TEA PARTY AND THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA

While Steven Spielberg’s movies, Lincoln is still fresh in our mind, conduct a little thought experiment by trying to answer the question. “What would have happened if the South and won the American Civil war?”  What if the North had said it is not worth it; let them succeed. As we all know, there were seven deep southern states historians consider upper south, which included Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. It is interesting to note that soon after they succeeded, Georgia wanted to succeed from these original 11 states, which gives a little insight into the mindset of the leaders. The only real glimpse we have of what they might as an independent nation is to look at what they did during the Civil War years when they for all practical purposes were self-governing. Among the many sources of information, Eric Foner and John Garraty’s Readers Companion to American History (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1991) gives a concise review of that period. What struck me was that just about everything the confederate States of America did in Montgomery, Alabama, the seat of their government, went wrong: no taxes, a ruling elite, apartheid structure, and individual liberty for some. A brief review of this list makes it clear that everything they did runs parallel to what the Tea Party is proposing for our current government.

The Confederate governing body instituted impressments of private produce, livestock, machinery, and transportation equipment to benefit the military instead of taxing land, cotton, and slaves. The obvious result of despotic governance was charges of a, “rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight”. The reason for this runs deep in the human genome. The South preserved, a more appropriate word would be ‘conserved’,  the heritage of their Scottish and English ancestors, but especially the Virginia colonies where royal immigrants, now recognized as rich elites, who at first imported indentured servants to serve their needs followed by slaves—working class. In the North, the Union government had dismissed this class-based society taking the power from the rich and giving it to the people, ironically Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were part of the Virginia elite.

Had they won or been successful in succession, the Confederate States of America probably would not exist today but if it did, it would be the worst kind of third world military dictatorship; at least that was their direction. When modern Republican Gov. Rick Perry threatens to take Texas out of the Union my first response was go ahead—do it. However, after my flush of anger at his foolishness subsides, I say no! Many good Texans would suffer. Because of this mental exercise as discussed in this blog post, I think I have a good feel of what the consequences would be if the Tea Party takes over the government of the United States of America—a democracy that is the envy of the world. History gives real meaning to the words ‘conservative’ and ‘progressive’. Again the lesson outlined by history can only have meaning if given flesh by the simple but eloquent words of Maya Angelou, “If you learn, teach”.

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