America’s 13 Colonies were  like 13 countries, each with its own government and culture and sense of superiority. This flag said, “We better figure out how to come together or England is going to own all of us.” I think the wizard was saying something like that in today’s Memo, don’t you? If we don’t figure out how to come together, we in real trouble.

John Adams is an HBO Film miniseries available on Amazon Prime. You should definitely watch it. The acting is superb and the whole thing has the feel of Masterpiece Theater. One of the things you’ll realize as you watch it is how each of the 13 colonies were each so incredibly full of themselves there was no room for anyone else. – Indy Beagle

Ben Franklin was the brains behind Independence,
George Washington was the face of independence,
Thomas Jefferson was the author of independence…
and John Adams was the voice of independence.

Carl Sagan died 28 years ago in 1996, but he left us this warning before he departed.

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.“