Transcript of Bill Mick Live May 27, 2025 – Hour 3
Dave Does History – Rum Soaked Taxes

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Transcript of Bill Mick Live Hour 3
Dave Does History  “If This Be Treason”

Bill Mick

Glad you’re here for hour 3 of the Tuesday morning. It’s the 3rd of June 2025. They both been with us throughout the day and in this hour, every Tuesday it is. Dave does history on Bill. Mick live. We are in the early stages of Dave’s Liberty 250 series as we take a look to the run up to July 4th of 1776.

Dave Bowman, We stole the headline from Bill Mick dot com from your comments about the show today. Treasonous Tuesday. We’re getting into treason in the colonies, my friend.

Dave Bowman

In the wake of the. French and Indian war. The end of that in 1763. Along with as. We talked about the proclamation of 1763. That. Limited where colonials could go, they couldn’t go West of the Appalachians. The British government. Decided that under the leadership of King George that this molasses tax that we talked about before. We’re going to start enforcing that we’re going to leave troops there to deal with this, and so they passed 2 new laws. Known as the Sugar Act. And of course, the more emphasis infamous stamp act. Which resulted in great consternation in the in the colonies. By early 1765. In Virginia. There was a meeting of the House of Burgesses, their colonial legislature. At which the state was deciding to while they were debating how are we going to respond to this. There was a call for what was being known as the Stamp Act. Congress with the colonies. We’re going to get together and say, well, let’s take some united action. And Virginia was debating this. And as they were debating this, A at that point, little or perhaps even not at all known Virginia legislator by the name of Patrick Henry. Took the floor. Now imagine this. It’s a very hot day. There’s no air conditioning. People wear very heavy clothing. It’s. It’s a recipe for anger. When he when he delivered. That day was not just a protest against the Stamp Act. It was a Thunder clap of political courage, a moment that will electrify the colonies. And will actually help to ignite what will become the American Revolution. He’s just 29 years old. He’s intense, he’s thin, he’s. A gift for. Speaking. And he. Is very angry about the Stamp Act, and we’ll talk a little bit more about why coming up here, but. As he rises from his seat and begins to speak.

He proposes a series of resolutions. Declaring that only Virginians. Can legislate Virginia only our legislature. This building, this House of Burgess has any authority to legislate anything that happens into Virginia. Speech is bold, even by the standard that day. Remember that Parliament believed that it, and it alone had supremacy to legislate. And now here’s Patrick Henry saying no, we’re in charge here, not you. He worked his way through a series of comparisons, and while he did not name him by name. He compared King George the third. To past tyrants. Specifically, he referred to. Julius Caesar. And when he did this, there was a great deal of unrest in the room a. Great deal of. There’s a line here that Patrick Henry didn’t just, you know, tiptoe up to. He’s gone over. He’s called King George the equivalent of Julius Caesar. The the cries were immediate and they were intense. This is treason. That you’ve gone too far. You have. This is treason. Patrick Henry kind of stood there for a moment and then he said those famous words. If this is treason. Let us make the most of it.

Bill Mick

We see where it takes us in a minute on WMMB Dave Bowman bringing us. Dave, does history. So if this be treason, let’s make the most of it. What? Where are we going here, David? Sounds rather contentious that.

