Member-only story
American Conservatives: If a State Wants to Permit for Slavery, Then That Is Perfectly Fine
Nikki Haley’s ‘gaffe’ has deep roots in the American conservative movement
It pains conservatives to admit that slavery was bad. When pushed, they will say stuff similar to what Ms. Haley said the day after her gaffe in New Hampshire at a town hall meeting: “Of course, it [the Civil War] was about slavery. That’s the easy part.”
When not in the confines of their wretched little world of race hate and fascism, conservatives love to make the rest of us feel like we are “obsessed” with slavery. They want to shout at us, “Get over it! It ended in 1865, and many of ‘them’ (Blacks) are worse off now than they were then…I mean, I am just saying. Look at the Southside of Chicago.” Yes, I have heard conservatives, blessed by whitish skin, say such things.
In her half-hearted mea culpa, Haley said that what she meant by her original answer was that the Civil War was about state rights and the freedom to do what someone wants to do commercially. After all, why should a far-off federal government regulate and sometimes restrict commercial activity? Doesn’t such behavior smack of communist central planning? Isn’t the essence of America unbridled commercial freedom?
