Sins of the Fathers

Another incident. More violence. I'm a liberal on the issue. Can't abide the narrow mindedness and harsh so-called solutions coming out of the NSA. But I'm no radical, either. The intentions of the Founding Fathers, as laid out in the Constitution, are very clear. And who are we to question their wisdom?

I tell my 8th-grade American History students that they have no idea how close we came to war over this, less than 200 years ago. Not just 8th-graders, either. Most of us have forgotten, I'm afraid. If that one election in 1860 had gone a little differently, it could have torn the country apart. There was a radical upstart party called "Republican" pushing some pretty far-out ideas, including abolishing slavery, and they almost won. Fortunately, the good old Whigs prevailed, and the Republican Party went the way of the dinosaurs. Good thing, too. There were some issues between North and South in those days, but once they agreed on slavery, everything else was negotiable. With the result that we are now stuck with the same ol' same ol' every election cycle. Whigs and Democrats, Democrats and Whigs. I sometimes think it would be a good thing to add just one other party to the mix. Shake things up a bit, y'know?

But about all these slave rebellions. The National Slaveholders Association is always taking the hard line, of course. Summary execution. No mercy. Expanded slaveholders' rights. If anyone suggests the mildest reform, such as reduced work hours, better rations, or improved medical care for slaves, the NSA screams that we're trying to take their slaves away. Good grief. No one is suggesting that. That would be too extreme.