Dr. Robert Owens Chronicles the History of the Future

Self-Deportation – Is that a thing? March 30, 2016

Just as there are ways to have them pay for a wall there are ways to encourage illegal aliens to remove themselves.  Make e-verify a workable and mandatory with heavy fines for not using it impose large fines on anyone who employs illegals and criminal charges for second offenses, cut off all social welfare benefits for illegals and watch them drive themselves home.  No one rounded them up and brought themselves here.  No one paid their way to get here.  If we make it impossible for them to hitchhike on America’s good graces they will round themselves up and go home.

There is no need for goon squads rounding people up and carting them off.  Why should we pay a bunch of goons when with these common sense policies the problem solves itself?

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2016 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com  Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens

ISIS Attacks DC?? Read the fictional Account by Dr. Robert Owens March 28, 2016

Book Summary: Imagine if 10% of the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees flooding into America today are actually ISIS suicide Warriors.  Now imagine that this number is over 20,000 fanatics ready to die for their Caliph.  Forming themselves into four brigade strength units they converge on four armories around DC and then using our own Abrams tanks and Apache gunships they attack the capitol and decapitate our government.  This is the story of America rising to the challenge in the second Battle of Washington.

Excerpt #1: When the stairwell doors opened Lisa and a dozen other leaders among the citizen soldiers hurriedly shouted “Hold your fire!!” as half naked and naked women stumbled out into the carnage of the first floor. . .   Charging like a bull at a red cape, enraged Americans crashed their way into the many stairwells on the first floor and directly into the waiting massed fire of the Jihadis.

Excerpt #2: Looking at each other across the bullet ridden conference table, the shattered furniture, and the many bodies strewn about they all tried to say, “I love you be safe,” with their eyes before they rushed in different directions leading their squads to the battle none of them wanted and each of them was determined to win.

America’s Trojan War combines gut wrenching realism and fast paced action to make this feel like it was ripped from the morning’s headlines. This is the first fictional book authored by Dr. Robert Owens and available at America’s Trojan War

You can also find his six other books on line through Amazon they include two political Science books: two political science books: Political Action Follows Political Philosophy, and The Constitution Failed; three History books: American Colonial History: The Essential Story, The Azusa Street Revival, and America Won the Vietnam War! and a book on leadership NEVER FORGET!.  Just put in the title and his last name.

A Government of Fallible Men to Rule Fallible Men March 10, 2016

In America today a debate rages concerning the legitimate role of government. Currently the Federal Government is controlled by a group of politicians who consider themselves the ideological descendants of the Progressive Movement.

Beginning in the 1890’s the Progressives led by Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson championed the idea that it was time to progress past America’s old ways of doing things. They felt the traditions, forms, and style of American governance and society should break-out of the mold provided by the Constitution by casting it as a “living Breathing Document” that could be remolded to meet the desires of every generation.

They believed, and their descendants still believe, it is the behavior of men that defines who they are. This contrasts with our Founders who believed that it is instead the nature of men that provides this definition. Our Founders expressly stated that they believed humanity has been endowed by the Creator with rights.

They felt that these rights are inalienable, meaning they are humanity’s by virtue of existence. In other words, these rights have not been earned by man they’ve been given by God and since they haven’t been given by government, government can’t legitimately take them away. Instead of existing for its own right, the reason for government is to protect these natural rights. It’s the need for the order, security and liberty for the pursuit of happiness, which justifies the establishment and continuation of government.

Thus, a government of the people, by the people and for the people should be one based upon the nature of man. It’s in this context that the voice of the people could almost be called the voice of God for if the Creator implanted this nature and these rights within humanity the collective expression freely arrived at and freely expressed should bring to the fore those who will respect and guard these rights.

If this is true then the will of the majority should always be the surest way to ensure the continued existence of man’s natural rights. If we had a nation of perfect people this would be true; however, in establishing and maintaining government we don’t deal with perfect people we deal with people as they are with all the imperfections and prejudices nurture superimposes upon nature. People who don’t educate themselves enough to exercise self-leadership become the pawns of demagogues and the voice of God is perverted into the voice of the world.

