HMS Romney

The only thing that would make this fascinating bit of history better, would be the HMS Romney having been a French, rather then a British, ship. Even so, there is some rich irony in the fact that the British dispatched the Romney to Boston in 1768 to help enforce the Townshend Acts, which were a series of laws passed by the British Parliament to raise revenue in the American Colonies. In other words, these were taxes.

The Colonists reacted very strongly to the passage of the Townshend Acts. All of that fiery rhetoric about "no taxation without representation" would eventually lead to the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and the American Revolution. The Romney was involved in such things as impressing local sailors into the Royal Navy, providing a refuge for tax commissioners who were fleeing the mob, and the Romney even seized a vessel belonging to John Hancock. Yes, that John Hancock.

The Obama campaign should commission a reproduction of the Romney, in the form of a parade float, and send it around the country. JFK's campaign did something similar with his famed boat the PT 109. Of course, the intention there was to celebrate the heroism of the commander and crew of the PT 109. In this case, it would be to draw attention to the fact that a British warship named HMS Romney was, in effect, a tax enforcer during the American Revolution. It would be a clever, and intelligent, way to educate the voters about their own history, and that of the presumptive Republican nominee for president.