ED SCHULTZ (08 OCTOBER 2013):
Your take on what we're facing right now in this country.
JESSE JACKSON:
Looking at the resize of the Confederacy, the same group narrowly conceived -- anti-labor, anti-racial justice, anti-gender equality, anti-the big American dream, that tried to take us down in 1860. It was the Fort Sumter tea party, its progenitor, and Lincoln had to fight a war to establish the Union from them and to end slavery. This is the resurrection of the Confederacy.
All I can say..well, Bugs says it better:
As the media puts it, the Republicans should have a dialogue with the Democrats to try and iron out our differences. It is interesting that if this dialogue is to take place there are a number of concessions that would be expected of the Republicans but I never hear of any concessions the Democrats would be required to make or expected to make.
ReplyDeleteAs such, to begin with there is no way to have a fruitful dialogue when the other party is not expected to make any concessions. If only one side is expected to make concessions, this would be better known as surrender rather than negotiations.
Even assuming we can get past that and the Democrats would be required to or were expected to make some reasonable concessions, how can any agreement be enforced? Due to the intense media scrutiny Republican officials face in this and all other matters they would have to abide by any agreement made. The Democrats don't face much media scrutiny in this area. As such, there is currently no way to ensure they will abide by any agreement reached. There needs to be some mechanism in place to enforce the agreement before negotiations can begin.
Additionally, as long as prominent Democrats like Jesse Jackson are comparing Republicans in general and the "tea party" in particular to the Confederacy, I see no prospects for successful negotiations. In order to have successful negotiations, each party must respect the other. It seems clear that Jesse Jackson does not respect Republicans. As a prominent member of his political party, it can only be assumed his views reflect those of party leaders.
Respectfully, it seems to me that "tea party" in the modern case references the Boston Tea Party event rather than an event a Fort Sumter. If he actually got to know these people, he would likely know this.
If the modern "Tea Party" personnel were alive during the mid 1800s, based upon their values and their actions, it seems highly likely that these people would have been at the forefront in leading the battle to end slavery and would have figured prominently in supporting and operating the underground railroad that helped slaves escape to their freedom during this era even risking the lives of themselves and their families to do this.
If Mr. Jackson really supported freedom, he'd get behind the "tea party" and support it with every thing he has. By his refusal to do so I can only conclude he wants something else.
Finally, a bit off topic but perhaps Republicans and "tea party" types should take a lesson from Vladimir Putin. He recognizes that when dealing with Democrats he is not dealing with decent people. He alluded to this in one of his talks. Of course Mr. Putin has a compliant lap dog media to help him in his battles with America and Barack Obama, the Republicans do not. As such, the strategies used by "tea party" personnel and Republicans will be different nor am I suggesting Republicans or "tea party" personnel become Vladimir Putin. I am suggesting an excellent start to dealing with Democrats and people like Jesse Jackson is to understand we are not dealing with decent people.
Republicans and the "tea party" make the mistake of thinking we dealing with decent people who simply have different opinions than ourselves. This is not the case. Our thought processes need to be adjusted on this.