by Gene Wisdom
And so I joined many of my fellow
conservatives for the Constitution Refresher class on August 17 organized by
the 9-12 Project of Tennessee and taught by attorney and Tea Party leader Hal
Rounds, and held at Three Brothers Restaurant in Murfreesboro. It is a good thing for activists to reflect
on their animating ideas and Mr. Rounds provided an excellent opportunity to
immerse ourselves in our charter of government, its history, and ideas, and how
it was designed to bind that government.
He did an excellent job in the
eight hours provided of detailing how our Constitution was shaped by Founders
who left the Old World seeking freedom and opportunity, and took us through the
Declaration of Independence and then through the document itself as well as its
amendments. All this while taking
several questions from the audience. If
there was a disappointment in the presentation it was that it is not a week long
or even a full weekend course. I would
love to have seen more flesh on the history and principles of the Constitution,
more discussion of the disagreements even among fellow conservatives on such
ideas as incorporation (of the Bill of Rights through the 14th Amendment), nullification, and judicial review as well as a more detailed
examination of Supreme Court opinions.
There was one exchange toward the
end of the course which I did find rather disturbing. The instructor mentioned the “might have
been” of a Congressional payment to former slaveholders as compensation for the
loss of their “property” (i.e., their slaves and fellow human beings) following
the Civil War and the Thirteenth Amendment.
When I mentioned the clear injustice and evil of paying one group of men
for enslaving other men I was met with defenses such as slaveholders paying for
brogans for their slaves and the expense of providing them with
homes/shelter. It seemed to escape them
that farmers provide shoes and barns for their horses but that treating
humanely is not the same as treating humanly—and morally. Not to mention the further injustice of
asking other Americans to pay for compensation of this evil. If anyone stood to be compensated it was the
former slaves themselves by having their life and liberties stolen and beaten
from them. Oh, there
were the hand-wringing protestations of “Of course, it’s evil”, but the tenor
of the discussion was a not understated, “But it wasn’t that bad.”
This was but a very short, albeit
troublesome, exchange in what was a very rewarding and fruitful weekend of
being reminded and taught why our Constitution is important and why devoted
activists in the Tea Party, 9-12, ACT for America, and dozens of other
organizations in our state and nation continue in daily honorable efforts to
protect it and our liberties. Energy is
good, activism is wonderful, but we must not neglect our education in the principles
we seek to defend. Thank you, 9-12 and
Mr. Rounds.
Gene Wisdom is an Alabama native but has lived in the Nashville area since 2007. He, his wife Vicki, and their dog Savannah live near Nolensville. Gene is a conservative activist and leads the Conservative Fusion Book Club.
Gene Wisdom is an Alabama native but has lived in the Nashville area since 2007. He, his wife Vicki, and their dog Savannah live near Nolensville. Gene is a conservative activist and leads the Conservative Fusion Book Club.
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Gene,if you haven't read it, I think you would enjoy Myrta Avary's "Dixie After the War". It's a firt-hand account of the "Reconstruction" era first published in 1906. She used pseudonyms for many of the people mentioned because she feared for her life. It was later republished in the 1930's with the "real" names. It is the most even-handed thing I have read that dealt with the subject.
ReplyDeleteYou will see that both sides in your argument at the refresher are right.
Eric, thank you for the book suggestion, I will look for it.
ReplyDeleteI certainly understand that it was in the slaveholders' economic interest to not abuse those they enslaved. The same is true of their draught animals. What I found offensive was to defend slaveholders on the basis that they treated the enslaved "at least" as well as they did their livestock. It is a morally repugnant argument.
George Mason, a slaveholder himself argued, in speaking of slavery, at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 that as God cannot judge nations in the next world he punishes national sins by national calamities. I believe that the Civil War was that calamity and that judgement. While I agree that the consequences of rejecting the Constitution would have been diasastrous that doesn't mitigate the sin--the evil--of tolerating slavery.
I was raised in the South. There are no more decent, kind, or hard-working people on the face of the Earth than Southerners. I am proud to be a Southerner but I am not proud of that terrible aspect, along with Jim Crow, of our history.
I appreciate the book suggestion, Eric.