Dave Bowman

We asked the. Question last week, week before. I don’t remember. Why is it that we as Americans see King George the third? As a tyrant, it’s a very interesting word. Tyrant. What does it mean? What is it? What is a tyrant? Now we have in our brains. Today we have this mindset. Of what a tyrant is? But clearly King George the third is not that. So what is it that we perceive here? In the in the colonial period, particularly in this era, we need to keep some things in mind. The average American. Not necessarily. The Framers or the founding fathers. But the average American? The Charles Holtz, the Ebenezers, The Isaacs, the marthas. Were far more. Familiar with the histories of Plutarch and Livy. Than they were the Bible. They were far more ingrained in Roman history than they were necessarily in religion. They these were things because religion was so different from New England to. Georgia. It was hard to find anything, you know, homogeneous. But Roman history was, and they all knew it. They knew it so well that even George Washington’s army was entertained with Roman plays during their stay at Valley Forge. And it’s these Romans that have this idea of what a tyranny actually is. And this is what is ingrained in America. For Romans. Any monarchy is a tyranny. That’s the first going back to the founding of the Republic in 509 BCE. The very fact is that Roman citizens are required to take an oath from that point forward to kill any person who tries to set themselves up. As a monarch, you have a duty as a Roman to destroy anyone who sets himself up as a monarch. Now that’s a little hard when you’re British, but. There are some conditions that kind of become. Added in here. There’s this idea of someone as a tyrant who violates the traditional checks and balances, holding on to power too long, ignoring the Senate, ignoring the legislatures. Or even just bypassing the people. There’s this idea of concentration of offices. Holding multiple offices at once, remember in. Rome you couldn’t do that. Refusing to step down using emergency powers beyond necessity, these are all red flags and the idea of a tyrant. There were two in particular in Rome, a guy by the name of solo. We’re. Not going to talk about today. And a second guy who was declared dictator for life. You know who that guy was? Julius Caesar. We. Think today of Julius Caesar is kind of this. Hero. He’s been he’s been through Shakespeare through Cecil B de Mille through the movie. Caesar has become this very sympathetic figure to us. But to Romans? He was very much a populist and very much a tyrant. He disregarded liberty, the freedom of citizens to be free from domination by one man. He rolled through fear, violence, personal loyalty rather than law. Began to rewrite laws and in fact Cesar Julius Caesar had his own image appear on coinage. Which was unthinkable. To a Roman citizen. The rise of client armies in Rome became. Part of that problem. And this idea, in short became. Then a tyrant isn’t just a bad leader. It’s a political criminal. And remember that. Romans had pledged to destroy any man who set himself up as king. Julius Caesar was setting himself up. As a king. A man named Brutus. Has almost no choice but to assassinate Caesar. And the the Americans of that era. Saw that as a positive thing, not a negative. They didn’t see the assassination of Caesar as a tragedy. They saw that as a necessity to secure. An existential threat to liberty. To live free rather than under the rule.

Bill Mick

Of a king. And there’s the comparison as we have it. We see where it takes us, as Dave does. History continues and moments right here our.

LINER

Weekly dive into history. Dave Bowman joins us on Bill Nick Live.

Bill Mick

It is Liberty 250, continuing A treasonous Tuesday in the prey give me liberty or give me death days. Patrick Henry Stern up things in the Virginia house. Dave, what’s going on here now?

Dave Bowman

So what is it that caused all this brouhaha in the House of Burgesses with? Patrick Henry, basically calling King George the third. Julius Caesar a tyrant.

Well, as we saw in the aftermath of the French and Indian war. The British started. Realizing that these colonials are getting a little too big for their britches, and we all like that. We’re going to start controlling some things. We talked at length about the molasses tax last week. The first thing the British do is they pass something called the Sugar Act

Now this is a replacement for the Molasses Act of 1733 and the first thing it does, Bill, and you’ll sometimes you’ll hear this from people who want to mock the American Revolution. But the tax on tea was less than the import duties on other stuff. So why would we revolt? Well, this does the same thing. It actually lowers that tax on French molasses from 6 pence a gallon to 3 pence a gallon. Cuts it in half. It’s a 50% tax cut. Why would you be upset about?

Bill Mick

Yeah, because governments push their tax cuts every chance they.

Dave Bowman

The reason we’re upset about it is because, well, now the British are going to enforce it strictly. And there was a lot of negotiation with the colonials, basically told Parliament. Look, if you cut it to 1 cent. And, we’ll pay it, then it will be. Worth it to? Us to to not import, to not smuggle French molasses, cut it to 1 cent. We’ll buy and you’ll make more money. But the British said no, we’re in charge. We’re going to do it our way and it’s going. To be $0.03. And so as you can guess, things didn’t. Get much better. They also impose taxes on sugar, wine, coffee, which was rapidly becoming the drink of choice in the United, in America, and textiles, which of course were big in New England. It required much more detailed cargo logs, shifted smuggling cases out of civilian courts and into the Admiralty courts. No juries. You get caught smuggling. You don’t get to stand in front of your compatriots in Boston and have a trial there, and now you’re going to be tried by British Royal Navy officers. And no jury. The idea here was to raise revenue, but. Is that really the best way to do it? Probably not.

Bill Mick

Back at it, Dave, where we’re going.

Dave Bowman

Here so the second. Law that the British passed is what’s infamously known and, and of course, everybody’s heard of this the Stamp Act. Now it’s the stamp act that really causes the problems. The The Sugar Act is inconvenient. It’s regulation of commercial businesses. It’s harsh, but like Californians put up with nonsense, we can work around that. But the Stamp Act is different. It’s a direct, internal tax on paper goods, newspapers, legal documents, dice, playing card.

