triptych # 6 ~ American amnesia

Commemorative monument / Battle of Valcour Island ~ Peru, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenI am constantly amazed, in so many ways, by American's collective amnesia.

One case in point will be on view today, Election Day, when an incredible number of memory-impaired fellow citizens will cast their vote for a man who needs Obamacare to cover his pre-existing condition of Stage 3 Romnesia and who spouts a litany of failed policy ideas. Ideas which, in their last and most recent implementation, flushed our economy (taking a good part of the world economy with it) down the toilet and also turned our national debt from a surplus into a deficit. Those memory deficit voters seem to not understand the adage which tells us that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.

That written, another area of American Memory Deficit Disorder (AMDD) is found in the arena of American history. Very few Americans, with exception of avid history buffs, remember, much less know about, the significant tide-turning battles fought along the Adirondack Coast during the American Revolutionary War.

Case in point, the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain.

Seriously, how many out there have ever heard of it? A battle which most military historians regard as the turning point of the American Revolutionary War. A battle - one amongst many along the Adirondack Coast and nearby environs - in which Benedict Arnold (later to become America's most notorious traitor) distinguished himself as an American Revolution Patriot of the highest order, an esteemed position which he later embellished* by his actions during the Battle of Saratoga.

While most Americans know Benedict Arnold as a traitor, I wonder how many know of his many heroic actions on the battlefield. Actions, which in my neck of the Adirondack woods, have him in good standing as a true American Patriot.

*Bendict Arnold distinguished himself through acts of intelligence and bravery. His actions included the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775, defensive and delaying tactics despite losing the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain in 1776, the Battle of Ridgefield, Connecticut (after which he was promoted to major general), operations in relief of the Siege of Fort Stanwix, and key actions during the pivotal Battles of Saratoga in 1777, in which he suffered leg injuries that ended his combat career for several years ... Despite Arnold's successes, he was passed over for promotion by the Continental Congress while other officers claimed credit for some of his accomplishments.

Comments

[John Linn]

So, you did not say who you voted for. :-)