Even the Founders, a grouping singular in the history of men concerning the brilliance of their intellects and the purity of their motives knew they couldn’t trust themselves to form or maintain a government of fallible men to rule over fallible men.   They knew that history is filled with examples of charismatic leaders who’ve proven that while you can fool all of the people only some of the time it’s possible to fool enough people to take over a country. Then once you’ve fooled a plurality of voters to take over you can make fools of everyone doing whatever you like for as long as you like. This is why the protection of freedom is a limited government.

Power must be concentrated enough to provide order, security and liberty; however, if unrestrained power is given to a majority the opportunity exists for a faction to gain control and use it for purely partisan ends. Thus our Founders rejected direct democracy in favor of the federal model of divided sovereignty and the republican principle of both direct and in-direct representation. That the source of authority emanates from the people and the constituent States is demonstrated in several ways.

The Constitution itself was referred to delegates chosen by the States. In the American government as initially designed the people were represented directly by the House of Representatives and the States by the Senate. The executive was elected indirectly by the people and the states through the Electoral College. The members of the judicial branch are appointed by the executive with the advice and consent of the Senate.

This process of allowing democratic choice within a framework of restraint was designed to create a government based upon the premise of inalienable rights yet cognizant of the fallible nature of mankind. A government powerful enough to ensure the security necessary to guarantee those rights, yet retrained enough not to trample them. Many of the Progressive innovations of the last 100 years have upset this delicate balance moving us from the government envisioned by the founders to the one we have today.

The Seventeenth Amendment mandates the direct election of the Senate. This left the States without any voice in the Federal Government. It also opened the door for a combination of factions acting as an unrestrained majority seeking the benefit of some at the expense of others. Often those who take the limits off government seek unlimited power for themselves. We must follow the guide of our ancestors for the good of our posterity. We must resist the temptation to seek security through government rather than security from government.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2016 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens. Dr Owens’ first novel is coming soon; America’s Trojan War.

To Write the Future Read the Past March 3, 2016

Unfortunately most of what we are taught in History survey classes in American schools consists of simplistic formulas.  Formulas designed to persuade those forced to attend the government controlled education mills that they should ride the same ideological hobby horses as whoever currently has the power to select textbooks and prescribe curricula.   Whether it was the rabidly pro-American imperial History of yesteryear that pushed lines such as, “We never started a war and never lost one,” and “We turned a raw wilderness into a civilized nation.” or, if it is the rabidly anti-American propaganda of today spouting lines such as, “America was founded by deists who used serial genocide and economic fascism to steal a nation, pollute the earth, and poison the sea” neither are correct. Both versions are merely two sides of an extremely myopic view which does not seek to discover nor promote the truth but instead seek to mold the next generation into what they think will be foot soldiers in their own crusade.

History, if it has any value at all is that it fulfills two goals.  First, the study of History should provide context.  A text without a context is a pretext and we must have context so we can understand how we as a people became who we are, how the world became what it is, and where it might go next.   Secondly, the study of History should help us learn from and hopefully avoid the mistakes made by those who have gone before so we can leave a better world to those who come after.   However, as stated above, these are rarely the goals of History education.  The reason why is summed up in a joke only Historians seem to get.

Objectivity.

Most people in the world believe objectivity exists.  They act as if the stories presented in survey of history classes are “the facts ma’am and nothing but the facts.”  I was once part of this blissful herd.  I was a self-taught Historian before I took the plunge and studied to become a card carrying member of the profession.  I was captured by the allure of History when I was nine years old.  Nothing in the world made any sense.  What I was taught and saw at home conflicted 180 degrees from what I was taught at church.  What I was taught at church conflicted 180 degrees from what I was taught at school.  What I saw on the streets appeared real because it seemed to be the way the world actually worked, but it was out of synch with my home my church and my school.  Not knowing myself well enough to know that I am a person who operates best when things make sense and the world appears orderly I was confused and uncomfortable living in a world so out of joint.

Consequently when I learned in the third grade that there were histories of the world available I latched on to them like a drowning man latches on to a life preserver.  I began reading History books every day.  They became my raft in a swirling sea of confusion creating an orderly world of sequential reality that I used to build my bridge to the first positive value of History, gaining a coherent understanding of how we as a people became who we are, how the world became what it is, and where it might go next. However, I was a rebellious child, a child who never moved to the second value of History.  I never learned to profit from the mistakes of those who went before.  Following those in my family who went before I walked out of traditional education at age sixteen figuring I knew enough to make my way in the world.  Twenty plus years of manual labor later I thought it might be a good idea to finish my education.