And it requires. British currency for payment. You cannot use colonial strips to pay for it. You must use British money. And if you’re caught violating it once again, you’re taken to a court in England. With no jury. So that right is being violated. Now again, the Sugar Act, it’s commercial regulation. It’s harsh, but it’s pain in the ****. But we can get around that. But this stamp act, this is a direct political violation. It’s a direct attack on colonial legislative authority. And that’s why the House of Burgesses is meeting along with some of the. Other things where? Where? Patrick Henry is going to stand up and make his speech because. This, this, this isn’t just. Attacks. This is an attack. On the independence, the liberty, the right to self government, the right to be free from the control of a a king. By both Parliament and King George the third. King George the third is a very astute politician. He has bought as many ministers of Parliament as he possibly can. He is guiding he he has chosen his own ministers, and although he’s somewhat unique amongst King’s bill because he chooses ministers from both parties. Most of them only choose it from the party that they personally favor. He chooses them from both parties and he gets people that are yes men for him. This is much like Julius Caesar surrounds himself with Mark Anthonys and the like. He’s very. Doing a lot of the same thing. And Patrick, Henry and many other Americans noticed this. And of course they’re steeped in these traditions. That stamp act is a direct attack. On the Virginia House of Burgess, the Massachusetts legislature, it is basically saying. We run things, not you. Which is of course, a British idea that Parliament has established its supremacy. Parliament has the right to legislate for the entirety of the empire. This is something that they believe. Up to the up to this point, though, as we’ve seen. They don’t really care. But now all of a sudden in the in the post World War era. They begin to. In infiltrate things, I guess they begin to take over things. Taxation. Really isn’t about regulating trade. It’s about revenue extraction and more importantly, control. That’s why you quarter troops in people’s houses, you are controlling their behavior. By way of, you know, modern examples we have, you know, smart thermostats now. What are those smart thermostats? Are what are they really doing? They’re controlling your behavior. Might be an interesting 3rd Amendment case which has. Never happened before. This shift feels more like the British crown. Is directly reaching into the pockets now of every colonialist. Because everyone of them. Has paper. They like newspapers. They like books. They like legal documents, you know, to sell, to sell their land or buy a cow or whatever. You need a legal document for that. And it has to have that stamp on there. And it has to be paid with British currency. You want to play dice games. Which were very popular, you know, in the United States, despite Puritan influences. They were you, you. You have to have that stamp. This is the King of England. Who? Patrick Henry has now called a tyrant, reaching into the pocket of every American colonial citizen and saying. I’ll take that. And while I’m taking that, I’m going to tell you how to. Behave. And this. Although we’re not going to call it yet this this is an intolerable thing. And this is going to create a great deal of stress between the colonies and particular Parliament, which thinks that it has the right to legislate and of. Course, King George. Who thinks that he’s running parliament? And it’s finishing up.

Bill Mick

The the Colonials think anything as far as the difference between the king and the Parliament. Are they laying it on one or the other, or is it all in one basket?

Dave Bowman

They see King George as Julius Caesar and they see Parliament as. As as the Senate and they’re not doing. What they’re supposed to do.

Bill Mick

Very good and we continue with Dave, does history in moments on Bill McCullough.

LINER

Call Bill now 321-768-1240.

Bill Mick

This weekend on the Florida round table, Chris Muro joins me, and we’re going to take a look at new law and a whole bevy of new laws in the state of Florida. And the implication for us that’s week this weekend on WMB with the Florida Round table. Looking forward to that, McPherson Financial Group. Is this our sponsor of the show? Or with a tyrannical king. A treasonous Virginia house and we are 11-12 years before July 4th, 1776. Dave, this has been going on for a while and this is where the fire really gets going. It looks like.

