Reflections of An Uncommon Common Man

Benedict Arnold   Joe Biden For years the name Benedict Arnold was synonymous with someone who was a traitor to his country or anyone who was a backstabber. We would call someone fitting this description a Benedict Arnold. Yet, when you study the life of Benedict Arnold he was actually a valuable asset for America until he decided to try and sell us out. In my opinion he was our greatest general in the American Revolution. Even better than George Washington. It was his leadership at the battle of Saratoga that won that battle. Saratoga is called the turning point of the American Revolution because France decided to become our ally because the victory was so decisive. During the battle Arnold was severely wounded in the leg and would limp for the remainder of his life. When Arnold decided to turn traitor and hand our stronghold at West Point over to the British it would be the equivalent of Generals the likes of Ulysses S. Grant, John J. Pershing, George Patton, Douglas MacArthur, or No

  Eric Erickson and Mike Cannon standing in front of my rebel battle flag in Turkey I can't remember exactly when or how I became interested in the Civil War. Maybe it was the articles and pictures of the Civil War in the World Book Encyclopedias that my parents bought for us in 1957. They were our Google of the 1950's. Or the day that my mother picked me up from school and just the two of us went to see a movie called the Horse Soldiers with John Wayne and William Holden. Two of my favorite movie stars. The Horse Soldiers was Hollywood's version of an actual Union cavalry raid during the Vicksburg campaign. Although Hollywood many times puts it' spin on history or embellishes the story a movie can inspire a child's imagination to be the catalyst for their desire to learn more about a particular historical event or person from history. When I was in Mrs. Hearn's sixth grade class at Charlotte Park elementary she assigned a class project. We were asked to create

   Exodus 22:2 - “If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account. John 10:10- The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. When the thief enters your home and binds you up he not only has the power to rob you of your liberty but he also has the power to rob you of your life. When the government becomes the thief there is no one to appeal to but God.  John Locke A few days ago I was listening to the Fox Business channel and Stuart Varney was interviewing a guest. They were talking about how retail stores and chains were moving out of large cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago because of rampant theft. Not only are retail businesses leaving but much of the population of these cities are also leaving. This is pretty much true in every large city with a Fascist Democrat controlled government. Combine this with the homeless camping

  We have heard a lot about White privilege lately. I am White and I was privileged at one time. Guilty as charged. I was born in 1950 when black children my age were not as privileged as I was. My mom would take me shopping and we could sit down for a burger and fries at Woolworth's on 5th Avenue or Harvey's Monkey Bar on Church Street. A black person with a kid my age was welcome to spend their hard earned money in Nashville stores but they had to buy their food at a Negro establishment somewhere. If we went to the Memphis Zoo we could go every day of of the week except Thursdays. That day was limited to black people because it was Negro Day. Of course I went to all white schools that didn't have hand me down text books like the black schools and we could walk to the ticket booth of a movie theater, buy our ticket, go to the lobby, buy our drinks, popcorn and sit down in any available seat in the theater. We didn't have to buy our tickets, skip concessions, then walk