Mastodawn

J Odell Dec 30, 2023

This is one of Heather Cox Richardson's best:

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-29-2023

She has written about these ideas at length in two of her books, To Make Men Free and How the South Won the Civil War.

I discovered her books while I was writing the Making of America series. When I got to volume 5, FDR, I realized I needed a deeper understanding of how the parties evolved. That was when I found To Make Men Free (a history of the Republican Party.)

December 29, 2023

When asked at a town hall on Wednesday to identify the cause of the United States Civil War, presidential candidate and former governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley answered that the cause “was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms, and what people could and couldn’t do…. I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are…. And I will always stand by the fact that, I think, government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people.”

Letters from an American

LindaMarie Dec 30, 2023

@Teri_Kanefield
Shortly after January 6, when I was trying to figure out what the heck was going on, I discovered her letters. I’ve shared her widely with friends and family. I wouldn’t know where to begin in singing her praises, and if there’s still anyone out there who isn’t familiar with this wonderful series, now is a great time to start reading. And your endorsement of her only confirms to me that you, too, are one of the very important voices!

Breathe Dec 30, 2023

@Teri_Kanefield She is a national treasure. She has helped so many of us fight against despair with history. If we get through this, she deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Kathy E. Gill 🇺🇦Dec 30, 2023

@Teri_Kanefield

She is a force of nature and for some reason reminds me of Elizabeth Warren.

I met her in October on the current book tour. She is warm, open, funny.

Need to follow up RE getting an account for her going here.

PennyAK1 Dec 30, 2023

@kegill @Teri_Kanefield I hope she does. She may still be on Xitter!😱

Kathy E. Gill 🇺🇦Dec 30, 2023

@PennyG
She is. :-/

Dyami Dec 31, 2023

@kegill @Teri_Kanefield yes, she's wonderful and needs to join us. Can't wait to say hi next month when the book tour comes to town.

Kathy E. Gill 🇺🇦Dec 31, 2023

Is that the Blue Ridge Mountains in your header picture?

Dyami Dec 31, 2023

@kegill my header photo is of the Catskill Mountains taken from one of the many fire towers which dot them. Still the Appalachians, but a bit further north.

Kathy E. Gill 🇺🇦Dec 31, 2023

Thank you! It didn’t look quite right but definitely looked like the Appalachians. (I’m from Georgia and lived in eastern Pennsylvania.)

@martlund 🌲🐶🇸🇪🇨🇱🌈Dec 30, 2023

@Teri_Kanefield Her daily capsule of current events is stellar and a great short cut in putting the confusion back into focus

Nick Kocharhook 🇺🇦💪🏼Dec 30, 2023

@Teri_Kanefield Thanks for calling this out, it’s a fantastic summation. @lisamelton

🇺🇸 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 🐧 🥦Dec 30, 2023

@Teri_Kanefield

For people who don't want to patronize Nazi supporting Substack.com, HCR also publishes her essays on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson

Ande Jacobson Dec 30, 2023

@Methylcobalamin @Teri_Kanefield: You can also subscribe to her letters for free and only get those delivered as emails without seeing any other Substack material that is not of interest.

Jos Schuurmans (EN)Dec 30, 2023

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-29-2023

Heather Cox Richardson: "(...) MAGA Republicans’ current refusal to fund Ukraine’s war against Russian aggression (...) is not only a gift to Putin. It also suggests to any foreign government that U.S. foreign policy is changeable so long as a foreign government succeeds in influencing U.S. lawmakers. Under this system, American global leadership will no longer be viable. (...)"

#HeatherCoxRichardson

December 29, 2023

When asked at a town hall on Wednesday to identify the cause of the United States Civil War, presidential candidate and former governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley answered that the cause “was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms, and what people could and couldn’t do…. I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are…. And I will always stand by the fact that, I think, government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people.”

Letters from an American

@Teri_Kanefield
Wow. Important read.

"Those leaders insist that the equality at the heart of democracy destroys a nation by welcoming immigrants, which undermines national purity, and by treating women, minorities, and LGBTQ+ people as equal to white, heteronormative men. "

kctipton Dec 30, 2023

@Teri_Kanefield You and Heather are my go-to sources for understanding a lot of the swirling mess going on in the USA these past few years. Thanks for all both of you do (and write) :)

SteveJB has moved Dec 30, 2023

@Teri_Kanefield I've been following her letters on FB for about a year now. It's beautiful (and important) how she makes sense out of today's political scene by relating it to our history. I repost her letters regularly, hoping that my more conservative friends get some real information instead of just the nonsense they regurgitate at me.

Zhi Zhu 🕸️Dec 30, 2023

"In the years after the Civil War, the Republican vision of a harmony of economic interest among all Americans quickly swung toward the idea of protecting those at the top of society...

Ever since, the party has alternated between Lincoln’s theory that the government must work for those at the bottom & the theory of the so-called robber barons, who echoed the elite enslavers’ idea that the government must protect the wealthy."
~ @Teri_Kanefield
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-29-2023

#USPol #Politics #USA

December 29, 2023

When asked at a town hall on Wednesday to identify the cause of the United States Civil War, presidential candidate and former governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley answered that the cause “was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms, and what people could and couldn’t do…. I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are…. And I will always stand by the fact that, I think, government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people.”

Letters from an American

jwbland has moved Dec 30, 2023

@Teri_Kanefield HCR and yourself make a powerful combo!

Ande Jacobson Dec 30, 2023

@Teri_Kanefield: I thought the same thing about last night's column. Heather was able to condense the crucial parts of the GOP's history into a very clear, concise essay that leaves no doubt about its history or direction. And most importantly, ultimately what must happen to it as an organization.

Sarah E Bourne Dec 30, 2023

@Teri_Kanefield Today's is exceptionally good, and that's saying something because they are all amazing.

Amgine Dec 31, 2023

@Teri_Kanefield

Well, now I am curious… because the history of the Republican Party is the history of the Democratic Party, as they were one and and same. Will explore a bit. Thnx!

Teri Kanefield Dec 31, 2023

They were never one and the same.

The Democratic-Republicans of the Washington-Hamilton-Jefferson era morphed into the Democrats.

The Republican Party was formed in Lincoln's time.

They switched platforms over the 20th century.

Amgine Dec 31, 2023

@Teri_Kanefield

As I recall my history studies, the so-called "Democratic-Republican" name was created by historians. The party at the time called itself republican, small 'r'; others called it the Jefferson Republicans. At the 1824 election the party split with Adams's coalition forming the National Republicans which eventually merged with the Whigs, taking positions of leadership. Jackson's coalition took the Democratic name, which had been applied pejoratively not long b4.

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Amgine Dec 31, 2023

@Teri_Kanefield

The Whigs eventually schismed in the 1850s, one of which, in 1854, became Republicans. The Adams dynasty was central to the Conscience Whigs, and helped form the nascent party with the Free Soilers. Henry Wilson lead the Free Soiler faction, his coalition of anti-slavery parties, into the foundation of the Republicans.

Such a braid of connections to the earlier Jeffersonian republicans, I believe, is fair to say they were one and the same party.

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