So how come there's no Whig Underground?

[ozymandius]

A whig would be like most people here: opposed to the Republican/Bush monarchy. How come they've never formed a grass roots movement like us?

[Lilith Velkor]

1. I think they all joined the Green party

But what the hell do I know? :shrug:

[ozymandius]

2. not too far off

They were some hip folks for their day.

[AntiCoup2K4]

3. Because the WLC gutted their party about 1830 or so

The "Whig Leadership Council" was a group of stealth Republicans posing as Whigs, but they never voted any Whig like values oddly enough. There's not much WLC info available, but I believe they were led by a couple of guys named Elias From and Zacharia Marshall.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. Stealth rethuglicans

still abound, so it would seem.

[LynneSin]

4. Whatever did happen to these Whigs?

[El Fuego]

5. They are truly Underground because they are all Dead.

[RoyGBiv]

6. How do you figure?

I'm assuming you're talking about the American Whigs.

Exceptionally wealthy people and those who would it future eras be known as big business Republicans tended to be Whigs. A good number of the wealthiest Southern slave owners were Whigs. Furthermore, its origins lie as an opposition party to the Democratic Party (thus the name), which was at the time elected to power through the votes of the so-called "mob," whom Whigs did not trust at all. I've read some fine pieces of propaganda penned by early Whigs who predicted the end of the "Republic" due to such democratic tendencies.

As for forming a grass-roots movement, they did form one, or join one anyway. It was called the Republican Party.

[ozymandius]

7. This is, after all, satire. Yes, I am talking about the American Whigs

American Whigs helped create public schools, private colleges, charities, and cultural institutions. On the surface, that's a plus. They were also laissez-faire economists - a huge negative on the scale of Hoover. Whigs held the belief that individual skill and expertise counted more than the political and economic power that was vested in land ownership at the time: a plus. They were urbanites who sought to modernize the nation's infrastructure primarily for commercial gain but with peripheral social benefits.

[RoyGBiv]

8. Held the belief ...

What beliefs Whigs held as a whole is difficult to say. Individual factions of Whigs may be said to have held to certain principles that manifested themselves in the accomplishments you cite; the so-called "conscious Whigs" come to mind. However, the Whig party as a whole suffered from a lack of concrete principles other than opposition to the Democratic Party, namely one of its underlying principles of increasing the participation of "common folk" in the governing of the nation. That driving purpose is what moves me to question the utility of the satire.

[T_i_B]

9. What about the British Whigs?

Charles James Fox and Earl Grey! :bounce:

[ozymandius]

11. I know nothing about them.

Except that the name Earl Grey brings to mind some really delicious tea.

[T_i_B]

12. He brought the blend over from China

As well as introducing the great reform act of 1832, the greatest piece of legislation in British history! This act abolished many of the "rotten boroughs" and put Britain on the road to democracy.

The Whigs were also against slavery and for Catholic Emancipation. They were opposed by George III who preferred William Pitt the Younger running his government and they evolved into the Liberal Party of Gladstone & Lloyd George, which today stands as Britain's third party the Liberal Democrats having been overtaken by Labour in the 1920's.

[ozymandius]

13. Hey, thanks for all of this.

This segment of history is outside my fields of study (when I had time to study). Your synopsis really comes across as a fascinating long-form read.

[T_i_B]

14. This is just scratching the surface!

Here's more

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whig_party