Dear Nathan Bedford – I think that your analysis is spot on except for your use of the term RINO.
The Republican Party was founded in Ripon, Wisconsin on the ruins of and by a group of Horace Greeley promoted Fourierian socialists.
This communitarian group had been known as the Wisconsin Phalanx. This is disappointing because you obviously have a great working knowledge of American history. But regurgitating the Leftist propaganda that we have been fed by Progressive (Transcendentalist) Leftist professors with a slightly Conservative spin actually does a great disservice to our Framers. Many of whom had plans for Gradual Emancipation. Political Correctness arose from the attempt to cover up the failure of immediate manumission.
The actual truth of the founding of the Republican Party can be found at the Ripon, Wisconsin’s Chamber of Commerce’s website:
//www.riponmainst.com/riponmainst/hist.html
I would also suggest your taking a look at John Noyes, “The History of American Socialisms” – free at Google books:
//books.google.com/books/about/HISTORY_OF_AMERICAN_SOCIALISM.html?id=cCgdBuhYcy0C
I love your nom de plume.
My G-Great Grandfather employed another of this country’s greatest military minds Stonewall Jackson.
Col. Smith also hung my nom de plume. The tragedy was that (he) they stopped at one.
Many more should have been hung for treason and misprision of treason……………….
Regards,
Shubel
I am afraid that we are condemned by universal usage to call the Republicans the red party and the Democrats the blue party even though any reasonable approach would be to reverse the colors. Similarly, I am afraid the term, "Rino" has entered the lexicon in a way that does not necessarily comport with history.
Incidentally, I have been railing about the misuse of the word to "Swiftboat" when the media should be saying to, "Bork." I do not think I will win the fight either.
Finally, one can apply many criticisms of statism to Abraham Lincoln, our first Republican president, if one wanted to look into the historical origins of the party deeply enough. One might also make serious criticisms of the radical Republicans and reconstruction from a classical conservative perspective. The first progressive president, I suppose, was Teddy Roosevelt.
So I suppose one could say that the idea of a "Rino" comes about only in the modern conservative movement beginning with Bill Buckley and Kirk. But I take your point.
All the best,