Dave Bowman

And and remember that July 4th, 1776 is going to happen more than a year after the first shots are fired. So. We got a long way to go here. When the Stamp Act, of course, is announced and. Passed on to the American colonies. There is an immediate backlash. Every social level of Americans is just absolutely incensed. Again. It’s this. Being steeped in Roman history, this understanding of what a tyranny is. To us today. Again, we we don’t necessarily see Julius Caesar in that way because we’ve been conditioned. Otherwise we we see Julius Caesar as this tragic figure. Who was you know? Stuff and Cleopatra on the side and blah blah blah. But in most of history, and particularly the American colonial period, Julius Caesar is a bad guy. He is a dictator, he is a tyrant. He is the definition of someone who is abusing power. And again, every Roman citizen from 509 BCE on has an oath to kill tyrants. To murder that to, to eliminate them. And that’s why it’s no surprise that a guy named Brutus in 44 BCE is the kind of the leader of the people that get rid of, of of Caesar in an attempt to restore Republican values. The stamp act. Causes nine of the colonies to form what’s known as the Stamp Act Congress in October of 1765. They’re going to issue unified grievances. They’re going to send the Parliament, hey. You might not want to do this. But even that Bill is not quite as effective as the people’s response to it. Merchants start boycotting British goods. We just won’t buy your we just won’t buy your stuff because we’re not going to pay for the stamp. So all these London merchants that are used to shipping stuff over to the colonies to sell. All of a sudden. Aren’t getting any sales. And keep in mind that the orders for these sales, all this stuff travels by ship. It takes months, weeks at best, but months certainly for an order to come from from Boston to London say hey, we want you know 100 of these. And by the time they get that order and they start filling this stuff out, the next ship comes in and says Ohh cancel that order. We start seeing groups, we’re going to talk next week about the Sons of Liberty. We’re going to organize demonstrations, mob actions. The the people who are actually in charge of the stamp distribution, the the tax collectors with the stamps. They start quitting their jobs because people explained to them.

But, no, you shouldn’t be doing that. You’re being disloyal. You’re being you’re you’re, you’re you’re no different than the tax collectors of of Old.

Bill Mick

Are these fellow colonists, or are they employees of the crown or been sent?

Dave Bowman

Well, they’re employees of the crown in in most cases, but they’re fellow colonists.

Although some of them are, some of them arrive over. Newspapers start running blank pages. Blank pages of news. They they print the paper that has blank pages in it so that they don’t have to put the stamp on. And of course. In May of 1765, Patrick Henry captures the entire mood.

Dave Bowman

When he compares King George the third. Although not by name. To tyrants in history, specifically Julius Caesar. And when he’s accused of treason, he comes back with that incredible replay. If this be treason? Make the most of. The colonies are going to learn from this. The power of coordination, how to work together. This is really this is the part of mistake that Parliament is making that King George is making. He is making the colonies instead of 13 independent colonies that. Kind of have the same, you know, we’re on the same seaboard, but now we’re going to this is when you’re going to see the era of that join or die political cartoon. Political identity is going to begin to shift. From being a loyal British subject. To becoming a self aware American. We’re British subjects, but we’re not getting the rights of Englishmen. We have no, as James Otis will say, No 10, no representation. And yet they’re taxing us. And this idea of liberty begins to move from this enlightenment theory. You know what should happen to what’s gotta happen to make this work? And it all starts with. This idea of Roman history. Shaping and enlightenment understanding of what is a tyranny. I asked that question every time I talk about this. Why do we see King George the third as a tyrant? The reason we see him as a tyrant? The reason we’re going to list 27 reasons why we’re mad at him. Is because he is behaving in many of the same ways that Julius Caesar did at Julius Caesar. Regardless of what film you may have watched. Was a bad guy. He was a. Dictator. He was a tyrant. He violated every. Common decent. Theory of how a Roman citizen should obey. How did he get away with it for? So long well. Got enough money? You can buy off people. You can become a populist. You can convince people that. We should do it my way. But there are always those who are going. To stand for what is right. In the case of Rome, the assassination of Julius Caesar leads to civil war. And the establishment of an empire, the Republic will lose. And you might say to yourself, well, why don’t Americans take that lesson? That the Republicans going to lose. Because they don’t believe they’re going to, they believe that you. It’s better to stand as a free man. And lose than it is to kneel before any tyrant. That is the classical idea of liberty. To resist to the bitter end.

Bill Mick

And we pick it. Up in just 30 seconds on WMB. 321-768-1240 if you want in as we wrap up, Dave, does history on the Tuesday morning. So. They’ve even there were those in the colonies who who saw this differently. How prevailing? Was this idea?

