Charles Pierce of "Esquire" magazine blogs that the Republican Party is subversive of the Union.

Charles Pierce of "Esquire" magazine blogs that the Republican Party is subversive of the Union.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a33605/how-the-gop-subverts-the-republic/

In the Fall 1984 Southern Partisan magazine (Vol. 4 No. 4) by Republican Mississippi U.S. Senator Trent Lott explains how the "spirit of Jefferson Davis lives in the 1984 Republican Platform."

Page 44

Partisan: At the convention of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Biloxi, Mississippi you made the statement that "the spirit of Jefferson Davis lives in the 1984 Republican Platform." What did you mean by that?

Lott: I think that a lot of the fundamental principals that Jefferson Davis believed in are very important today to people all across the country, and they apply to the Republican Party. .... After the War between the States, a lot of Southerners identified with the Democrat Party because of the radical Republicans we had at the time, particularly in the Senate. The South was wedded to that party for years and years and years. But we have seen the Republican Party become more conservative and more oriented toward traditional family values, the religious values that we hold dear in the South. And the Democratic party has been going in the other direction. As a result of that, more and more of The South's sons, Jefferson Davis' descendants, direct or indirect, are becoming involved in the Republican Party. The platform we had in Dallas, the 1984 Republican platform, all the ideas we supported there --- from tax policy, to foriegn policy: from individual rights, to neighborhood security --- are things that Jefferson Davis believed in. 

Page 46

Partisan: Well, you were very successful early in the administration, with the economic program, but so often when it comes to an issue of great importance to the South --- one that comes to mind is the renewal of the punitive Voting Rights Legislation -- even some of our Southern Republicans seemed to have backbones of jelly. You are one of the few who took a stand against that legislation which, with the "effects test," is far worse than the original version of the legislation.

Lott: We tried to improve on it; we tried to hold off some of those changes that make it even more punitive, and the "effects test" is one example. But I have always maintained that if the same laws were applicable to say, Queens, New York that are applicable to other Southern states, Queens wouldn't be in compliance. ... There is no escape hatch for us. They are still trying to exact Reconstruction legislation that is just not fair. [In the interview this was followed by a lengthy complaint that if you vote against civil rights legislation people say you are against civil rights.] 

Page 47 

Partisan: We have another example which seems to defy political reality. The Republican party gets very little of the black vote. Yet when you come with a controversial issue like the King holiday, which more or less made Martin Luther King a symbol equivalent to George Washington, you find a vast majority of Republicans --- even Southern Republicans -- going along. Where is the gain for the Republican Party? The one instance where it has been disproven as a political advantage, Jesse Helms was 200 points down in North Carolina before he made this a more issue with his opponent. Then Helms pulled up to a neck-and-neck position in the poll. 

Lott: Well, I think it is a mistake to vote for something like that. It is either needed or not, it is either right or wrong. And I would not vote for another national holiday for anybody, including Thomas Jefferson. I would vote for eliminating some of the ones we already have, as a matter of fact. Look at the cost involved in the Martin Luther King holiday and the fact that we have not done it for a lot of other people that were more deserving. I just think it was basically wrong. ... 

Sons of Confederate Veterans Lt. Commander-in-Chief on Michael Brown and Eric Garner and the #BlackLivesMatter campaign.

Sons of Confederate Veteran (SCV) Lt. Commander-in-Chief Thomas V. Strain Jr. in the March/April 2015 issue of the "Confederate Veteran" magazine, official publication of the SCV on pages 8-9, is contemptuous of the #BlackLivesMatter campaign.

Strain comments:

"The United States are enduring some troubling times currently. We have young men with no guidance attacking law-abiding citizens and law enforcement officers in the streets of this country. Moreover, when the officer what is necessary to in many cases to remedy the situation and protect the innocent, they are being called murderers."

Strain feels that the police are vindicated by government investigations. The real problem Strain feels are leaders in the African American community and others demonstrating against these deaths.

Strain asserts:

"This is not a black-and-white issue: it is a right--versus-wrong issue."

Strain then complains about civil rights leaders and writes:

"To make matters worse, a certain group of self-appointed leaders, who wish to prosper from the very people they claim to be helping, don't speak of peace, and instead call for riots and more violent acts."

Strain doesn't mention the #Blacklivesmatter campaign by name but it is very clear in the article that he is talking about that campaign.

Strain then writes:

"You are probably wondering what this has to do with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the answer is a simple one."

Indeed people might ask the same question.

Strain explains:

"Reconstruction is where the very seeds were planted for such situations and in those years is found the root causes of where much of this began."

Strain explains that Reconstruction usurped the power of the states and resulted in a centralized state with "direct democracy" which results in dependency and social problems.

The rest of the article goes on to claim that Reconstruction was an oppression of the South and for SCV members to fight for the historical truth about the Confederacy and Reconstruction.

Yet, though it is quote clear that the SCV has a racial agenda and isn't just a "heritage" organization, there are those Civil War historians who insist on calling the SCV a "Southern heritage" group and deny that there is a neo-Confederate movement.

Change.org petition against inducting Confederates in the Florida Veterans Hall of Fame. UPDATE: Names have been withdrawn.

This is the petition.

I just signed it.


https://www.change.org/p/governor-rick-scott-the-florida-legislature-and-the-florida-department-of-veterans-affairs-don-t-induct-confederate-soldiers-into-the-florida-veterans-hall-of-fame?just_created=true

These people shot at American soldiers and they weren't members of the American army and their efforts would have destroyed America.

UPDATE: Names have been withdrawn. Though I think additional signatures would help make this petition a deterrent against future attempts.

Commitments of the Confederates to the Confederacy

The Lost Cause advocates like to portray the Confederacy as a heroic effort by people in the South. No doubt some people were heroically committed.

However, it is the Confederate policy on taxation that speaks to the level of commitment of Confederate elites to the war effort.

Whereas the American government raised tariffs and implemented an income tax and also added many other taxes to raise money and prevent inflation and pay for the Civil War the Confederacy decided to print money to pay for expenses.

Wars cost money, lots and lots of it. Even in those days it cost a lot, boat loads of money.

During wars there is a big demand for goods and services by the government and it can be inflationary with the huge amounts of money the government is spending. However, with taxes you can pay for some of the war expenditures and with revenue you can sell bonds since people know you have revenue and taxes and bonds pull in money and this keeps inflation somewhat under control.

However, resorting to the printing presses and talking about glory doesn't work well for paying for a war. Flooding the country with banknotes results in inflation which makes purchasing war bonds a donation to the government and they don't sell sufficiently. It then becomes a race between printing banknotes and rising prices. The story of financing a government solely by printing banknotes is story that has been repeated many times and the consequences are well known.

The Confederates had the example of the bank notes of the French republic during the French Revolution and the bank notes of the American Revolution to show them the consequences of printing money to finance the government.

It might be argued that there wasn't much in terms of precious metal currency (specie) or similar things to support paying taxes, but there could have been payment in goods for taxes. Also, with taxes in Confederate currency goods could be sold for that currency and used to pay for taxes.

Elites in the Confederacy were quick to draft people and send them off to die, but when it came time for them to cough up some money, they weren't willing to do what was necessary. The glory of the Confederacy wasn't worth it to them to give up the glitter of gold.

This shouldn't be surprising. Slave owners are those who engage in the brutality of slavery for gain, it shouldn't be expect that in general they should be willing to sacrifice for a common good.