Introducing 'The Patriot Chronicles'
Reclaiming Our Past, Present, and Future
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Come ye, friends, and gather round, as we call upon the muses to regale us with stories of our forebears. For we live in an age of war, and peace, and chaos, and madness, and thus, seek the inspiration to carry on and see through the daunting task set before us, in the face of the pervasive evil that has been unleashed unto our world.
How can we hope to defeat an enemy who possesses infinite resources, with such a vast reach? What can men do against such reckless hate?
The discerning general may advise that we solicit the wisdom of our ancestors, who also once faced their own insurmountable odds against a global tyranny considered in its day to be unassailable—yet triumphed, nonetheless. (In fact, there is evidence to suggest that we are still fighting that same enemy, today.)
What is consistent throughout this lore of heroes is the bonds of brotherhood that always carried them to victory. While the histories credit and revere individual leaders for their monumental accomplishments, behind those leaders were teams of patriots who were able to put aside their differences and draw swords together for common cause.
While the term “patriot” has existed in various forms since ancient times, it was our American ancestors who came to personify and define it in the modern lexicon. It was their unrelenting fervor for freedom that ultimately enshrined the term to such a degree that they both (“patriot” and “freedom”) have become universally synonymous with the United States of America, and her culture.
We need look no further than the recent past: Hong Kong, March 2019—the Hong Kong government (under CCP influence) introduced legislation that would allow the extradition to China of Hong Kong citizens and Chinese defectors (freedom fighters) who were wanted by the CCP for their vocal opposition of Beijing.
On June 12, a protest outside the legislature succeeded in having the bill temporarily suspended from consideration, which immediately led to a larger protest of 2 million people demanding that the bill be withdrawn entirely.
This led to a crackdown by the government.
The world bore witness to the escalation of violent force by Hong Kong police, mass arrests, crackdowns on pro-democracy media outlets, and even the exile of prominent activists and lawmakers. (There were also accusations of murders/disappearances of prominent protest leaders.)
In response, on December 1, 2019, the protesters assembled, waving American flags, and singing America’s National Anthem in a heart-warming display of unity and defiance—almost as if they sought to conjure the ghosts of America’s Founding Fathers to descend from the heavens and vanquish their tyrannical oppressors.
(If this video doesn’t hit you in the gut, you may need to check if you have a pulse.)
In truth, I think they were truly attempting to conjure American Patriots; but not the ghosts of the past. I believe they were trying to invoke the American Spirit, and imbue it within modern-day Americans, trusting that those Patriots would awaken and rise in time to save them—or, at least, save their children—from the soul-crushing despotism of a transnational cartel.
To be sure, every person present in that video knowingly risked their life to attend that protest. I pray that they are still alive, and still fighting; if not, then I pray that their courage was not in vain. What we know for certain is that, within a few months of this protest, the entire world was brought to its knees by a new kind of tyranny known as COVID-19, bringing a convenient and swift end to the Hong Kong freedom protests.
The Invocation of the American Spirit
“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation … But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
When Thomas Jefferson authored this Declaration, the despotism that the colonies faced was not just political, it was also cultural.
The people who arrived on the shores of the New World in pursuit of a new beginning were thrown into the tempest of the wilds, forced to endure an unforgiving frontier, as well as the hostilities of weary natives. Not only did these colonists become proficient survivalists, they also learned the nuance of diplomacy in dealing with these native hosts. The natives were often helpful not only as trade partners, but also as guides, teaching the colonists how to live off the land, as much of the plant and wildlife was not found in Britain.
Most of these interactions occurred organically, without the direct formal supervision (or blessing) of the Crown. (An arrangement into which the Crown eventually injected itself, to the detriment of both the colonists and natives.)
After nearly 170 years of living in the woods, far flung from the safety of “civilized” European society, the American colonists had cultivated within themselves a mindset of fierce independence, and adapted the skills of self-reliance, which far surpassed the capabilities of their peers back in Britain. Unbeknownst to the power-brokers in London, the crucible of the American wilderness had forged a new people.
Within this molten furnace, the fires of frontier survival had galvanized the hearts and minds of the colonists, burning away the shackles of servitude, and empowering them to shed the psychological paradigm that had been so carefully curated for humanity by the masters of the Old World: the claim that the kings of Europe were directly chosen by God to rule humanity.
