The Republican Charade

[fastpat]

The Republican Charade: Lincoln and His Party

by Clyde Wilson

I want to take a look at this strange institution we know as the Republican party and the course of its peculiar history in the American regime. The peculiar history both precedes and continues after Lincoln, although Lincoln is central to the story.

It is fairly easy to construct an ideological account of the Democratic party, what it has stood for and who it has represented, even though there has been at least one revolutionary change during its long history. I generalize broadly, because all major political parties since at least the early 19th century have most of the time sought to dilute their message to broaden their appeal and avoid ideological sharpness. But we can say of the Democratic party that through most of its history it was Jeffersonian – it stood for, at least in lip service, a limited federal government and laissez-faire economy, and it represented farmers and small businessmen, the South, the pioneer West, and to some extent the Northern working class. This identity for the most part even survived the War to Prevent Southern Independence. Clearly, the party in the 20th century came to represent a very different platform – social democracy as defined by the New Deal and the Great Society – and a considerably different constituency. In either case, onlookers have had a pretty good general impression of what the party stood for.

It is nearly impossible to construct a similar description of the Republican party. The party that elected Lincoln was pretty clear about some things, like the tariff, although it may have been less than honest about the reasons. It was obfuscatory about other things. Since Lincoln took power, it has been difficult to find a clear pattern in what the party has claimed to represent. The picture becomes even cloudier when you compare words and behaviour. This, I believe, is because its real agenda has not been such that it could be usefully acknowledged.

Apparently millions continue to harbor the strange delusion that the Republican party is the party of free enterprise, and, at least since the New Deal, the party of conservatism. In fact, the party is and always has been the party of state capitalism. Read the rest of the article

Dr. Wilson is professor of history emeritus at the University of South Carolina and editor of The Papers of John C. Calhoun.

[bryanthompson]

the second rule of OT:

2. No pointless threads or excessive posting allowed: Yes, this is an off topic forum, but let's keep the subject matter of an intelligent nature. If you're bored, play a game on your playstation or better yet, wash your car! Posting responses to increase your 'number of posts' is also not allowed.

Pointless, excessive, unintelligent... yep, hit 'em all. Good work.

the south shall riiiiiiise again!

[fastpat]

Originally posted by bryanthompson
the south shall riiiiiiise again!

In 1998, North Carolina National Bank bought Bank of America. That's just one example of the fact that the South has risen, you're miles behind the power curve, son.