The Party of Lincoln No More

Suddenly I feel for Responsible Republicans.
 
There is such a breed. I know some of them personally. Some of my best friends are Republicans!
 
They’re more conservative than I am – on most things. But they’re responsible people. Generally, they feel that America would be better off if government spent, taxed and regulated less. They’re more conservative on social and cultural issues. But nothing extreme or nutty.
 
Most of the Republican leaders in the legislature, like Speaker Thom Tillis and Senator Richard Stevens, strike me as being that way.
 
But hold the mayo here: A Public Policy Poll found that fully 65 percent of North Carolina Republicans either wish the South had won the Civil War or are not sure it was a good thing the North won.
 
Really?
 
The question was:  “Are you glad that the North won the Civil War or do you wish that the South had won?”
 
Among North Carolina GOP voters, 35 percent were glad the North won. Thirty-three percent – almost the same – wish the South had won. And 32 percent weren’t sure.
 
The poll didn’t delve any deeper, so we’re left to wonder. Do those 65 percent think it would be better for today’s America to be divided into two – or more – smaller nations? After all, if the Confederate states could secede, might not Texas, California, Oregon and Washington, the Mountain West, etc., etc., have decided to go on their own?
 
We could be just like Europe! Whatever happened to American “exceptionalism”?
 
Or is it that they think slavery really wasn’t such a bad thing?
 
This explains why a lot of Republicans got upset over the legislature – including Republicans – pardoning a Reconstruction-era governor who stood up to the Ku Klux Klan.
 
It also explains why Republicans risk blowing their best chance in decades to become a majority party in America.
 
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Gary Pearce

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The Party of Lincoln No More

Suddenly I feel for Responsible Republicans.
 
There is such a breed. I know some of them personally. Some of my best friends are Republicans!
 
They’re more conservative than I am – on most things. But they’re responsible people. Generally, they feel that America would be better off if government spent, taxed and regulated less. They’re more conservative on social and cultural issues. But nothing extreme or nutty.
 
Most of the Republican leaders in the legislature, like Speaker Thom Tillis and Senator Richard Stevens, strike me as being that way.
 
But hold the mayo here: A Public Policy Poll found that fully 65 percent of North Carolina Republicans either wish the South had won the Civil War or are not sure it was a good thing the North won.
 
Really?
 
The question was:  “Are you glad that the North won the Civil War or do you wish that the South had won?”
 
Among North Carolina GOP voters, 35 percent were glad the North won. Thirty-three percent – almost the same – wish the South had won. And 32 percent weren’t sure.
 
The poll didn’t delve any deeper, so we’re left to wonder. Do those 65 percent think it would be better for today’s America to be divided into two – or more – smaller nations? After all, if the Confederate states could secede, might not Texas, California, Oregon and Washington, the Mountain West, etc., etc., have decided to go on their own?
 
We could be just like Europe! Whatever happened to American “exceptionalism”?
 
Or is it that they think slavery really wasn’t such a bad thing?
 
This explains why a lot of Republicans got upset over the legislature – including Republicans – pardoning a Reconstruction-era governor who stood up to the Ku Klux Klan.
 
It also explains why Republicans risk blowing their best chance in decades to become a majority party in America.
 
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Gary Pearce

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