May 15, 2002
Dear BuzzFlash:
How surprised should we be to discover that the Republicans are going after Abraham Lincoln? Once the "Party of Lincoln" but now the "Party of the Confederacy," they are slandering one of our greatest presidents to score anti-government points.
If you listen to their radio programs and read their magazines and web sites or otherwise follow what the "conservatives" are talking about, then you know that the old "South shall rise again" stuff is coming out of the closet and is entering the "mainstream" of Republican thinking. The right-wingers are starting to spout that the South was the morally right party, and the North’s victory is what led to the hated federal government we have today. So how surprised should we be by this, now that the entire Republican leadership is from the formerly Confederate states?
Anyway, I was listening to a local Republican station last week, where they were interviewing Thomas J. DiLorenzo, author of a book, The Real Lincoln. To quote from an online review: "Today’s federal government is considerably at odds with that envisioned by the framers of the Constitution. Thomas J. DiLorenzo gives an account of how this came about in The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War."
Well, just read for yourself:
From http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?salesurl=&isbn=0761536418, "Through extensive research and meticulous documentation, DiLorenzo portrays the sixteenth president as a man who devoted his political career to revolutionizing the American form of government from one that was very limited in scope and highly decentralized - as the Founding Fathers intended - to a highly centralized, activist state. Standing in his way, however, was the South, with its independent states, its resistance to the national government, and its reliance on unfettered free trade."
And from a post, "When John Wilkes Boothe jumped onto the stage at Fords theater, and said Sic Semper Tyrannis; He was right! Death to Tyrants!"
Washington Times: http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20020321-90276020.htm, "Lincoln believed that his ends justified his means. He used war to destroy the U.S. Constitution in order to establish a powerful central government." And, "Lincoln was an American Pol Pot, except worse. Pol Pot's barbarism was justified by the Marxian doctrine of class genocide to which he adhered."
Dixie Daily News, http://www.southerncaucus.org/, "DiLorenzo Wins World Net Daily Debate - Of course because the South Was Right in fighting to defend limited constitutional government & free trade through low tariffs."
OK, so the right-wingers are going after Lincoln now. Why do I think this is connected to the Republican Party? I recently read David Brock’s Blinded By the Right, in which he details his former life as a “right-wing hit man” and traces the web of billionaires and organizations, all linked to or run by the Republican Party, that employ operatives to do nothing but crank out right-wing crap like this. If you read this book and look at what these guys are doing and who is winding up in key positions in the government, you realize that the Republican Party IS this web of organizations and money. Blinded By the Right is a profound book, and reading it has given me a clearer view of how the right-wing operates and what their methods look like.
So I wonder to myself, is Dilorenzo another "right-wing hit man?" If you get on google.com and follow “Thomas J Dilorenzo” through the web you find the usual pro-tobacco articles ("Cancerscam, Diversion of Federal Cancer Funds to Politics," "Politics versus Health: The American Lung Association's Regulatory Agenda"), the anti-environment stuff ("Suburban Legends: Why "Smart Growth" Is Not So Smart"), the usual Republican anti-government stuff ("Government's assault on freedom to work," "Why socialism causes pollution"), the institutes (The Independant Institute, The Maryland Policy Institute, Cato, Capital Research Center), the right-wing funded pseudo-academic credentials (Chair of Free Enterprise at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Center for the Study of American Business, Washington University), the corporate-funded phony consumer organizations (Consumer Alert, Chairman of Advisory Council) and of course the Republican websites cranking it out (free-market.net, conservativebeacon.com, townhall.com (Heritage Foundation), washtimes.com, etc.)
It’s the same old story. This guy is just paid to crank this stuff out. All the signs that we're looking at another Republican operative. Try it yourself sometime when you read a right-wing piece in the Op/Ed pages. Plug the author’s name into Google and see what else you get. See if you find the usual litany of pro-tobacco, anti-government distortions paid for by the web of right-wing institutes.
And when you start hearing that slavery was actually good for the slaves and especially good for the economy, don't be too surprised. The "Party of Lincoln" is now the "Party of the Confederacy" and their agenda is becoming all too clear.
Dave Johnson
* * *
