John Nichols: GOP was founded to reject the 'fatal heresy' of secession

[hue]

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-gop-was-founded-to-reject-the-fatal-heresy/article_37998a3f-a105-58c0-827c-aa7f0ef2bdf8.html

This weekend’s Republican Party of Wisconsin convention will, undoubtedly, reject a resolution that would make the party of Lincoln over as the party of secession.

To do otherwise would be a rejection of the founding premises of the party that traces its roots to Wisconsin.

Founded in the northeastern Wisconsin community of Ripon in 1854 to prevent the spread of the slave power, the Republican Party, with Wisconsinites often in the lead, positioned itself as the bulwark of opposition to Southern secession and to the so-called “nullification” of federal laws by the slave states of the Confederacy.

Anyone with a sense of history understands just how jarring it is that a party with this history would in the 21st century even entertain a convention resolution that not only urges legislators to nullify federal laws — such as the Affordable Care Act — but that concludes with the line: "Be it further resolved: that we strongly insist our state representatives work to uphold Wisconsin's 10th Amendment rights, and our right to, under extreme circumstances, secede, passing legislation affirming this to the U.S. federal government."...

...That means objecting not just to a wrongheaded resolution but to wrongheaded actions of partisans like those who promoted that resolution at the caucus. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Rohn Bishop, treasurer of the Fond du Lac County Republican Party, said he was booed at the March caucus meeting when he brought up Lincoln's name while arguing against the secession and nullification provisions. He said he also noted that the meeting took place two days after the 160th anniversary of the party's founding in Ripon."

"I was completely blown away that at a Republican Party event, the presidency of Abraham Lincoln would be controversial," added Bishop.

[yellowcanine]

1. Yes, this whole "nullification and secession" thing reeks with irony.

Basically even the Wisconsin Repub leaders who are distancing themselves from the secession statement are doing it for political reasons, not because they think it is wrong.