Grey Ghosts, Part Two: The Incubation of Tyranny
In part one, I discussed the meaning of the Confederacy, most notably its core ideology of resistance to centralized federal power. I also discussed the fatalistic religiosity of Southern faith, a strong brew of Calvinism and an ancient Celtic code of honor, that resulted in an offensive orientation to conflict- glorious against all odds, but ultimately fatal.
Thus, with the victory of the federal government over the states, the tyranny of the Equalitarians came to fruition. The horrors of Reconstruction ensued, and before long most of the country sympathized with the South’s fate as the Radical Republicans took off the mask and showed their full intent in reshaping the nation to fit the false doctrines of the Cult of Equality.
In 1876, something amazing happened. After two terms of incomparable corruption under the Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, Republican corruption went one step too far. They out-and-out stole the Presidential election of 1876 for Rutherford B. Hayes. The outrage that followed shook the foundations of the Republic- George McClellan, the most honorable and capable of Union commanders (the only one who faced Lee and never lost a major battle to him), even suggested that Union and Confederate veterans unite under his command to occupy Washington, DC and restore the rightful President, the Democratic nominee Tilden.
In a historic deal, Hayes agreed to demilitarize the South in exchange for Democratic support of his stolen Presidency. The deal was struck, and “Redeemer” governments supported by the people rose in the South that rooted out Republican corruption and largely shrank state government. It was one of the few eras in our history where government itself actually became less powerful, a victory for true conservatives.
And so it went, on the surface, until the Warren Supreme Court and its interference with states’ rights in the 1950’s and onward, explicitly admitting their intention to legislate policies from the bench that could never achieve popular approval. Meanwhile, as the central government grew through both world wars, imposition of an income tax, and the massive expansion of the New Deal, the convergence of central government supremacy and constitutional negotiability produced its fruit in the policies of the 1960’s and beyond. Tyranny came home to most Americans, as the federal government regulated who you can hire and fire, who you can sell your house to, opened the door to third world immigration, banned prayer in schools and finally gave the green light to the Abortion Holocaust as the coup de grace of the revolutionary era of 1954-1973.
But this we already know- while Radical Republican excesses caused a reaction that prevented tyranny for a time, we must acknowledge that our forefathers were right in their Second War for American Independence- and with the Confederacy died constitutional government in our republic.
And by acknowledging the reality of our extra-constitutional tyranny, we can see the potential limitations for working within the system- our acquiescence is no excuse. For if today a brave governor of Texas were to unilaterally declare the personhood of unborn children subject to protection of life by the state, and acted on this by arresting and charging abortion doctors with murder, we know the federal response; there would be troops on the ground in Austin within hours. Dubya himself, no doubt, would likely enforce the right to murder children based on the arbitrary ruling of the unelected Supreme Court- and the lack of enforcement of other laws, such as protecting our border from invasion, shows the true nature of the federal government. It is a tool of evil, preserved only by our consent and a temporary Providence of God.
But what is to be done? I think we can learn a lot from the zealous template of abolitionism used to promote tyranny over the Confederacy- but use it instead to end tyranny instead of create it. Details in Part Three….