The Declaration of Independence was more than a mere letter of intent for self-governance. It was a signal to the world that the Divine Right of Kings was a lie, and thus, the Age of Monarchy must end—because no man needs a master. For this reason, America has always been fiercely hated by narcissistic sociopaths with aspirations to rule over others.
With that said, know this:
All history is interpretation.
This is something you will hear me repeat, ad nauseam.
Stop and think about the various voices that you follow for current events, both inside and outside of Badlands Media. They all have their own take on the same set of events—their own interpretation. Some of them utilize similar concepts and facts, arriving at slightly different opinions under the same general idea, while some will arrive at that same conclusion after following a different set of facts from the same event.
(For example, Joe Lange’s economic analysis of BRICS as evidence of the sovereign alliance vs. Burning Bright’s Righteous Russia series.)
Others will look at that same set of facts and offer a completely different analysis; and some— those without honor— will intentionally omit, obfuscate, or even fabricate facts in order to manipulate public opinion and advance a personal agenda. This latter group will also seek to suppress opposing views, lest they undermine the efficacy of the propaganda, since they know their ideas cannot win in the free marketplace.
All history is interpretation.
Just like analysis of current events, the analysis of past events is always interpretation.
Just like you have seen your favorite Badlands contributor cite supporting evidence to reinforce their theories, history writers in academia will cite supporting evidence to reinforce their theories. (These citations are peer-reviewed by PhD’s and approved before they are published.)
And just like in Jon Herold’s Devolution Series, the most convincing source is a primary source, meaning it comes directly from a government document, or in the context of historical analysis, from a letter or diary written by somebody who was present to witness the event in question.
A newspaper article, or letter written by somebody alive at the time but not a witness to the event—but perhaps spoken directly to a witness— can also be considered a primary source, but for obvious reasons, it is considered a less credible citation.
A secondary source is a source that was created later by somebody completely removed from the event in question, such as a news article analyzing the event, a documentary, a book or peer-reviewed article that would [ideally] utilize primary sources. (Worth noting that every time a secondary source is cited by another scholar, the academic prestige of the published author increases.)
It is increasingly uncommon for academic journals today to cite primary sources from the distant past, and it becomes easy to see how multiple generations of scholars citing only secondary sources in their writings could create layered misunderstandings of past events, and even under the best of intentions can create a muddled interpretation of history.
This is why it is essential to keep history records decentralized, and remember that…
All history is interpretation.
Therefore, all history is a never-ending discussion and debate. Just like science.
We must remain vigilant to prevent the suppression of universally accepted facts, so that our history cannot be weaponized against us by nefarious entities.
Just like science.
I applaud Ryan Delarme, another great Badlands writer, for his use of a works cited section at the end of all of his articles. While it is common for Substack writers to hyperlink their sources throughout their writing, providing a works cited section at the end gives the article a more academic polish— a subtlety that is particularly effective when Ryan debunks the purported “settled science” of the agitprop media.
With that said, this series is not an academic journal. Despite being deeply researched, we will not get bogged down in proper MLA citation, or fuss over which facts are sometimes disputed within academia. Think of this as more of an oral history— stories that would be told by elders to younglings around a campfire; an American Mythology.
The purpose of a mythology is to create a collection of inspiring lore that both reinforces a shared culture, but also promotes the idealized traits of altruism that individuals in a society should strive toward for the sake of self-betterment. (courage, morality, honor, loyalty, etc.)
A well-crafted mythology showcases these traits through tales of hardship and peril, and ultimate triumph, often in the face of certain defeat. The lessons taken from these tales are as important as the celebration of the heroes and their triumphs.
Reclaiming the American Mythos
Right now, there is a highly coordinated, sophisticated, and well-funded effort to strip you of your heritage. To deprive you of the memory of your common struggles from the past, so that you can be more easily controlled in the present; so that you can be divided, and manipulated into hating one another.
Many here are quite familiar with the Culture War in which we find ourselves embattled. Sometimes it is hard to fathom how we could ever reverse the damage already inflicted on the collective ethos of our nation. How do we defeat the Cultural Marxists? How do we revive the American Spirit?
The same way you would go about eating an elephant: one bite at a time.
Burning Bright has written extensively about the “War of Stories,” and General Flynn has also echoed this sentiment, both in tweets and in his published book on Fifth Generation Warfare. Many of us now openly acknowledge what BB has asserted— that the truth is being obfuscated by the deployment of false narratives, and the deployment of counter-narratives has escalated the conflict into full-blown information warfare. The same thing is happening not only to history within academia, but also to history within culture.
