Years ago I came across a fascinating series of lectures by Andrew Galambos, called V76, which focused on the significance of Thomas Paine’s thought and his crucial role in the American Revolution (and Galambos’s contention that Paine was the actual author of the Declaration of Independence, not merely its intellectual inspiration). The files had been available at this link, but have since been taken down. I recently found them at another page on the Internet Archive, which describes it thusly:
This is an open source download of a 3 session course by Andrew Galambos, delivered live in 1966, entitled ‘The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Paine and Your Freedom.’
The audio files are available below.
See also Robert Wenzel, “Who Really Wrote the Declaration of Independence?,” LewRockwell.com (July 6, 2013).
In my searching I also came across a related discussion of these lectures, Principles In Liberty 56, by Sanford Staab, recorded on 11/30/2010, which is here:
Staab’s notes are reproduced below:
Andrew J. Galambos (http://www.galambos.com)
V76 Lectures
00:37 I wont pay for the v50 lectures because I don’t understand Galambos – why even after he is dead his trust will not release the content of these lectures openly. I see no reason for Galambos to demand income from these lectures.
01:00 He published the V76 lectures free recently. See links above.
01:26 Galambos is a political thinker who believes it is possible to create a society that doesn’t use force.
01:45 Remember Spooner – a similar “anarchist” type, also a Deist.
02:07 The secrets of this is locked up in the v50 lectures.
02:26 I was impressed.
02:35 Galambos is hard to listen to due to his pauses in his speaking.
02:50 My Summary of V76.
03:50 Paine’s “Common Sense” was read by 1 in every 6 Americans.
04:24 Paine’s “Crisis” was 13 letters used to inspire the volunteer army troops during the revolutionary war.
05:00 That war was totally voluntary – no taxes used.
05:41 Paine started as a corset maker, failed, became a tex collector, failed, got reinstated, failed again, left for America on advice from Ben Franklin and wrote for a Pennsylvania magazine which he brought back from near collapse by writing all the articles under pseudo names. Paine wrote articles against slavery and for women’s rights in that magazine.
06:30 Paine became a radical principled man. Paine was a Deist as is sounds like Galambos is as well.
06:50 Likely the confusing of the reformation turned people off and gave rise to Deism which dismisses many issues of religion – very close to unitarian thinking.
07:40 The goal of Paine to do good for the world in some ways shames many christians I know. Deists seem to care more about that world that Christian’s do.
08:20 Galambos seems to feel the world (in the 50s) had less than a century left due to our WMD technology.
09:00 The would-be rulers of the world seem to care not about the world itself.
09:15 Galambos asserts that Paine wrote the initial version of the Declaration of Independence and that what ended up being used was a watered down version that came out of committee. Galambos gives pretty persuasive evidence to support Paine’s authorship of the Declaration of Independence.
10:20 Paine invented steel bridges and got involved in the French Revolution and narrowly escaped a beheading in France.
10:50 Paine died a “pennyless wretch” as some have told me. But the reason he died this way was because he gave everything he had away and never took all the credit due him from his writings and inventions.
11:00 After hid death bad biographies appeared which tainted the name of Paine in history.
11:30 Galambos feels that Paine didn’t go far enough and that we should have abolished government altogether. Galambos feels there is a scientific way to get to a force-free society and protect all property including intellectual property without compulsion.
12:38 We live in an age of corruption. I don’t yet accept the premise that there is a way to conduct society without the use of force.
13:05 Galambos’ arguments remind me of the utopian communist view of the state withering away after the revolution.
13:45 Why is Galambos’s stuff not out there in written form?
14:00 Volitional Science SHOULD be able to be boiled down to a few pages of key points and spread efficiently around the world.
14:44 Galambos points out that Paine had the ability to put ideas into a form that made things happen.
15:00 Galambos emphasizes that to get to freedom you don’t fight tyrany. You fight FOR freedom.
15:45 I look forward to checking out the V50 lectures and relating that to you in a later podcast.
16:40 Government schools have taught us to be slaves.
17:25 Galambos loves Isaac Newton.
17:58 Lyndon LaRouche does NOT like Newton. An interesting conflict.
18:45 The logic of Newton allows reason to dump God. This sets the Desist up to take over. Add Darwin and we are done with God.
19:25 We are now in the post-modern Man-is-God position. But we are trying to move back.
20:20 closing remarks.
***
Related:
- The Galambosians strike back
- “Around this time I met the Galambosian.”
- Was Galambos an IP Thief?
- Galambos the Crank
- Shades of Galambos: Man tries to copyright his name
- Galambos and Other Nuts
- Rothbard and Galambosians
