Posted by
Cato on Thursday, April 16, 2009 11:29:32 AM
We have been hearing pundits use historical references in comparing today's situation to the past. Well in one respect we are reliving the 1850s. A populist movement arose against what it considered injustice. That injustice was the spread of slavery. The Whig Party shattered and weak, overcome by the Democrats, was on the verge of disintegration. People felt it was soon to be on scrap heap of history. Its best chance for survival would have been to tap into the rising populist movement but it did not.
Ex-whigs, anti-Slavery Democrats, etc. fled their parties to create a new political force in America. Because the Whigs would not champion their cause and make it part of the Whig Platform, they formed their own party. It would be called the Republican Party.
The new party soon placed people in office and within 6 years would capture both the Congress and the Presidency. Also note, they ultimately met their original goal. Not only was the well-entrenched institution of slavery stopped from spreading, it was ultimately eliminated in the U.S. Their party now became a national powerhouse that continued after its primary goal had been achieved and the Whig Party ceased to exist. If the Whigs had fully embraced the movement to stop the spread of slavery, that party would probably still be on our national ballots.
Today, the Democrat leadership is pushing a new slavery. They want to enslave the whole country to a gang of leftist bureaucrats and Congressional corruptocrats by stealing as much of the workers money as possible to finance their plans for social engineering. The Republican Party now finds itself in the position of the Whigs in the 1840s and 1850s. They must either embrace this populist movement whole heartedly of be consigned to the ash heap of history.
If the populist movement of the 1850s could do it then we can do it in the 2000s. We too can meet our goal if we are committed enough. So, if we cannot get the existing parties to listen to us, like the Antislavery people of the mid-1800s couldn’t, then, just like them, we will start our own party, the Tea Party.