In what is sure to be a treat for all New England history buffs, Boston City Archaeologist Joseph Bagley recently published A History of Boston in 50 Artifacts. Bagley curated the artifacts from archaeological sites ranging from pre-contact Mattapan fish weirs to Boston's red light district, "the Combat Zone," circa 1980.
Is anyone not surprised by Donald Trump's ability to plow through the Republican primary process like a hot knife through butter? This is one for the history books, and scholars will be writing about it for decades (especially if Trump manages to pull off a win in November). But here are a few thoughts in the aftermath of the Indiana primary:
1. You cannot anger the electorate indefinitely without consequences. Americans are fed up with having things shoved down their throats by an arrogant government that no longer thinks of itself as representative. Congress won't act? The president will write executive orders. A heated issue is working its way through state courts and legislatures? Nuts to all that — let's have five people in black robes impose their will on 320 million others. Add to that administrative and regulatory agencies that act with virtually no accountability; treaties and conventions that tie our hands without imposing similar strictures on other nations; and a lack of enforcement of our own laws, and you have a recipe for popular insurrection. This is a bipartisan phenomenon. (See, "Sanders, Bernie.")
