The mythic ‘Lost Cause’

There has been a flutter in the news over Nikki Haley failing to mention slavery as the cause of the Civil War when she was questioned.  Of course the questioner was a Democrat “plant” as she said. This was a “town hall,” not a party rally. Your critics get to ask you questions. If you want to be on the big stage, you have to be ready for this kind of thing. This was no “dirty trick.”

My concern is that Haley knows that slavery was the cause of the Civil War, and her pause before answering the question were the gears of her mind quickly turning to come up with a different answer. She did not want to say “slavery” because that would offend a large part of the Republican base. She should not have worried, those people would never vote for her anyway. She only needs to read her own South Carolina’s 1860 declaration of secession to understand what the Civil War was about.

I have read all of the articles of secession. South Carolina’s is par for the course.

What is often missing in basic American history courses is the social and political nature of the antebellum South, that being an oligarchy and police state. White male suffrage was not universal in the South. Southern states imposed property ownership requirements for voting. Also missing is the efforts of the South to impose slavery upon all of the United States. Southerners wanted to bring their slaves to Manhattan when visiting. They also wanted to carve out a slave empire in Central America and the Caribbean. Southern states were brutal police states. All white males with the exception of legislators in session were required to serve on slave patrols, including judges. Criticism of slavery was forbidden. One cannot have a slave-holding society without a brutal police state.  That has been true since before the dawn of written history. Today we are still told the myth of the “Lost Cause.” Unfortunately, in some political circles it is still forbidden to deny the myth of the “Lost Cause.”

The question we should all be asking is why was Nikki Haley afraid to counter the narrative of a mythic past, the “Lost Cause?”

When will this end?

Carl Blondin, Stillwater

Banned from the ballot

Don McLean wrote a song about the day the music died. Well, 50 years later Democracy died.

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 decision to keep Donald Trump off the ballot. Not only that but if any Colorado voter voted for Trump, that vote would not be counted.

According to the AP, “Colorado’s highest court overturned a ruling from a district court judge who found that Trump incited an insurrection for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, but said he could not be barred from the ballot because it was unclear that the provision was intended to cover the presidency.”

The Colorado Supreme Court banned Trump from the ballot even though he has not been indicted or found guilty of this charge.

This is pure election rigging by this state and sets a dangerous precedent for others to be left off of any ballot with charges that have not been presented or proven. What would stop any state from leaving off any candidate from any position?

Thomas McMahon, White Bear Lake

His own doing

I hope with all my heart that when November of this new year rolls around the ex-president has been removed from all ballots.

I also believe that his mean-spirited man’s tendrils are long enough and sharp enough that he will prevail in his objections and the country will be the loser. This man’s “promises,” i.e., threats, are serious and need constant and immediate attention by all voters. I, for one, will not be the fool who lets him get by with his reprisals and retaliation against the prosecutors, attorneys general and judges who are doing their best to give these matters the study and deliberation they deserve. If the greatest sore loser ever prevails it will be at our collective cost. Everything that is caving in on this man is his own doing but he can’t even absorb the truth and consequences of his actions.

Patrick F. Quinn, St. Paul

No immunity needed

In my opinion, former President Trump does not have to claim immunity from prosecution for Jan. 6, 2021, because he clearly stated to election protestors to “protest peaceably and patriotically.” You cannot misconstrue that. Therefore, no immunity needed.  This is another “Trumped-Up” charge.  He did not engage in insurrection against the United States. Amendment 1 of the U.S. Constitution gives the right of the people to “peaceably assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” It’s time to tell the truth about Jan. 6. Some may have not protested peaceably but it was noy President Trump.

Tom Shelton, New Brighton

Liz Cheney stands up

There are very few people that I would call an American hero, but right now Liz Cheney is one of them.

I am a liberal Democrat who never in my life would have thought that I would call her a hero, but times are dire and she has called out an American pariah and stood up to him.

She is fighting hard to save our democracy and her party; hopefully people of her party will hear her and help her save her party and our democracy by never reelecting Donald Trump.

— Gregg Mensing, Roseville

Ignorance of history

The opinion pages continue to be dominated by hatred of our previous president.

Yet one more expression of hatred surfaced on Dec. 23 where the news featured a story about a University of Minnesota art professor, Melanie Yazzie,  who called to “decolonize and dismantle the U.S.” During her speech she said  “It’s our responsibility as people who are in the United States to go as hard as possible to decolonize this place because that will reverberate all across the world. Because the U.S. is the greatest predator empire that has ever existed. So we want U.S. out of everywhere.”

This raises a few questions about the overtly indoctrinated professor. Why is she so ignorant, especially about world history? How about the very large Roman and British empires? Why do you hate this great country so much? How does the U of M justify retaining and giving cover to misguided thinking such as this? How many other professors share her views and work to get their students to think like them?

Higher education is failing in its key roles and is devolving into an unrecognizable morass.

Tom Acheson, Maplewood

Look to the east?

The letter writer who wrote about “Look to Wisconsin” must have been dreaming. Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker did great damage to the hard working public union workers in his state. His union busting hurt the Wisconsin middle class and started a long downhill spiral.

Then the writer praised Sen. Ron Johnson, but didn’t say anything about what good he he may have done. Well, Johnson has strongly supported former President Trump and his conspiracies about his failed 2020 presidential election and insurrectionist behavior against our country.

Then the writer praised that the ultra conservative Wisconsin Legislature is fostering cuts in educational “diversity, equity and inclusion.”  Thank goodness for Gov. Tony Evers, who said he would veto these bad initiatives. Wisconsin parents will always have the right to do what they believe “is right for their children.”

Better ideas could be explained by those with conservative values, but not yet by this writer.

Gary Thompson, St. Paul

The Wisconsin Way?

To emulate our neighbor to the east the Minnesota Legislature would gerrymander the state election districts. They would fragment the districts in illogical configurations to ensure a one-party super majority for the foreseeable future. Once this power was in hand they would refuse to confirm state official nominations made by the opposition party governor. They would politicize all state institutions according to some narrow ideology. They would weaken public union activities. They would attack local election officials if election results were not to their liking. They would move to muzzle the inclusion of popular questions on election ballots. That would be the Wisconsin Way.

Joe Danko, North St. Paul

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