Discussion for article #234176
It’s “Pettus,” not “Pettis.”
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It’s enlightening to juxtapose the responses of conservatives and many “libertarians” to the events in Ferguson and to that incident in November 2010 when John Tyler screamed “don’t touch my junk!” at a TSA airport checkpoint. Conservatives such as Charles Krauthammer praised Tyler’s outburst as “the anthem of the modern man, the Tea Party patriot, the late-life libertarian, the midterm election voter.”
In retrospect, Tyler’s encounter at that TSA checkpoint was pretty trivial compared to what the citizens of Ferguson have had to endure. It’s curious how the same people who were screaming “Tyranny!” in response to the Tyler incident have no empathy for the people of Ferguson.
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Excellent column. Thank you, Mr. Kilgore.
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go look up the declaration of secession of Georgia or Mississippi or practically any of the states of the Confederacy. Aside from the numerous references to slavery (which definitively debunks the outrageous lie that the Civil War was about ‘states’ rights’ not slavery), they could have been written by any modern teabagger. One of the few non-slavery-related grievances was federal aid for fishermen in the Union states, for chrissakes. Yeah, that’s worth seceding over.
Teabaggers are also (not so) mysteriously absent when it comes to real oppression of minorities by the police. Gunhumpers routinely rant about the right to bear arms as a way to resist tyrannical government, but I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t support sincerely aggrieved black folk shooting back at the cops.
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Excellent and right-on article. Exactly right. Thanks Ed and TPM.
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Show me a Republican and I will show you a lying hypocritical racist.
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“…they could have been written by any modern teabagger…”
sconosciuto:
I like this analogy. It demonstrates what I call the “180 degree turnabout” – accusing others of one’s very own misdeeds.
It happens with one to one personal relations all the way up to large political segments.
In politics it seems to work.
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Named after an icon of Dixie’s establishment bigotry: cousin to Jefferson Davis, student of Willam Cooper (no, not James Fennimore’s father, and not the porn producer, but quite a bit less arguably redeemable Alabama lawyer), OTT defender of slavery, general in the Army of the Confederacy, hunter of runaway slaves, Grand Dragon of the Alabama chapter of the KKK, U.S. Senator for Alabama.
Recently I saw a piece that argued for renaming the bridge by replacing the name of Edmund Pettus with that of John Lewis. I have no difficulty accepting that Lewis has earned such a honor (tho others have similarly strong claims), but I disagree. IMO we should be content that the local political authority no doubt will keep Pettus’ name on that bridge – and thus the peaceful protest march across it and the local and state police attacking those marchers.
Neither is likely to happen in my lifetime, but I’d support either naming the roadway over the bridge for Lewis, or renaming the thing the Lewis-Pettus bridge, so long as Lewis’ received priority.
Upon every reminder of American racial bigotry - every day, most days multiple times – it never fails to strike me how U.S.A. also stands for Union of South Africa (1910-1961). Comparisons are odious, but especially here because at least the African version stripped out its racially bigoted place names and held a serious institutional-level confrontation over the practical horrors of its imperial and apartheid past - whereas we can’t even get a frickin’ bridge renamed.
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Ed, I’ve been reading PA since the Benen days, and I suppose I’ve read every one of your 316,832 posts there. But this is the smartest and most insightful thing I’ve ever read from you, and that’s a pretty high bar. Thank you.
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One of your best, Ed. Bravo.
Well done! A thoughtful and poignant article of the hypocrisy on the right and the enduring stain of racism and tyranny by members of the majority who hold power.
The history behind the march that remembered the sacrifices of those who were on the receiving end of the blows on Pettus Bridge points to the two most important developments in the last half-century of American public life: the complete inversion and eventual realignment of the political identity of the formerly solid Democratic Confederate South, and the forceful entry of white Evangelical Christianists into partisan politics on behalf of the Republican Party. The fact that these two developments are directly intertwined has made their impact particularly toxic and far-reaching. Ed points out what virtually no mainstream political commentators are willing to: that today’s Republican Tea Partiers are the direct ideological and cultural descendants of southern segregationist Democrats like Wallace and Lester Maddox. The farcical insistence today by elected Republicans and the white Evangelical Christianist/Tea Party base that there is a liberal “war on Christianity” echoes the constant characterization of the civil rights movement as destructive of white Christian rights by white churches across the south in the early '60s. The widespread eruption of open and virulent racist commentary by white Republican politicians and white Republican voters since the nomination of Obama in 2008 indicates how deeply embedded racism actually was all over the country, particularly in the former states of the Confederacy.
The business and corporate interests that have always been a significant part of the GOP’s power structure quickly grasped that appeals to Southern white racist resentment, conservative Christian identity, and the anti-Federal government lunacy of the John Birch Society that was potent in the far west would yield tremendous electoral advantages, particularly in non-Presidential years in state elections. The capture of so many state legislatures in the 2010 debacle enabled Republican legislatures to reconfigure Congressional districts all over the country to the GOP’s advantage, which virtually cements into place a significant Republican counterweight to demographic changes favoring the Democratic Party. If the GOP manages to capture the Presidency in 2016 while maintaining control of the Senate, the reactionary judges that the new Republican President will place on the Court will be in position to undo a huge portion of the progressive and New Deal reforms made in the previous century.
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The Conservatives are using the same playbook used by the Chilean fascists who overthrew Allende: their watchword was “FREEDOM” from regulation by the government, too, and it meant only one thing–the big industrialists freedom to exploit anybody and anything for their gain.
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I agree with the sentiment but the trick here is there’s no hypocrisy for the conservative if you only view governments role as protecting property rights which Rand and the growing libertarian wing of conservatism does. So it’s “tyranny” for the government to tell you how to run your private business in any way (including forcing you to do business with black people) BUT it is the governments role to ensure you can use your property, thus removing protesters (by any means) who may be blocking access to your business is O.k.
Now I’m not agreeing with this, just showing what I’ve learned after years of talking with libertarians the justifications they have when you only view governments role as that of protecting of private property.
“…what I call the ‘180 degree turnabout’…accusing others of one’s very own misdeeds…”
That sounds like a fancy name for a preemptive use of the schoolyard “I’m rubber, you’re glue…” taunt.
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What conservatives willfully ignore is usually referred to as “Reality.”
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With this assassin’s knife and a blackjack in the hand of the Federal force-cult, the left-wing liberals will try to force us back into bondage.
But, but, all my right-wing-nut friends say it’s liberals who are racist! How could George Wallace be so wrong about this?
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Hear, hear!
Kristol would have been better off ignoring this incident like he does so many other ones that highlight his view of the world is wrong.