Time to Think

Revisionist History #387

By Hank Silverberg

I spent part of this past Wednesday revisiting Mount Vernon. My brother and sister-in law were in town and they had never been there.

The estate of our first president, a 45 minute drive from my home on a good traffic day, is right along the Potomac River with a spectacular view. It has been preserved very well, and right now the mansion itself is being restored again.

(The view form the Washington's back patio)

The interpretations you will see there are a fair representation of what George Washington's life was like when he wasn't fighting a war, and after he left Ferry Farm where he grew up. As I wrote a few weeks ago (see the 4/26 blog), there is a distinct effort right now in the Trump Administration, as we approach our 250th birthday, to sanitize our history. They want to whitewash over the bad parts and only tell us about industrial might, military victories, and western expansion (minus native Americans). You won't hear much about the millions of people who spent their lives as slaves, or the millions of immigrants who built the Erie Canal, Transcontinental Railroad and many other things.

(Women's slave quarters)

Mount Vernon has been immune from those changes so far because it's run by a private foundation and not by the National Park Service or the Smithsonian, which are under orders from Mr. Trump to sanitize interpretive material at museums and parks. More than 300 slaves worked at Mount Vernon at its peak.

The great estate with it's gardens, stables, grist mill and distillery, survived on the backs of Black men and women who were enslaved. It was one of several farms Washington owned, all worked mostly with slave labor. He was never rich, but he lived quite comfortably when at home. When you see the slave quarters, and in some cases their names, it's hard to separate that from one of our Founding Fathers. Washington ,like Thomas Jefferson, pronounced his distaste of slavery a number of times, but they both still relied on slave labor for their livelihood.

When Washington's favorite chef, a Black man named Hercules, escaped while living at the temporary executive mansion in Philadelphia, Mr. Washington went through an enormous effort to find him and return him to enslavement, even taking out ads in newspapers across the country. Hercules was never caught.

President Washington freed all his slaves in his will, but the 153 who were "owned" by Martha Washington were passed on to her son and remained slaves.

So when you watch all the celebrations of our big anniversary, don't buy into the idea that all was perfect for those 250 years, or that our Founding Fathers were some kind of saints without faults.

For all their great accomplishments and their radical politics which created a new form of government, they were still flawed men doing their best in their own time to change the world. Perhaps they were a bit more insightful than our present gang, but still flawed.

News You May Have Missed.

Is the war between Ukraine and Russia coming to an end? Confusing signals from Moscow have raised that possibility. Over the last few weeks, with the front lines still a stalemate, the Ukrainians have been sending drones into Russia. One hit Moscow, another crashed into an industrial area a thousand miles into Russia. On top of that, the Victory Day celebrations commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany were scaled down this year in Russia, with tanks and other large weapons notably absent from the parades. According to USA Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin has told reporters, "I think that the matter is coming to an end," and he said he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements

in Europe. He wants German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to be his negotiating partner, cutting the U.S. out of the discussion. This all comes just few days after President Trump announced a reduction of U.S. troops in Europe. About 80,000 American troops have been permanently stationed in Europe since the end of World War Two. Trump wants to cut that back significantly.

The war between Russia and Ukraine has been raging since 2022. The exact number of casualties
is not clear, but as many as three million people have died, including more than 1.2 million Russians and two million Ukrainians. Russia's economy has been devastated with as much as $3 trillion draining from the country. Russia still controls about one-fifth of Ukraine's territory but has been losing ground slowly over the last few months.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2026/05/09/putin-says-russia-ukraine-war-coming-to-an-end-amid-3-day-ceasefire/90015800007/

Gas Tax Could Be Suspended??

Much of the money you pay at the pump for gasoline is either a state or federal gas tax. State taxes can be as high as 70 cents a gallon in California or as low as nine cents a gallon in Alaska, which is one of the reasons prices vary across the country. According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of unleaded

reached $4.52 on Sunday, up more than 50% since the start of the war with Iran. It does not appear the conflict with Iran will end any time soon, but the Energy Secretary Chris Wright told NBC's Meet the Press that suspending the 18 cent-per-gallon federal gas tax might be an option for lowering the price at the pump. Democrats in Congress actually introduced a bill to do that back in March.

Wright would not comment directly on the likelihood that gas will reach an average of $5.00 per gallon in the near future, but he predicted they will drop below $3.00 by the summer.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/energy-secretary-says-white-house-is-open-to-suspending-gas-tax-amid-soaring-prices/ar-AA22PypK?ocid=BingNewsBrowse

Dumbest Quote of The Week

This week's dumbest quote comes from The Department of Homeland Security for playing politics with Mother's Day. DHS tweeted out this post on X:

"As families across the nation celebrate Mother's Day, we honor the mothers, children and spouses forever changed by violent crimes committed by criminal illegal aliens."

Politics? Out of a Mother's Day greeting? How low can they go? (Note: we honor ALL mothers, no matter what their situation may be.)

(You suggestions and comments are welcome)

My recent book "The Campaign" can be purchased at the links below. Or you can buy a copy by emailing me at: HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions on how to get a copy at a reduced price and with my signature)