WaPo writer: ‘Today’s GOP is the party of Jefferson Davis’

[Valin]

Hot Air:

Matt Vespa

April 10, 2015

 

Yesterday, it was the 150^th anniversary of Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendering to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. It signaled the end of the American Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in our history. So, how does Harold Meyerson commemorate the occasion? By saying that today’s Republican Party is more like the party of Jefferson Davis.

 

Now, this is pretty good troll bait. Meyerson has an interesting bit in his op-ed about how the North-South business relationship during the antebellum South, where southern cotton plantations would sell to New York traders, who would then work with the British. Cotton was one of the reasons why the Confederacy hoped Great Britain would intervene on their behalf during the war; thank god the British Empire had bountiful cotton harvests in 1859 and 1860, and imported the rest from India and Egypt during the war.

 

Nevertheless, it was a very lucrative and profitable relationship. One that Meyerson contributes as a reason for New York City’s southern sympathies. Yet, this history lesson takes a rather aggressive turn:

 

 

The Southernization of the Republican Party and the increasing domination of Wall Street’s brand of shareholder capitalism over the nation’s economic life have combined to erode both the income and the power of U.S. workers. Unions are anathema to Wall Street and the GOP. Federal regulations empowering consumers and employees are opposed by both.

 

Fueled by the mega-donations of the mega-rich, today’s Republican Party is not just far from being the party of Lincoln: It’s really the party of Jefferson Davis. It suppresses black voting; it opposes federal efforts to mitigate poverty; it objects to federal investment in infrastructure and education just as the antebellum South opposed internal improvements and rejected public education; it scorns compromise. It is nearly all white. It is the lineal descendant of Lee’s army, and the descendants of Grant’s have yet to subdue it.

 

 

(Snip)