. And it’s not just because he was a traitor. We’ve had lots of traitors, from the Rosenbergs to Aldrich Ames to half the Obama and Biden administrations, but Arnold’s name endures because of when he played his role, at the moment the country was being born.
Which is where you come in. The United States is at a precipice. If we learned anything from 2020, it’s that there is a massive cheating machine running through the heart of America. Across the country, Americans watched as that election was literally hijacked. For four years, anyone who suggested the country had been the victim of a coup d'état was called conspiracy nuts and insurrectionists.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
VDH and Al Frankin in the same sentence?
That was jarring.
Write you Senators to ask for a new Republican Leader of the Senate. I have for everyday of the last month. My point is that either he is not a Leader or he has a different agenda than we do. Leaders get things done.
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.
An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly.
But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.” ― Taylor Caldwell, A Pillar of Iron
MTG was right when she tried to have John Thune removed from the Senate Majority Leader. Her effort failed which literally indicts all of those in the US Senate who voted against his removal. John Thune is bad news and deserves to be removed from politics all together.
Thune is just another number in a long line of politicians that is compromised and on the payroll of a foreign entity.
Women sense weaklings from a thousand yards.
Perhaps one day he’ll have a boot monument too.
BKMK
She forgot to look at herself!
Or during the first night together 😂
Unfortunately, it is rather late in current Congress to try to fix things.
The only path I see for the SAVE Act is bailing out the PPACA in exchange.
It needs to be understood by all that quality houses can be built for much less than typical current selling prices.
These means housing prices, health care pricing and government spending must get adjusted to the coming reality.
Folks don’t get it.
The reason Thune is the MAJORITY leader is because he represents the positions of the MAJORITY of the Republican senators.
This problem will not be solved overnight,
Judge, you writing to the Senate on a daily basis is admirable and shows appropriate focus on a topic of urgency.
I’m not at that level yet. As a young man, I used to feel that way. I have to push against my pessimism (”Can’t Fight City Hall!). Maybe sometimes we can provide push back.
Do you ever get a response, even a generic “Thank you for your concern.” one?
Even if you had only written one time, I would be inspired by that effort as well to act in some manner.
No, you don’t get responses. I doubt that anyone ever reads it. But I feel better about it. And also, I still hope that something comes of it. I do run in to my Senators from time to time, and i might bring up to them that “I am that fly in the ointment that keeps writing”. Oh, and btw, I am pushing 80, but I still feel like contributing whatever I can (except money to politicians of course).
We have the best government money can buy.
And we’re not the ones buying it.
You’re doing the right thing, whether there is obvious correspondence or not. You like to write, and this activity helps to keep you engaged in your community as it now exists. Americans have done this in some manner since our founding.
More imaginary FRepublican Party nonsense.
Thune is a leader of elected Republicans. Elected Republicans are the ENEMY of whatever is left of the Trump agenda.
The GOP stands strong in favor of illegal immigration, low wages (or, if you prefer, globalization of the labor market), deindustrialization, and multiracialism.
The purpose of a thing is what it does, and this is what the GOP in fact is.
Thune represents his GOP, and he acts in their interest. Stop complaining about it.
Bkmk
Sometimes I feel like I was there for the signing of the Declaration.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.