Our enemies seek to strip us of our shared history and culture, in order to strip us of our collective identity. In doing so, the bonds of fellowship will be lost, which could ultimately prevent us from finding the common cause to unite and fight back.
It is time to unite and fight back.
A [Digital] Garden of Heroes
President Trump has spoken many times about his ambitious plans to restore patriotism, national pride, and sense of purpose to American Culture. One aspect of this plan which immediately caught my attention was his concept for a “Garden of Heroes.” The details on this remain relatively vague, but it is posited as some kind of national park where monuments dedicated to American Heroes—and their stories— will be showcased.
I was already composing these types of short stories for friends and family via email/social-media as far back as 2015, so this concept is something that deeply resonated with me. In fact, it’s one of the two aspects of Trump’s 1776 Commission for which I am most excited. (The other being the restoration of true Classical Architecture to federal buildings, which is my professional background.) So I view The Patriot Chronicles as a digital kickstart for President Trump’s vision.
In this series, we will showcase American Heroes from our country’s past, examining their lives and acts of valor in an attempt to rebuild the lost mythology of the American Patriot—in order to reclaim what has been taken from us. Many of these stories will provide anecdotal proof of [Joseph Campbell’s] The Hero’s Journey, which Jordan Sather and Justin Dechamps have discussed in-depth on their Badlands show, Knowledge Based.
Each entry will feature a specific subject, most often an individual figure from history, but sometimes it will be a group, or an event. You may even see some cross-over, with previously established subjects making cameos in later entries. My goal will be to ground it in a writing style that is both captivating and informative, but most of all, inspiring; because inspiration is the core function of any mythology. We want to inspire ourselves, and our children, but also those around the world who cry out for freedom, and look to America for the inspiration to be the agent of change in their own country. (Like the chills you get listening to the intro to SITREP, a program made by warfighters for warfighters. We seek to capture that feeling, in the written form.)
The other function, of course, is to provide a lesson that promotes individual altruism and positive cultural values. We want people everywhere to have a positive perception of American Culture— not the trashy degeneracy being pumped out by Hollyweird and mainstream Marxist academia.
This is OUR history. Our culture. Our heritage. We cannot betray those who have entrusted it to us, and allow narcissistic sociopaths to erase these great acts of selfless sacrifice from memory.
Without a shared lore of values personified by celebrated folk heroes, a culture cannot proliferate or be sustained. Because it is through these heroes that we come to define the idealized traits that society collectively reveres, respects, and celebrates; the trials and tribulations of individuals who—often during times of great peril and doubt—seized destiny by the throat, and in that moment, transcended the deeply flawed human nature that we all share, and became legend; and in doing so, inspired the rest of us to become better versions of ourselves.
We must become good stewards of American Culture. We must become the shining beacon of hope for mankind, in the dark night of terror. This is where we make our stand, together. This is where the madness ends.
I am very excited to be here, and thank Jon, Kate, and the Badlands crew for this opportunity. If I can’t turn you all into fire-breathing dragons, I hope to at least ignite the brushfires of freedom in your hearts and minds, so that you can then go about starting some brushfires of your own.
Stay tuned for the first chapter of The Patriot Chronicles, dropping very soon…
[Author’s Note: I just noticed that many of the images I’ve included featured firearms. That was pure serendipity, but presents a perfect opportunity to reassert that firearms—and the 2nd Amendment— are a cornerstone of freedom and American Culture. So expect firearms to be a recurring theme throughout this series. For those at home keeping track with their ESG scorecards, please note that I also included an image of a bunch of white guys dressed up like Indians. Goodnight everybody!]
Beware of the Swamp…
Long before the emergence of the novel Deep State, the Swamp belonged to another apex predator. A phantom leading a host of hardened war veterans, who came to personify the teachings of Sun Tzu, and forever changed the Art of War. Armed with nothing more than muskets and their wits, these patriots stopped the most powerful global empire of all time in its tracks, at the most critical moment in the American Revolution, and the phantom became a legend.
Most of you know this story … or do you?
Continue on to Part 1.
Badlands Media articles and features represent the opinions of the contributing authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Badlands Media itself.
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I’m embarrassed about my lack of knowledge of US history roughly 1750-1850. Looking forward to you filling in the gap.
I’m really looking forward to your writings my friend! I’m a lover of history and very grateful for your coming subject matter.
Welcome aboard!!