Southern state Republicans are on the verge of accomplishing legislatively what the Confederate generals could not achieve on the battlefield over 160 years ago — winning the Civil War. Or at least accomplishing all of the goals that motivated the South to secede in the first place.
The forces for and against slavery stood at the symbolic center of the pre-Civil War era, and slavery was the tangible outcome of a belief, held by Southern male leaders, that all men were not created equal and that a self-sustaining oligarchy of powerful male leaders was the correct form of government.
An article by David Daley in the Washington Post on July 16 outlined the latest steps lawmakers in Texas were taking to further gerrymander its congressional districts to favor Republicans. The article concludes with a harrowing observation:
“And now, the same courts and state legislatures that tilted the maps so dramatically are executing the next phase of a long strategy that ends with entrenched lawmakers and one-party rule.”
When I read that conclusion, while also noting that Trump’s administration includes at least 10 billionaires (only one is a woman), I was struck by the fact that today powerful male leaders in Trump’s administration are pushing to achieve a permanent and self-sustaining oligarchy, based on their belief that they know what is best for all Americans. That sounded to me a lot like what Southern Civil War leaders were pushing for, and today’s Republicans are very close to achieving it — very close to “winning” the Civil War.
After the battle of Gettysburg in July of 1863, there was a November memorial service at the opening of the Soldiers National Cemetery in Gettysburg. Edward Everett, a noted orator of the time, spoke for two hours, and then Abraham Lincoln stood up and spoke for two minutes (272 words). Lincoln’s address cut to the heart of why the South seceded, why the horrific Civil War was being fought, and what was at stake.
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”
We clearly face the same existential question today.
I have always thought that the equalizing force in America is that each of us has exactly one vote, and that, by definition, the lower 90% of Americans on the income scale have nine times as much voting power as the top 10%. The painful reality of this simple math is that the top 10% or 1% or 1/10th% seem to be rapidly accruing the power to minimize the impact of the lower 90% through gerrymandering, shockingly immoral misinformation, and fear mongering. As the Trump administration and Republican states work feverishly to consolidate power among a few wealthy men, to gerrymander districts to assure one party rule, and to create a de-facto oligarchy ruling this nation, we need to work just as feverishly to stop it. As Lincoln urged us, we must resolve that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
