Save your Confederate Money...

“April is the month in which the people of Virginia joined the Confederate States of America in a four year war between the states for independence that concluded at Appomattox Courthouse.”
- Gov Bob McDonnell’s Declaration of Confederate History Month

"I think this country is on the edge of a rebellion."
- Newt Gingrich, quoted by NBC News, speaking to the National Lawyer's Association.

"Do they not know that the Yankees have got the atomic bomb now?"
- Former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes (D), quoted by the Athens Banner-Herald, on Georgia Republicans threatening to secede from the United States.

The controversy around Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s (R-Va.) declaration of Confederate History month misses a larger point. What drove most of the coverage was McDonnell ‘s failure to mention slaves or slavery in his proclamation. Would his declaration been a good one had he mentioned slavery?

No.

But McDonnell really doesn’t care because the proclamation was an anti-government dog whistle to other nullifiers and state’s rights advocates, and in that context his declaration was dangerous. These positions strike directly at the roots of the Union.

The doctrines of “States Rights” and “Nullification” where were used in defense of slavery throughout the early and mid 19th century. They led directly to the Civil War. Let’s not romanticize this war. 11 states committed treason. That treason resulted in four year of armed conflict that killed 600,000 soldiers. For an equivalent casualty rate in today’s population, 5,000,000 US soldiers would have to fall in Afghanistan. The Civil War left one region of the country so economically prostrate that it took 130 years to recover.

All of this so people could own people.

Now these same doctrines are being thrown around again, in a cynical attempt by the Republican leadership to raise money and gain votes. Since 1964 the Republican Party began basing their doctrines on smaller, less intrusive government. Slowly from Reagan on the doctrine has shifted from big government is wrong to government is wrong. Once you get to government is wrong the next step is either to cripple the government or end it.

Consequently, the nullification doctrines are gaining political currency in the Republican Party. The strength and success of this country has been a strong central government that binds the interests of states as different as Idaho and California, Maine and Florida together. Hack at those bonds, and you risk breaking the country apart. We would become 50 different government entities going their separate ways. Washington DC would have no more power than Brussels does in the European Union.

All this so health insurance companies can deny people coverage for pre-existing conditions.

As the 15th Anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing approached, President Clinton warned that the anti-government right was becoming more dangerous. In the mid 90’s the anti-government radicals were independent and disorganized. A lot of them were weekend warrior wannabe’s running around in the woods in army surplus gear, hiding from “black helicopters” and hunting for codes on the back of road signs that were supposed guide an invading US Army.

Today they are the Tea Party movement.

They are organized and educated and much better off financially. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/us/politics/15poll.html) The leadership of the Republican Party is actively courting these groups. We see this from comments like Gingrich’s, Gov. Rick Perry (R-Tex.) who advocates secession; through Palin with her reload and gangster government comments; and of course Fox News.

In the 1990’s the Republicans were firmly planted in the middle of the American political process. Since then, the radical right has completed their takeover of the Republican Party. Now, the Republicans are moving outside this process and are increasingly advocating change by attacking the government itself. The result is elected Republican officials spouting doctrines that are tantamount to treason.

There are no center or middle wings of the Republican party to counterbalance their positions. The Republicans did nothing to tone down the near riots at last year’s town hall meetings. Instead they tried to exploit them for political gain. The Republicans didn’t loudly condemn the actions of Joe Stack when he flew his plane into an IRS building, killing one worker and injuring a score of others. This silence speaks volumes as a background to reports of death threats against members of congress who voted for Health Care reform.

McDonnell and his followers are giving aid and comfort to doctrines that were discredited and discarded with a tremendous cost of life. The Republican leadership may think they can control these philosophies but they can’t. History is full of examples of conservative establishment political figures, who failed to contain radical elements they thought they could control.

The Republicans need to learn from this history and be cautious. Instead, they are whipping up the Tea Party movement into exactly the kind of populist, anti-government mob the framers of the constitution were afraid of.