History – Professional Copywriter | Wyalusing, PA Bradford County

Voting: It’s a Privilege to Do the Right Thing

Despite jokes about dead people voting, election security is strong. It’s been quiet on the American front for many years now. Or so it seems. Even as I absorb the reality of observing three quarters of a century of a blessed life, I don’t think of myself as having lived through any great historical movements that dramatically changed the course of American life. Looking back, I guess when something is part of your past you don’t think [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-11-07T22:02:11+00:00November 7, 2022|Campaign Rhetoric, Constitution Rights, Elections, History, Politics, Uncategorized, Voting|

Will We Continue to Ignore History’s Lessons?

The perceptions of good and evil can be reversed if we can rationalize a cause as moral and righteous. We’ve had it pretty good in this country. We’ve never had a military coup or any usurping of executive functions by the legislature or the military. There was that unfortunate storming of the capitol in a misguided attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election, but we can write that off a lesson learned. It’s just that we all [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-06-02T14:39:22+00:00June 2, 2022|American History, Evil, Gun Violence, History, Morality, World History, World War I, World War II|

Ignorant Patriotism Thrives by Censoring History

Some chapters in American history may be difficult to process, but they should be there for us to learn. It was more than a year ago when one of my blogs posted on Facebook received an ominous “blacklisted” tag. It was only a couple of weeks after the insurgence at the Capitol. The word “fascism” was in the blog’s heading, and I thought maybe it was flagged for proliferating an unproven conspiracy or fueling anti-government sentiments. It [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-03-01T16:23:02+00:00March 1, 2022|1960's, American History, Constitution Rights, Education, History, Ignorance, Racism, Slavery|

Is Patriotism too Fragile to Withstand History

Digging up the past helps us understand who we are as a nation. I fear patriotism is presented as a false choice. It seems that for many, to be patriotic is to remember and celebrate only our nation’s triumphs. To choose otherwise, to choose to remember our failings, is thus somehow anti-American. — Ken Burns Ken Burns, in the introductory quote, was referring to the only National Historic Site in the United States with the word “massacre” [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:32+00:00November 28, 2021|Black Americans, History, Native Americans, Patriotism, Politics, Racism, Slavery|

Is Our Love Affair with Cars Near Its End?

The worst things about cars are some of the drivers. Here in my car I feel safest of all I can lock all my doors It’s the only way to live in cars Electronic Music impresario Gary Numan remains a one-hit wonder in the U.S. with “Cars,” his Top Ten hit from 1979 quoted above. That song is already a relic as I contemplate the future of the American automobile. The automobile itself is drastically changing. Instead [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:38+00:00September 29, 2021|Cars, Driving, History, Technology, Travel|

Paying the Price for Being What You Used to Be

Don’t let prehistoric opinions define who you are today. I inadvertently took last week off. I have been engrossed in a book project and on Thursday of last week realized that I hadn’t written my weekly blog, which I have always posted on Wednesdays. Nobody noticed so I guess we all (make that all three of us) needed a week off. We have lost the opportunity to be spontaneous and misinformed, to learn and grow, to become [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:51+00:00May 5, 2021|American History, Cancel Culture, Current Events, History, Opinions, Racism, Reputations|

Wildcats and Panthers and Wolves, Oh My!

“I told you we shouldn’t be out here after dark!” We seem to have entered a weird time of make-believe where stuff is made up by people who I’m not going to mention, because they wish things hadn’t turned out the way they did. That’s the way it is today. If we don’t like the way things are, we just pretend they aren’t and move on believing what we want to believe. I mean who would have [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:56+00:00December 30, 2020|2020, COVID-19, History, Mortality, Public Health, Uncategorized|

A Voter’s Journey through Five Decades of Change

Actually, every vote counts toward another vote— from the electors, who are members of the Senate, House of Representatives, and three from the District of Columbia. It was a compromise and it complicates the majority-rules premise. This is my last blog before election day, and more people have already voted than will vote, as my wife and I will, at their local polling places next Tuesday. Changing the minds of voters at this point is very unlikely [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:57+00:00October 28, 2020|Democracy, Elections, Electoral College, Fairness, History, Politics, Presidency, Sacrifices, Vietnam, Voting|

When Patriotism Contorts into Nationalism

Calling all patriots who want America to be the best we can be. If you are looking for a concise definition of patriotism — a phrase that captures its general meaning— it would probably be “love of country.” There really is no simple definition of patriotism, because it is not so much about blind love as it is an affection for and allegiance to your country acquired over a lifetime. It is a love instilled and nurtured [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:58+00:00September 2, 2020|1918, Baby Boomers, History, Hitler, Nationalism, Patriotism, Slavery, World War I, World War II|

Tale of Two Pandemics: Beware of Slackers

Some slackers faced death sentences during the 1918 pandemic. I guess we are all familiar with the idea that history repeats itself, and, accordingly, if we don’t learn from the mistakes of the past, we’ll keep on making the same blunders. The Philosopher George Santayana gets the credit for best expressing this theorem with this assessment: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." He was looking at this from a historical perspective, a world view, [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:58+00:00July 22, 2020|1918, American History, Coronavirus, Coughing, COVID-19, death, History, Mortality, Pandemics, Public Health, Spanish Influenza, Ventilators|

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