Dave Bowman

The traditional rule of thumb is that there are third of American colonists who are what we would call patriots. A third who are. Tories or or loyal to the crowd, and a third that are just I don’t care. Just leave me alone. And of course, like politics today, it’s that middle section that you have to convince one way or the other. There are Tories. There are people who are loyal to the crowd and think about how radical this this idea is. Even the people we are going to call patriots right now have spent their whole life up to this point as loyal British subjects. What has pushed them to the point now where? They’re willing to say this is wrong. And we’re not going to tolerate. What does it take to push someone to that point? What it takes is a tyranny, A tyranny that says I rule you. You will do what I say. Even if you could make the argument that this isn’t really that big a deal, I mean, they cut the molasses tax 50%. Shouldn’t you just be happy with that? Can’t you just be OK with that? No, because what a tyrant does. Is he takes away your liberty, your self determination. This is what Julius Caesar was doing. It’s what King George the third is doing, and it’s why we consider them to be a tyrant.

Bill Mick

And today in America, Dave, we’ve got half the country that likes the centralized government wants to see it grow, wants to see it control all of these elements of everything and we’ve got. Another half and I would say less than half because how many on the right aren’t as far right as they need to be that are saying this is not the freedom we thought we had. Like when we opened the show this morning, how free is one part of the country compared to?

Dave Bowman

Another and how does that side that favors that stuff? Why do they favor? Because they’re getting something out of. Right. The government is in some way.

Bill Mick

That would be my argument, yeah.

Dave Bowman

Paying them off. This is exactly what Caesar did. This is exactly what he did. He paid off people. He paid off army. He bought an army. He bought off troops. He bought off leaders. He was Caesar’s general philosophy was don’t fight. If you can pay for it. And and he did a lot of that. So how’s everything?

Bill Mick

All right, very good. I wonder about how we respond today. Or do we have the ability to respond today the way we might need to line one. You’re up on, Bill. Mick live. Good morning.

Barry in Pam Bay

Yes, Sir. Good morning, bill. This is Barry in Palm Bay. Mr. Bowman, one of my favorite movies about this time was 1776 with William Daniels and Howard and Silver and Howard and others. And I, I don’t remember if there was a character.

Played, I don’t remember. Patrick Henry was in that movie. I don’t think so. But it was about, you know, the Declaration of Independence. Did Patrick Henry have anything to do with that?

Bill Mick

Thanks, Barry. Appreciate it. Good.

Dave Bowman

Well, his involvement in it is as a member of the House of the Burgesses. Yes he has something to do with it. In fact he’s the one who will in 1775 say give. Me liberty or? Give. Me death, which is really going to be a driving issue. I don’t recall if he’s in the movie. I didn’t write the script and I. Certainly didn’t write the songs so. Can’t tell you.

Bill Mick

Line 2 you’re up on Bill. Mick live. Good morning.

Bobby By The Beach

Good morning, Bobby, by the beach.

Bill Mick

Yeah. Bobby maker. Quick Sir.

Bobby by the Beach

Yeah, like you know, I think she’s a good point with the 30%, right is we’re really more there today than people realize. Look at, look at when they talk about the political Mystics, right, they can’t get that 25 to 35% to not be Democrat. And they don’t know who they are. Well. It’s it’s from the very origins of our country. You have roughly 1/3 of the people are going to be with it no matter what. You know, so you’re really fighting for the third percent, but the the media tries to give us the new political leaders give us perception. Everything is 5050. No, it’s not.

Bill Mick

Yeah, I think that I think that’s an accurate portrayal. Bobby got to move on line one. You’re up on Bill. Mick live. Good morning.

Steve in Melbourne

This is Steve from Melbourne.

Bill Mick

Steve, gotta make it quick about out of time.

Steve in Melbourne

Here, go ahead USA. USA is an example of this where you started cutting the USA. And then all the celebrities, politicians and stuff that were benefiting from USA were crying, that people, I mean, you got Bono going. 300,000 people are now dead in the world because we cut USA. That wasn’t even going to feeding people, you know?

Bill Mick

Yeah, exactly, Steve. It’s a good point. We’re about out of time, Dave. We’re a little over half a minute. I’ll let you. Bring it to a close for us in the film 17.

Dave Bowman

in the film 1776 Patrick Henry is played by John Voight. Next week we got we’re going to get into the Sons of Liberty next week.

Bill Mick

And we look forward to that. Thank you to the McPherson Financial Group for having brought you this hour. And Dave does history on Bill MCLA live tomorrow, a wide open Wednesday. Anything you like, whenever you call David, Rod, talk about that a little bit on what the frock and if you haven’t caught that linked up for you on today’s show page treasonous Tuesday. At billmick.com, Dave Bowman, thank you, my friend. We’ll talk next Tuesday. Sons of. Liberty. See you then.