A Few Words on Lincoln, Federalism, and Cynicism

Later today except for some overseas ballots, the popular voting will be completed for President of the United States and federal congressional elections (some state races will go to run offs). We'll likely know then or tomorrow morning who will be the President and what political party(s) will control the House and Senate.

The Republicans, alas, are not the party they were long ago. They like to call themselves the party of Lincoln, but their values are contrary to what he and the early Republicans stood for. The Republican Party was formed in the 1850's expressly to oppose the notion of "popular sovereignty," a catch phrase used in the  1840's and 1850's to mean local jurisdiction to extend slavery despite federal agreements and laws that would limit it. Many seem to have forgotten -- if they ever knew -- that Lincoln's Republicans wanted a strong federal government and opposed the notion that slavery should be accepted through local fiat and contrary to federal policy. Indeed, a war was fought over the issue, and we, as a nation, won.

The Civil War was fought over the dual issues of slavery and the supposed trampling of the federal government on "states' rights," at least if the resolutions of southern states to succeed from the Union are believed. Obviously, Lincoln stood against the Southern position; while he did not seek to have slavery abolished immediately, when it became apparent that no compromise with the South was possible he and Congress did so. The Republican position on "states' rights" had its genesis in the position of the Federalists and Whigs, both of which supported a strong federal government. The Republican party was founded as a response to the infamous Dred Scott decision and the repudiation of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, a repudiation obtained by pro-slavery states righters and which resulted in the reopening of some territories to slavery via the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The idea was that local and state governments should decide for themselves whether they wanted slavery, and that federal control over the issue should not be exercised. Lincoln's debates with Stephen Douglas were primarily over this issue

Sadly, the Republicans now happily embrace notions similar to "popular-sovereignty." They have sold out their roots , perhaps unwittingly in many cases.

There's a larger historical tragedy here, as well, and that is that many Republicans and their Tea Party cohorts claim they are staunch defenders of the Constitution, and they have forgotten the roots of that, too. The U.S. Constitution was enacted after the failure of our nation under the Articles of Confederation, which originally governed the U.S. and reflected a "state's rights" view of government. To suggest that the Constitution was enacted to protect states' rights is absurd. It's goal was to create for once a strong federal government, and the states expressly abandoned some of their sovereignty in entering it.

In their zeal to prevent broad federal programs and prevent regulation modern Republican pundits and politicians have repeatedly tried to paint all government as disfunctional and morally wrong, to evade and distort the facts, and to substitute straw horse issues to rail against when their policies fail.  Republicans have stalled judicial nominees and the judicial nomination process; they have acted as obstructionists in the Congress instituting a record number of filibusters; they have appointed numerous panels to "investigate" the Democrats all while have a phenomenal number of ethical lapses themselves; they have broken cooperation pledges; and they have done this while saying that their primary goal is to bring the Obama administration down.

There is a cynicism reflected in the positions of Republican power brokers that, in my view, is poisonous to the United States. They seem to look down on the people they represent, and, perhaps with some justification as they manipulate it, seem to think little of the polity's ability to remember prior Republican misconduct and failure, praying on ignorance and bigotry in lieu of facts.

So we shall see what happens today and tomorrow. I am hopeful enough, I suppose, for us all.

Part of this post appeared previously in my post Why I am Not a Republican and is posted here as part of my 2012 election series.