(no subject)
What Really Matters
- John Taylor Gatto
"In 1776 a full 90 percent of Americans not in slavery shaped their own work, they had independent livelihoods, and in 1840, despite the rise of industrialization the figure was still 80 percent. It was hard then for any man to get rich on the labors of others because there wasn't much free-floating labor to be had; people worked for themselves. That - liberty and independence, not wealth or comfort - was the American miracle."
and people don't know that because it's not taught as our history. We're taught that what made America great was our vast wealth, but that's not true.
Before 1900 the thing that foreigners always marvelled about us was the fact that the average citizen here was living like a lord would anywhere else. Well informed, opinionated, creating their own wealth...
- John Taylor Gatto
"In 1776 a full 90 percent of Americans not in slavery shaped their own work, they had independent livelihoods, and in 1840, despite the rise of industrialization the figure was still 80 percent. It was hard then for any man to get rich on the labors of others because there wasn't much free-floating labor to be had; people worked for themselves. That - liberty and independence, not wealth or comfort - was the American miracle."
and people don't know that because it's not taught as our history. We're taught that what made America great was our vast wealth, but that's not true.
Before 1900 the thing that foreigners always marvelled about us was the fact that the average citizen here was living like a lord would anywhere else. Well informed, opinionated, creating their own wealth...