Grand Old Partisan remembers Oliver Morton, a Civil War-era GOPer:
During the Civil War, Governor Morton blocked a Democrat ploy to withdraw the state militia from the U.S. Army by having Republican legislators walk out, preventing a quorum. For the next two years, he funded the state government with contributions from Republican counties and the War Department. When Secretary Stanton told him that the War Department’s (illegal) financial support for the state of Indiana would open Governor Morton to prosecution should the U.S. Government lose the Civil War, Morton replied: “If we lose this war, I do not wish to live.”
A few years later, as a U.S Senator, Oliver Morton had this to say: “Every one who shoots down negroes in the streets, burns negro school-houses and meeting-houses, and murders women and children by the light of their own flaming dwellings, calls himself a Democrat. Every New York rioter in 1863 who burned up little children in colored asylums, who robbed, ravished, and murdered indiscriminately in the midst of a blazing city for three days and nights, calls himself a Democrat. In short, the Democratic Party may be described as a common sewer and loathsome receptacle into which is emptied every element of treason, North and South, every element of inhumanity and barbarism which has dishonored the age.”
Strong stuff, but when the truth needs to be told, then one should tell it – and back in those days, what Morton was saying was 100% true. I bring this up for two reasons:
1. To add yet more proof of the GOP’s ancient concern for the rights of African-Americans.
2. To demonstrate that some times we must speak boldly – that when someone is doing something really horrific, we should be horrified and tell everyone how we view the issue. To hide behind mealy-mouthed words in the service of false amity is to play the part of a coward.
It is true that we must work for peace and for the calm settlements of our differences – but when one side continually usurps the rights of the people, continually protects their corrupt members and continually undermines the war effort in the service of partisan goals, then we are justly outraged, and we should say so. We have allowed, in the name of national unity, the Democrats to have too free a time with their partisan, hate-filled and corrupt attacks. Part of this stemmed from an admirable impulse on the part of President Bush (as well as John McCain, and others) to honestly work with Democrats for the public good, but another part of it stems from a fear of censure. Too many GOPers fear to be called divisive…and the absurd part of this is twofold: we’re going to be called divisive any time we disagree, and we’re being called divisive by those who feed on the divisions in our society.
What we must do is stand up and make our voices heard – remembering that while we may lose even so, at least we’ll at least lose honorably after putting up a strong fight.
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