This is a big week in American history. 150 years ago Tuesday the first shots were fired in the Civil War. The media has been covering the commemorations of the historic battle of Ft. Sumpter that really wasn’t much of a battle at all, the Confederate soldiers from the south took less than two days to defeat the Union soldiers from the north.
I talked about this historic week with a media friend of mine and mentioned how difficult the sacrifices were in this nation at the time. I said, “Republican President Abraham Lincoln was nearly defeated by the Democrat who ran the Confederate States, Jefferson Davis.” First my friend questioned the political party of Davis, then he said, “Why do you always have to enter politics into this?” Hmm, the Civil War was rather political–so I took the occasion to point out how the media likes to ignore the politics when it doesn’t work to their favor, but love to enter politics when it suits their needs. I mentioned the tragedy in Tucson where the media made up its own politics to fit its template.
How many people do you think would know that Jefferson Davis was a prominent Democrat Senator from Mississippi, who (of course) supported slavery and believed in it so strongly that he was willing to destroy The United States of America over it? Probably not many.
The sheer brutality of the Civil War speaks to the sacrifice this nation made to bring to all Americans the promise of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” given in the Declaration of Independence. Lincoln used the words of our Founding Fathers as motivation to fight the bloodiest war in our history. He is the only President who served his entire administration during time of war. His first act in office was related to war, his last breath came prematurely as an act of war.
Along with Lincoln’s opposition, Republicans such as John C. Fremont worked to fight slavery. Fremont (besides having that famous street named after him in downtown Las Vegas,) was the Republican Party’s first candidate for President in 1856. His motto in that election was “free soil, free men, Fremont.” The very birth of the Republican Party was to fight the Democrats support of slavery. The media skips over that little fact today. (BTW, I know Lincoln and Fremont were not perfect—so go after ’em in the “Comments” section if you wish.)
Does this even matter today? If you believe it does not matter, then you have to say history does not matter. George Wallace, Bull Connor, Senator Robert Byrd and other prominent Democrats of their time were either active in the Klu Klux Klan, or they opposed Civil Rights, or both. President Lyndon B. Johnson could not have gotten the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed without Republican support in Congress. Percentage wise, more Republicans voted for Civil Rights in ’64 than Democrats.
Since 1964 the media has done a masterful job ignoring what the Republican Party has done to abolish slavery and insure civil rights, while they have painted Democrats as the saviors of minorities. This is their template that belies reality. Today’s Republican Party is full of conservative minorities who serve as brilliant spokesmen and women, but they get largely ignored by the activist in the old media who must keep their template alive.
There is another historic milestone this week. April 15, 1912—99 years ago, the Titanic sank in the icy waters of the North Atlantic. While our nation heads for the iceberg of debt that is destined to sink us into oblivion, the media is holding to its template that Dear Leader in the White House is the only one who can save us. The template must be protected at all costs. We’ve been down this road before.
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