Political reporting is full of reference to Republicans being secessionists or Confederates

I am somewhat overwhelmed by the reporting over the government shutdown and partisan politics referring to secessionists, neo-Confederates and the Confederacy.

Here is the latest article at www.Salon.com online.

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/09/right_wing_coup_deluded_secessionists_have_already_won/

The title is, "Right-wing coup: The deluded secessionists have already won," by

Thanks to a confluence of three events, the S-word — secession — is once again in the air. In Washington, new questions are emerging about whether the United States can function as a unified nation after a partial government shutdown was engineered by a largely regional party — one whose home territory looks eerily similar to the Confederacy. Adding to the questions about the viability of the post-Civil War union is the fact that the shutdown has been orchestrated by aTexas legislator whose state party stalwarts — including its governor — seem to support secession, to the point of taking concrete legislative steps to prepare for independence. On top of all that, in states across the country, incipient secession movements have sprung up only a few months after secession petitions flooded the White House website.

Then there is this article, "Tea Party's Shutdown Lunacy: Avenging the Surrender of the South." Doug Henwood is interviewed. Link below.

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/09/tea_partys_shutdown_lunacy_avenging_the_surrender_of_the_south/

Then there is this Michael Lind article, "Tea Party radicalism is misunderstood: Meet the Newest Right."

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/06/tea_party_radicalism_is_misunderstood_meet_the_newest_right/

I think Lind makes a very good point by saying that people misunderstand the Tea Party by trying to portray them as backwards. In my research on the neo-Confederates though I think they are very reactionary and need to be stopped, I was never stupid enough to think that they are stupid. If I thought they were stupid I wouldn't have bothered to research them. Lind writes:

The third misconception is that the Newest Right is irrational. The American center-left, whose white social base is among highly-educated, credentialed individuals like professors and professionals, repeatedly has committed political suicide by assuming that anyone who disagrees with its views is an ignorant “Neanderthal.” Progressive snobs to the contrary, the leaders of the Newest Right, including Harvard-educated Ted Cruz, like the leaders of any successful political movement, tend to be highly educated and well-off. The self-described members of the Tea Party tend to be more affluent and educated than the general public.

This is a Gawker story about a Republican House Representative who in his historical analogy made the Republicans the Confederates.

http://gawker.com/gop-rep-compares-shutdown-to-gettysburg-republicans-to-1442038231

Then there is this article where a former Republican operative calls Tea Party Republicans "neo-Confederates." Raw-Story also reported on this.

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/08/ex_gop_insider_unloads_blame_neo_confederate_insurrectionists_for_shutdown/singleton/

At Bloomberg a columnist says that comparing the Tea Party is wrong, they are more like Calhoun's nullification supporters.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-08/tea-party-tactics-lead-straight-back-to-secession.html

This is the Washington Post article, "The Rise of the New Confederacy," which  I blogged on a little while back.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-10-04/opinions/42713963_1_federal-government-south-carolina-union

This article refers to the South, the Confederacy and the Affordable Health Care Act in the Daily Beast.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/03/how-the-south-blocked-health-care-for-those-who-need-it-most.html

A lot of these articles are at Salon but they all aren't.