There is a great article today In a Blog by Doug Muder, titled The Weakly Sift, titled "Not a Tea Party, a Confederate Party" [Not a Tea Party] which so expresses what I've been feeling for some time. That it adds some additional clarity. He writes about how Lincoln agonized about the Civil war, while he realized after after reading the book "Jefferson Davis, American" that Jefferson Davis wanted to prolong it. He then notes that, although the USA won the first part of the civil war:
"Here’s what my teachers’ should have told me: “Reconstruction was the second phase of the Civil War. It lasted until 1877, when the Confederates won.” I think that would have gotten my attention." Weekly Sift]
The Gingrich "Contract on America"
And they won again, in a massive transition from the 1950's to when it became complete under Newt Gingrich and George Bush with the evolution of the "Southern Strategy" from a means to win votes in the south, to a vehicle for Southerners to take over the entire country.
Another clue that hit me recently was an offhand comment in a book on George Washington about Southern Libertarianism, coupled with some comments about Southern slave-holders who (paraphrase can't remember source):
"Believed, in their libertarianism, that their right to liberty included an absolute right to property, and that that right to property meant they should be "Damn well" able to take their property where-ever they wanted to. That sense of entitlement to oppress others was reinforced by Justice Taney upholding slave rights based on the constitution to hunt down slaves anywhere in the country and to spread slavery to the west as the country expanded." [maybe me]
Libertarianism is about personal liberty, but not the liberty of everyone. It claims to be about liberty of opportunity but it's not about equality of opportunity. And it's darn sure not about Equity in the law or commerce. I used to think that Ayn Rand and Austrian Con Artists invented it, but in fact it's been a feature of the South, and many Americans, since Colonial times. As I quipped in a recent facebook post:
"The GOP currently owes more to Jefferson Davis than Abraham Lincoln."
It's a Darn Shame. Lincoln was elected partly because he researched the history of the extension of slavery and showed that the fathers of the country had outlawed slavery's extension into Ohio and been majority abolitionists. That is what set the South Off. Not the other excuses they invented later. He wanted to prevent the extension of slavery into even more states. He wasn't for eliminating slavery until the slaves started freeing themselves and it seemed expedient to free them as contraband. Jefferson Davis' behavior and the response of the rest of US inspired him to agree with abolitionists.
- July 8, 2012 Starve the Beast Destroy Democracy [http://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2012/07/starve-beast-destroy-democracy.html]
- October 15 2013: The Southern Empire Strikes Back [http://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-southern-empire-strikes-back.html]
- September 6 2014: Southern Strategy and the War on the Poor [http://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2014/09/southern-strategy-and-war-on-poor.html]
- September 16 2014: Why the Confederacy was Unconstitutional [http://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2014/09/why-confederacy-was-unconstitutional.html]
- Article being Reviewed:
- Not a Tea Party, a Confederate Party [http://weeklysift.com/2014/08/11/not-a-tea-party-a-confederate-party/]
- Book he was reviewing:
- Jefferson Davis, American [http://www.semcoop.com/book/9780375725425]
- Lincoln:
- Review of the "Kings Best Highway" [http://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-kings-best-highway.html]
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