Wednesday, November 1, 2017

John Kelly and Robert E Lee

Of particular interest: the pattern.

Secretary Kelly praises traitorous, insurrection-leader Lee (who was never legally a general), implying that Lee wouldn't have opposed compromise.

But the slaver side -- Lee's side -- refused compromise. The abolitionists worked hard to avoid war, arguably far harder than they should have. The their efforts to compromise with slavers might be the greatest taint on the legacy of the abolitionists. In the end, Lee's side utterly rejected working with those who wanted progress, even if Lee's side would have gotten excessive concessions in the bargain.

Today, we can see this in the party whose members typically praise Lee, today's Republicans. Today's Democrats were so desperate to improve healthcare that -- failing to get Republicans to accept their ideal -- they settled for adopting a Republican plan (which became Romneycare and then the ACA / Obamacare) ... just to have some chance of finding a way to compromise and get some meager improvement. But the Republican party rejected compromise, even if that compromise was built upon accepting their designs, their approach.

It's no wonder they praise the Lee's of history. They are the inheritors of Lee's anti-compromise, anti-progress ways in all but name.