Charlie Paparella Revisits American History

DELMARVA – In this week’s edition of Back on the Road with Charlie Paparella, brought to you by Furniture & More Gone Coastal, Charlie sits down with Mike Hitch to discuss how the United States has changed in its 250 year history.

Hitch, a “born historian,” grew interested in history through his father, who worked as a social studies teacher for 30 years. Since he was six years old, Hitch remembers being quizzed on historical facts and growing up with non-fiction books on hand. He and Charlie sat down to discuss the revered General George Washington.

“George Washington positioned his army at Brooklyn and the British came in Long Island Sound and attacked and kind of whipped up on our Continental Army and chased George Washington back towards Manhattan,” Hitch tells Charlie. “Most historians, say that we had odds of at least 4 to 1 against us of winning the revolution, because the British were the greatest navy in the world at the time and we were just a young country with no trained army and no money.”

Despite these odds, half the people on the Delmarva Peninsula at that time were rooting for the patriot cause. However, the enemy was still admist them, as the other half of Delmarva supported the loyalist movement and King George III.

Charlie wants to know what happened in the Revolutionary War that was different than the way our country operates today? Hitch says it’s a matter of political polarization.

“I think social media has a lot to do with where you’re [either] way over to the left or wherever to the right, and nobody’s in the middle compromising anymore,” Hitch elaborates. “The Great Democratic Republic of the United States, has lived very effectively over 250 years by its ability to compromise… and I just don’t see that happening anymore. So, we need to get back to that I think.”

If you have a story idea that you’d like to see Charlie tackle, email them to papa@wmdt.com.