When I finished my Bachelor degree in History I realized that a Bachelor degree in History is good for two things, it can help you become the manager of the electronics department at Wal-Mart and it opens the door for a Master Degree in History.  Since I was determined to become a History professor, I chose the latter.  On my first day of graduate school this budding self-taught Historian had to grit my teeth as a professor told our class, “There are no facts, and History is only what Historians say it is.”

Of course I had to run up after class to argue, “How can you say there are no facts?  Look at the Vietnam War.  We know it happened.  We know when it started and when it ended.  Those are facts and we can know them!”  After listening calmly to my impassioned tirade the professor quietly said, “Maybe there’s another side to that story.”

This rude awakening sent me on a journey of discovery: searching for the other side of the story.  Along the way I contributed my first chapter in a History book.  My research helped me realize there is more than one side to every story.  There are often conflicting facts, overlapping timelines, and always another way to look at everything.  The truth of this is displayed in an endless series of quotes.  Napoleon once said, “History is a set of lies agreed upon.”  Voltaire said, “History is a pack of lies we play on the dead.”  Ambrose Bierce said, “God alone knows the future, but only an historian can alter the past.”  And one of my favorite philosophers, Anonymous sagely added, “The certainty of history seems to be in direct inverse ratio to what we know about it.”

What is the purpose of this self-revealing stroll down memory lane?  It isn’t for the purpose of either self-actualization or confession.  Both of those goals were achieved long ago.  It is instead my attempt to lead you my loyal reader (for those will be the only ones left after such a lesson in historiography) to the second value of the study of History.  I am encouraged by the multitudes of people who are today engrossed in this study.  So many of the recently awakened yearn to know the History of America, they long to know how our Constitution was written by whom and why.  I am here to remind everyone we need to look at all sides, consider every angle, and remember everyone has a point of view, even Historians, and objectivity is in reality subjectivity in a grey flannel suit.

Remember that second value of History?  It should help us learn from and hopefully avoid the mistakes made by those who have gone before so we can leave a better world to those who come after.   If we merely exchange the unabashedly anti-American lenses of the present for the unquestioning pro-American lenses of the past we will be blind to what we really need to see.

The complexity of reality defies the easy interpretations of partisan politics.  Has America always been right?  No, the jingoistic refrain of “My country right or wrong” will lead those who blindly salute it into supporting what is wrong as easily as what is right.  Has America always been wrong?  No, the view currently used to indoctrinate the youth in our public schools which sees America as an imperialistic power that used genocide, racism, and naked aggression to build a hegemonic empire forget all the good America has accomplished.  This view presents an America bent on maintaining the privileges of the rich over the rights of the poor and leads those who imbibe its venom into ignoring that America was founded as the world’s greatest experiment in personal liberty and economic freedom.

Both views are too simplistic for people who want to break free of the matrix and see the world for what it truly is: a struggle between those who wish to control mankind for their own benefits and those who wish to see man set free so he can become all that he may be.

This is a call for those who have taken the bread and circus blinders off their eyes not to replace them with another set.  Today we don’t have to rely on what we have been taught. We can use the Internet as a portal into every perspective imaginable, histories beyond counting, and all the great works of mankind.  Read broadly, study extensively and think for yourself.  Don’t exchange the purveyors of self-serving pap on the left for the purveyors of self-serving pap on the right.  Open both ears, hear both sides, use the mind God gave you, and find the center path.

America has done some things wrong.  America has done some things right.  When it all is brought to the scales, when enough is seen to grasp the big picture, it is the non-objective view of this Historian that America has provided more freedom for more people than any other country that has ever existed.  It is also my opinion that powers of anti-freedom have sought to regain control since the Revolution, and if those who have been too busy working and raising families don’t spend enough time to learn what History teaches we will soon earn the reward for the failure to hold on to the past.  We will lose the future.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2016 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens. Dr Owens’ First novel will be out soon