American Origin Stories with Matthew Cooke

This episode features cinematic sound. Ben Lay was under 4 feet tall with a hunched back. He was an outcast from the quaker community. A hardened and experienced sailor, sailing the toughest waters, in the most challenging era of modern history. He was also the most moral and visionary leader in colonial, pre-revolutionary America. He relentlessly lashed the church and colonial leaders for committing the greatest sins "the devil ever brought into the church in America." Ben Lay became a major influence on Deborah Reed and Benjamin Franklin, setting a course for the religious movement to support the abolution of slavery. Yet Ben Lay was banished from the history books. This is a time when America needs new role models, particularly those still unaware that the original white-American identity was born in the law books of 17th century British colonies, for the purpose of establishing a caste system built on racial slavery. For all our sakes, herein lies a true American hero. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The almost universally unknown "ghost" who wrote the final draft of the U.S. constitution had some revelatory opinions about the failures of the new republican government to maintain liberty and honor. His critiques are as applicable now, as then. He also reveals in his diaries the real perspectives of Alexander Hamilton which will surprise most. The real thoughts of the "founding father" who wrote our revered text turns common perceptions on their heads. This is follow up to Episode 1 of American Origin Stories - The Ghost Who Wrote The U.S. Constitution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 300K year history of eating healthy, the shift into treating food as junk, and the result. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Readings from Founding Fathers of Freedom: Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, and James Baldwin on the corruption of the church, the post-racial myth, and the loss of Malcolm and Martin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few billionaire-owned monopolies use unregulated secret algorithms to govern our entire experience of the digital world. It's reminiscent of how big tobacco genetically engineered their crops to have twice the nicotine levels. But this time they've even tricked us into creating the lure, beckoning us into their matrix. We're well-advised to become as media literate as possible. In this episode we get black belt training from a true master of understanding technology's impact on human nature, Marshall McCluhan. This is a companion piece to Episode 4: Should Society Own Its Social Media. But you can devour them in either order.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The battle between slavers, anti-slavers and opportunists drove the geographic borders of the nation, its economy and its culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We'd consider it tyranny to let one person decide who we see and what we do in in Boston Common. Why is it ok in our digital common? What if social media platforms were standardized to enable inter-network communication? Like our cell phones? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MLK was a founding father of American freedom. Prior to the late 1960s, not all citizens could vote. His voting rights act was to be just the beginning... King described the social acceptance of poverty "as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism" and called for America to "civilize itself" by redistributing economic and political power more equitably. King made clear that a moral society should abolish poverty, and make reparations to the descendants of American slavery, to provide the same economic base that was given to European peasants. He described this mandate as the teachings of the original Christianity. His position was that any American political movement that honors those basic universal values, and liberty and justice for all, would adopt that agenda. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Victor Ochoa was a gunslinger, an inventor of airplanes, a wind turbine, and the pocket protector. He was a revolutionary, a friend of President Teddy Roosevelt, and wanted by the Mexican government, dead or alive. Ochoa's ancestors came from Texas when it was Mexican territory, overrun by illegal Anglo immigrants. Victor lived through the Civil War, World War 1, and the industrial revolution. The path of his extraordinary life teaches us much about America, its people, and human nature itself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To the vast majority of America, the identity of the 35 year old man who wrote the U.S. constitution is a secret, hidden in plain sight. Knowing the identity of "The Ghost" changes the entire way we understand the nation and its character, both past and present. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices