RSS Feed MenuAs he stood in a line of battle that stretched 1,000 men across, three ranks deep, through farms and woodlots and waited for the command to forward march, I highly doubt 1st Sergeant Charles Broomhall, Company D, 124th Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1st Corps, Union Army of the Potomac, was pondering that September 17th, 1862 was the 75th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. Or if he did understand the significance of the date, while studying the damage being done by the solid and case shot from the corps artillery screaming into the smoke-obscured rebel lines formed up against them a mile to the south, did he truly ponder the consequences of the momentous event in which he was about to be a bit player. I often wonder how much men like Broomhall and his fellow soldiers understood that they were about to take the first bloody steps of America’s most tragic and violent day. When the hot September sun finally set upon the devastated battlefield near the Antietam Creek, nearly 23,000 Americans had fallen, making it the bloodiest day in our country’s history. But the course of the nation was forever altered, and the first true act of reconciling the promise of the Revolution as embodied in the Constitution to include all of its citizens had been initiated. Antietam finally provided the Union its first significant victory (if not the hoped-for destruction of Lee’s army) and with it the moral force Lincoln needed to announce his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation that he had tabled all summer while awaiting good news from the field. Today, September 17th, is indeed a date that Americans should celebrate as both the true birth of the constitutional republic, and the new birth of freedom for millions of Americans that resulted from the horrific battle fought along the sluggish creek’s banks.
September 17th is also a date that Republicans should look on with pride. We of the Grand Old Party can cast an eye across the chasm of time to recall the ideals of our most favorite son, Abraham Lincoln, arguably the nation’s greatest President. For seventy-five years following its ratification, the Constitution remained a fatally flawed document. It held forth that three million plus Americans of African descent held in bondage were property not people (although for purposes of House representation it was settled that they would count as three-fifths of a person!). The notion of slavery is viscerally repugnant to us today. The antithesis of who we are. But this is who we were. Through fifteen presidents in four political parties this practice was not only upheld, but was protected and, after the debates were over, seconded and signed with political compromises in 1820 and again in 1850 that kept men in chains for the sake of a faux peace. Neither solution lasted because neither solution rectified the fundamental moral crime of slavery itself which was an absolute wrong and unsustainable.
The great irony of the Civil War is that slavery, the one overarching and unavoidable question that was the incubator of all others, was the one issue that both sides agreed at the beginning was not what the war was about. And both sides were wrong. It finally fell to a Republican president to draw the line on the question. Cynics and racists will argue that Lincoln no more cared for the black man than did his Southern counterpart Jefferson Davis. And his earlier expressions give some weight to this, such as his oft-quoted claim that his primary goal was to save the Union, not end slavery (you know the one: “if I could free all slaves… if I could free some… if I could free none…”) But clearly a moral catharsis befell the man and by the summer of 1862 he was ready to make this a war about a higher cause than just union and free navigation of the Mississippi. All he needed was a victory to avoid his Proclamation appearing, as Secretary of State Seward warned him, “the last shriek on the retreat.”
Again the cynics will say that it was for political not moral reasons that Lincoln put forth his notion of emancipation — a foreign policy stiff-arm to keep the world power of England at bay and prevent their recognizing the Confederacy as France had our nation in 1778, tipping the balance of the Revolution in our favor. Only a naïve schoolboy would believe that such pragmatic notions did not play a role in Lincoln’s ultimate course. But from as early as an 1831 trip to New Orleans where he saw blacks so horribly mistreated, Lincoln seems to have formed a moral objection to the practice that was the foundation of many of his policies. He wrote often of how he hated the practice, calling it in 1858 a “monstrous injustice.” Even if the practical politician was forced to occasionally set it aside, the evil of slavery was always in his peripheral vision. And our great party was originally founded to end this practice completely, by first halting its expansion.
For me, the most disheartening chapter in the story of disarray that has been the modern GOP during the past few election cycles is the almost complete abandonment of our party by African-American voters. I realize that the nation has elected seventeen Republican presidents since Lincoln and that politics and indeed the nation has turned over many times since. But when 96% of any particular ethnic group votes for the opposition, something more than just the ebb and flow of political loyalties is in play here. Obviously the first black presidential candidate had much to do with the last election results, but what of the many before that which show African-Americans routinely casting their lots in overwhelming numbers with the Democrats?
I cannot speak for this nation’s many black communities. (I use the plural as I reject that there is one monolithic group here). But the ingrained mindset we must cut through to show that the Republican Party is not hostile to black interests is formidable nonetheless. It starts at the very highest levels of leftist academia and trickles all the way down to the urban streets. Consider Georgetown sociology professor, and ordained minister, Michael Eric Dyson’s take on Clarence Thomas (and I presume other black conservatives): ”White supremacy as a notion [can] inhabit black skin.” He goes on to offer that one can be “a ventriloquist as a black skinned person, saying ideas that are corruptive of a tradition of Black response.” To sum up Dyson’s thesis: “Blackness” as he defines it has nothing to do with skin color but rather one’s ideology and politics. And of course, the farther left your beliefs, the truer to your race you are. Thus the notion of “Uncle Tom” is alive and well in academia it seems. So long as this mentality is promulgated in the highest intellectual circles, dispensed as gospel by so-called “black leaders” who have a real political — and economic — stake in keeping the grievance machine humming, and then unchallenged and even endorsed by pop culture and the mainstream media, we have a tough road ahead.
Ironically, on social issues blacks as a whole fall more in line with conservatives than they do their self-appointed liberal spokesmen. It is thus on economic matters where the abyss is found. Again, this German-Irish writer would never presume to be an expert on the black experience in America. To my knowledge, I have never been denied anything in my life because of what I am rather than who I am. I therefore leave it to people like our African-American chairman Michael Steele and other spokespersons like Condoleeza Rice, J.C. Watts, even Colin Powell (should he return to the GOP in more than membership card) to develop the Republican case. I would implore Mr. Steele especially to create a serious playbook we can all implement. Educate us as to where the GOP has gone wrong, encourage grassroots organizing, town hall meetings, and other interpersonal encounters with black voters to help us roll up our sleeves and bridge past divides. Let Mr. Steele help us offer the notion that the Republican Party, by its very nature of treating all groups as equals (and not as wards of the state deserving largess, an approach that in the end destroys lives rather than builds futures) is where the true friends of the black communities can be found. That real political power comes from not being captive to one party alone, as this only encourages parties to take those votes for granted while discouraging the other side from even reaching out. We must break through with a message that we are a party that from its very inception was built upon the bedrock principles of racial justice which eventually would evolve into social, political and hopefully economic equality for all where no one need be treated differently… so long as all are treated fairly.
The Republican party, far from being hostile to blacks, must be re-packaged and presented for what we truly can do for African-Americans if they give us a chance. Our message should be this: we can in the 21st century empower black voters to finally free themselves from the economic and social shackles of big government dependence and Democratic cradle-to-grave condescension that buys votes but destroys generations, as much as our first President’s great Proclamation unlocked their literal chains in the middle of the 19th century.
So I implore all Republicans to mark today, September 17th, on their calendar and take a moment to consider its import. In 1787, a great constitution was drafted, and then in 1862, exactly three-quarters of a century later, a great and terrible victory won to right its inherent wrong. Consider that with the leadership of a great Republican, we took the first bloody steps to transform this nation from a slave to a free state on that day. That should Barack Obama stroll the fields of the Antietam battlefield where men like Sergeant Broomhall stood and fought and bled, that he is standing upon hallowed ground won by Union men under a Republican president which paved the way for his transcendental election 146 years later. And that if we could come so far from being founded as a slave nation, to fighting a terrible civil war to end slavery, to electing an African-American as our President in a span of two centuries, it should not be so difficult for this Grand Old Party to reclaim the mantle of Lincoln, and once again free black communities from the malicious grip of a systemic Democratic monopoly that has done them little good, while pretending to care for them so much.
agentprovocateur // Sep 18, 2009 at 12:01 am
So much for the farce of multi culturalism and embracing diversity, heh?
Embracing diversity doesn’t mean tolerating racism and treason. Surely you aren’t too stupid to realize that? Then again, you do constantly try to decouple racism and treason from the Confederacy.
EscapeVelocity // Sep 18, 2009 at 12:39 am
That is exactly what I tell traitorous haters and bigots who populate the Left in such large numbers that they form a majority.
Raider1 // Sep 18, 2009 at 8:26 am
Escape I think Grant summed it up best. At the surrender in Appomattox he wrote that he was “depressed at the defeat of a foe who had fought so valiantly”, though he believed it was for “the WORST CAUSE for which anyone ever fought”. (Remember, there had yet to be Nazis and Communinists when he wrote that!)
But that is past now. We need to consider how to take back this country from the leftists who have overrun it today without appearing to be a smal group of disgrunteld Southern White men (which the press lables us falsely) but rather people whom I believe share the same sentiments as most Americans regardless of color. That Black vote overwhelming Democrat today is rediculous. It’s like voting for a dealer to keep supplying you the drugs that are destroying you in mind body and spirit! In this case, as Schaefer says, “government largess.”
balconesfault // Sep 18, 2009 at 10:59 am
We need to consider how to take back this country from the leftists who have overrun it today
I think the first step would be to realize that the “leftists” running the country aren’t that left … and in many cases, occupy the center of the political dialogue on the issues.
Raider1 // Sep 18, 2009 at 11:38 am
How do you define “center”? What is centrist about wanting universal healthcare, appeasing enemies, shunning allies (the real ones), immasculating the CIA, cutting the military, wanting to raise taxes, etc. This sounds to me more like European Socialist dogma than old fashioned moderation.
Obama was considered to be the farthest left Senator when he was there. Consider his past assosications from Ayers to Wright to Dorn (sp?) to ACORN. Look at his appointments and his actions thus far (Afghanistan notwithstanding). He, Pelosi, Reed and others are as left as you get in this country without being considered “fringe radicals”.
balconesfault // Sep 18, 2009 at 12:35 pm
What is centrist about wanting universal healthcare, appeasing enemies, shunning allies (the real ones), immasculating the CIA, cutting the military, wanting to raise taxes, etc.
From the most recent polling I can find that actually uses the term “universal healthcare”:
Kaiser Family Foundation Kaiser Health Tracking Poll. July 7-14, 2009. N=1,205 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3 (for all adults).
“Do you favor or oppose … having a national health plan in which all Americans would get their insurance through an expanded, universal form of Medicare-for-all” N=609 (Form A)
Favor 58%
Oppose 38%
Uncertain 3%
Where I come from, if 58% of Americans favor something, it’s kind of centrist.
cutting the military
The most recent polling I can find on military spending was Gallup back in 2007:
The Feb. 1-4 poll finds that 43% of Americans believe the government is spending too much for national defense and military purposes, while 35% say the government is spending the right amount and 20% say too little.
That makes cutting the military a center-left position – certainly not extreme left, unless you believe that 43% of Americans are extreme left. And the military budget has increased since that poll was taken.
wanting to raise taxes
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. Aug. 28-31, 2009. N=1,010 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3 (for all adults).
“Do you think the Republicans in Congress or the Democrats in Congress would do a better job of dealing with each of the following issues and problems? . . .”
“Taxes”
Republicans 47%
Democrats 47%
Gallup Poll. April 6-9, 2009. N=1,027 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
“As I read off some different groups, please tell me if you think they are paying their fair share in federal taxes, paying too much, or paying too little. How about [see below]?”
“Lower-income people” Too much – 39%/Too little – 16%
“Middle-income people” Too much – 43%/Too little – 5%
“Upper-income people” Too much – 13%/Too little – 60%
“Corporations” Too much – 8%/Too little – 67%
From those responses, raising taxes on upper income taxpayers and corporations is a centrist position.
“appeasing enemies, shunning allies (the real ones), immasculating (sic) the CIA” are all opinions. I think you’re wrong, and Obama isn’t doing those things. You and a lot of right wing commentators think he is. Not relevent to this discussion.
EscapeVelocity // Sep 18, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Predictable,
The key raider is to get em young in the school system so that you have access to other peoples kids to brainwash them with Leftist dogma, K through Uni. Then reinforce those beliefs via media control. This is how you shift the citizenry and electorate Left generationally. As each generation comes online, you can shift the indoctrination even farther Left as their parents are already moved Left.
However the increase in bandwidth has allowed the media shield to be broken and dissenting voices to be heard.
Now we need to focus on the schools.
Elsewise all wins over the Left are phyrric victories, reargaurd actions.
All that will be Left of the European Left will be the Nazis and Neo Nazis soon, methinks. But that is because of its alliance with Islam or Islam proving the tired tropes of Leftwingism….multiculturalism and mass immigration, non stop bludgeoning the indigenous Europeans as racists and haters for not wanting to Islamize Europe. The assault on Western Civilization by the Left is more clearly defined by the Islamic mass immigration and multicultural tropes…than with any other group. And the Left cant keep the lies up too much longer, the violent or otherwise Islamic supremacists are growing in number and more confidence…they are acting and speaking out.
SpartacusIsNotDead // Sep 18, 2009 at 2:53 pm
raider1,
Do you have a substantive response to balconesfault’s post at 106 because he just obliterated you?
agentprovocateur // Sep 19, 2009 at 2:39 am
That Black vote overwhelming Democrat today is rediculous. It’s like voting for a dealer to keep supplying you the drugs that are destroying you in mind body and spirit! In this case, as Schaefer says, “government largess.”
I’m sure that telling black people that most of them are stupid and/or addicts is a wonderful part of a winning strategy to drive them into the Republican fold.
Raider1 // Sep 19, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Sparta:
1) “Cuting military” I should have said “cutting military in favor of increasing spending on domestic programs…” which is what we are talking about and I am too. No one denies there is waste at the Pentagon. that was a misquided opinion on my part. So, I would like to see data on how many AMericans support cutting the military in favor increasing domestic spending.
2) Until the GOP Bush tax cuts the majority of AMericans ore-2003 felt they all paid to much in taxes. He threw out a different issue. I would like to see what % of Americans (all of them) would like to see THEIR taxes raised. Everyone wants everyone else to pay more. But that is not what I am talking about becasue only a fool or blind Obama ideolgue would deny the eventuality of ALL of us paying more. Campaign promises aside.
And I think all Americans (myself included) would love to see a plan that coveres everyone while costing nothing more to the government or themselves personally. But the polls obviously show that AMericans believe that government cannot get it done. Thus only the eft shows a faith in government that belies reality.
As for my national security claims. Well, he didn’t address that at all did he? Just claimed that it was my opinion.
So in essence what he did was set up several straw men and “obliterate” them handily. Too bad his data points do not address my claims directly (one of which I admit was worded poorly).
As for Agent…I never claimed that should be GOP policy to say such things. But it is a legitimate observation nonetheless. I don’t recall using the word “stupid” Sorry. But many lower income people of whom many are Black ARE “addicted” to government largess. At their own peril. The truth hurts.
sinz54 // Sep 20, 2009 at 1:14 pm
spartacusisnotdead: All of the rights that blacks were attempting to vindicate were rights that were enshrined in the U.S. constitution
There’s nothing about a right to racially balanced public schools in the U.S. Constitution.
sinz54 // Sep 20, 2009 at 1:17 pm
escapevelocity: This was about the political and economic subjugation of the South (and the rest of the Nation) to the Northern Industrialists via control of the Federal Government.
That’s absurd.
Without slavery, on what POSSIBLE basis would the South have seceded from the Union?
And if they didn’t secede, on what POSSIBLE basis could any American president (Stephen Douglas probably) have asked Congress to declare war on half of the nation?
sinz54 // Sep 20, 2009 at 1:21 pm
raider1: But that economy was only viable so long as labor was FREE. A plantation could not function if it had to pay a wage. It was a broken business model artifically supported on (literally) the backs of millions of oppressed Africans.
Yep.
BTW, note the similarity to how agribusiness, and the “housekeeping and food service industries” (cf. Peter Venkman) depend on illegal immigrant labor today, men and women imported from Latin America to work in the shadows at wages below the minimum wage, and often in terrible conditions.
That too is a broken business model.
sinz54 // Sep 20, 2009 at 1:28 pm
balconesfault:
Here are some more recent poll numbers (from Gallup) than the ones you cited:
March 26, 2009
Fewer See U.S. Spending Too Much on Defense
Currently, 31% of Americans think the U.S. government is spending too much for national defense and military purposes, down 13 percentage points from last February….
September 15, 2009
Americans: Uncle Sam Wastes 50 Cents on the Dollar
Figures are 42 cents for state governments; 37 cents for local
by Lydia Saad
PRINCETON, NJ — Americans are markedly cynical about the amount of waste in federal spending, more so than at several other times in recent history. On average, Americans believe 50 cents of every tax dollar that goes to the government in Washington, D.C., today are wasted. That’s an increase from 46 cents per dollar in 2001.
You can get more of the details from their website.
As both Gallup and Rasmussen have noted, having a doctrinaire liberal in the White House who’s obsessed with bringing major “change” tends to make people “remember” why things aren’t so bad that we need all that much “change.”
You know the old saying: Better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t.
sinz54 // Sep 20, 2009 at 1:35 pm
raider1: We need to consider how to take back this country from the leftists who have overrun it today without appearing to be a smal group of disgrunteld Southern White men (which the press lables us falsely) but rather people whom I believe share the same sentiments as most Americans regardless of color.
To make common ground with us Northerners,
You really have to get over your bitterness and your own personal interpretation of the Civil War.
History has made its judgment.
And it doesn’t agree with you.
I believe “escapevelocity” and I would agree on lots of foreign policy issues, energy issues, and on the domestic issues of government spending and ensuring civil order.
But I’m proud of the fact that in the Civil War, the right side won.
However much defenders of the South try to rationalize it, the fact is they were trying to preserve an economy in which human beings–equal to themselves–were being treated as chattel. And this society was based on a scientifically wrong theory that a human being who had more melanin in his skin was inferior to white-skinned humans in many ways.
It had to end.
sinz54 // Sep 20, 2009 at 1:40 pm
agentprovocateur: I’m sure that telling black people that most of them are stupid and/or addicts is a wonderful part of a winning strategy to drive them into the Republican fold.
That’s not what he meant, and you know it.
It meant it metaphorically: That liberals hand out government largesse to black people to make them dependent on handouts and favors, much as a pusher hands out samples of heroin to get folks hooked on it.
I don’t think it’s deliberate.
But I sure got to see it firsthand.
I grew up in a poor neighborhood in which a lot of our neighbors were on welfare. We were friends with some of them, and we would offer to try to help them get jobs. They said why bother.
Most 9-to-5 jobs aren’t fun. And if someone offers you a welfare check that’s maybe 70% of what you could earn as a short-order cook getting the minimum wage, you might decide it’s not worth the extra few bucks to knock yourself out.
Jim // Sep 20, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Or, Sinz, we could all agree to draw a line under the past, say, “mistakes were made by all sides” and try to move forward together to build a better America. That was Reagan’s ideology, and it worked.
SpartacusIsNotDead // Sep 20, 2009 at 9:15 pm
sinz54 wrote: “There’s nothing about a right to racially balanced public schools in the U.S. Constitution.”
Of course there isn’t, and you’ve just chosen yet another straw man. The U.S. constitutional rights that are at issue are (1) the right to vote, (2) the right not to be discriminated against in school or commerce on the basis of race, (3) the right not to live wherever you can afford irrespective of your race, (4) the right to marry the person of your choice, and (5) all the other rights that conservatives attempted to deny people because of the color of their skin.
Are you really this stupid or are you just morally bankrupt?