If you are getting ready to call me a racist for the title of this blog, you shouldn’t read any further. In fact, you should immediately drop what you are doing and start informing the entire internet of my bigotry….they do say all publicity is good publicity. 😉

All right, now that it’s just me and the other racists, let’s get down to business.

The problem with the Civil War is that it cemented the idea of justifying Federal Government intervention into every issue that upsets some segment of society. Except to do that is to misstate the true lessons of the Civil War.
Sure, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and the Federal Military enforced it by the sword throughout the land, but that was just the end result. The true change in the country didn’t occur when Lee surrendered, it happened when Abraham Lincoln was elected. For the first time in eighty something years of our history, the nation had elected an openly Anti-Slavery President. Granted, Lincoln did not take a radical Anti-Slavery view until the war had progressed, but he was far more against slavery than any of his predecessors.
So, how did our nation elect such a man? Did congress pass some laws? Maybe a mandate from the Executive Branch or a Court Opinion?

Nope, Abraham Lincoln was elected because individual citizens of our nation organized, rallied, and fought for change. Not by regulation, but by resolution, the American people changed their country. For the entire life of the United States, people had worked against slavery through private actions such as the Underground Railroad and Abolition Societies. The early martyrs of the Abolitionist cause were not politicians or bureaucrats, but the writers (the bloggers of their day) and activists who ventured into hostile lands to spread their love of the cause. The precedent was partly set by George Washington, who despite not taking action against slavery during his Presidency, freed his slaves at the end of his life. The message was that slavery would come to an end through private action, not government mandate.
After decades of agitation, the public mind had finally accepted the idea that a man like Lincoln could be President. The election of 1860 was not a landslide since Lincoln only secured 39% of the popular vote, but our society had reached the point where change was obviously happening. Following Lincoln’s election, the South rebelled. Lincoln called for volunteers in the North to join to fight the war, but he was not supported by just the 1.8 million that had voted for him. Instead, he had the entire North lined up behind him. The majority of these men had voted against Lincoln, including several of the men who would be the most successful military leaders of the North. When it came time to support our country against disunion and slave power, they joined ranks with the Abolitionists and shouldered their weapons.
The Anti-Slavery movement had made such progress that even those who were not full supporters of the cause preferred it to the opposition. Times had changed in America and the activist citizen was responsible for it.

Those years of fighting the good fight is what we have forgotten. We have only remembered Federal laws being enforced by soldiers and believe that is how this nation is supposed to function.

Conservatives like to pin this type of thinking on the Liberal Left. Instead of getting involved in people’s lives on an individual level, they insist on the Government solving the problem. Welfare, Social Security, Obamacare and Food Stamps are an example of this mentality. Why should I help the homeless, uninsured and hungry?…that’s what we have the government for.
While the Left has fully embraced this type of centralized control of change, a large part of the Republican Party has as well.
Instead of fighting against abortion by passing laws and fighting in courts, we should be spending our money on outreach and support for expectant mothers and those most at risk for unwanted pregnancies. Passing laws against abortion may seem like a solution, but it doesn’t solve the culture that promotes abortion anymore than passing laws against drugs solves our drug problems. If you envision an America without abortion, than it is up to you to make that a reality. Time, money and effort is what are required, just as our forefathers led the fight against slavery.

Meanwhile, in New York City, Mayor Bill De Blasio has taken the Left’s belief in government centered solutions to a new extreme. Despite the fact that it would be very hard to argue that former Mayor Bloomberg was a radical right winger, De Blasio has declared war on Bloomberg’s legacy of Charter Schools in NYC. These Charter Schools have taken in 70,000 students from mostly poverty stricken minority communities, but to De Blasio, these Charter Schools represent everything that is evil. In a radio interview this week, the mayor seemed to make the case that the biggest problem with Charter Schools is that the private sector is so supportive of them. Imagine, minority children learning in an environment that isn’t completely funded and run by the government. The idea that concerned citizens can unite and make change happen outside of the Government is something that is completely at odds with the world the Left envisions. If people are able to better their lives without government assistance, then they are not beholden to the bureaucrats. A book I recently read about the Soviet Union’s methods for seizing control of Eastern Europe in the aftermath of WWII shows this belief in it’s most frightening aspects. Any community groups in these countries that was not directly run by the Russians or local Communist Party was pushed out of business. The leaders of the groups were forced either to turn the operations over to the Communists or lose their privileges of eating or living. Facing arrest and exile to Siberia, all of these groups fell under the control of the Communists.

Unfortunately for the Left wing in this country, they lack the support of the massive Soviet army that the Communists used to get their way in Eastern Europe all those years ago, so subtler tactics must be used. With bureaucrats, red tape and regulations have managed to create a disconnect between citizens and the causes they support. No longer does the average American trust in his power to change the country, instead he defers to the government and in doing so dissolves his connection with his community and country.

Categories: Blog Posts

Tags: America, Barack Obama, Bill De Blasio, Charter Schools, Civil War, Communists, conservative, Democrats, Education, Emancipation Proclamation, gop, Left Wing, Liberals, Lincoln, Mayor Bloomberg, Middle Class, Obama, Public School, Republicans, Soviets, Tea Party, Teaparty, ted cruz, us department of education, USSR