That Time Domestic Terrorists Took Back the South: Sometimes, revolutions go backward

The failure of Reconstruction was the lasting victory of post Civil War southern domestic terrorists.

This article was a very good read and it's posted over at Mother Jones:

People deal with political trauma in different ways. After the 2016 election, yuppies who once scoffed at preppers found themselves stockpiling canned goods. Barack Obama went kitesurfing. Hillary Clinton hiked in the woods. Hundreds of thousands of people began meeting in small groups—”for the first time in my life,” many told reporters—to organize a resistance. Some people bought bourbon, some people bought dogs, and I found myself reading about Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

In the years before the Civil War, Higginson, the abolitionist scion of a powerful Boston Brahmin family, had run for Congress, dabbled as a Unitarian minister, bankrolled John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, and even sustained a sword wound to his face while breaking into a Massachusetts jail to rescue a fugitive slave. He prayed for a great cleansing war to rid the nation of slavery and when it came, he cheerfully enlisted. Then, in the fall of 1862, Higginson embarked on one of the most radical projects in American history.

Placed in command of the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, the Union Army’s first all-black regiment, Higginson found himself at the epicenter of a social revolution. Under his eye, former slaves seized abandoned plantations, divided up the land and livestock, and built new civic institutions rooted in the idea of racial equality. The so-called Port Royal Experiment turned South Carolina’s low country into an incubator of black social and political culture—the tip of the spear of Reconstruction.

Higginson believed in the transformational nature of his work, but one evening in 1863, he peered with stunning clarity into the future. “Revolutions may go backwards,” he fretted in a diary entry that ought to be carved in granite, “and the habit of injustice seems so deeply impressed upon the whites that it is hard to believe in the possibility of anything better.”... 

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President Obama's Weekly Address 2/27/16: Degrading and Destroying ISIL

WASHINGTON, DC — In this week’s address, President Obama discussed the global campaign to degrade and destroy ISIL. The President stated that our coalition of 66 partners continues to grow stronger and is making vital progress in the fight against ISIL in Iraq and Syria. President Obama also noted that at home we will continue to stay vigilant. At the same time, we’ll keep working to build partnerships of trust and respect with communities to help them stay strong and resilient. The President reiterated that although the fight against ISIL will remain difficult, we will prevail – and ultimately destroy ISIL.

The Weight of History

The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter

During my tenure in Congress, the preservation of historically and environmentally significant land has been an important concern for me. My legislation to expand the Battlefield Acquisition Grant Program, which passed in the House, is awaiting action in the Senate. The bill would help organizations acquire funding to preserve Revolutionary War and War of 1812 sites in the United States. Hundreds of battlefields and associated sites need to be preserved, many in New Jersey.

Rep. Rush Holt receives the Preservation Leadership Award from Jim Lighthizer, President of the Civil War Trust, and Civil War Trust Board Member Bill Vodra

I was recognized this week by the Civil War Trust for my work on preservation. The Trust presented me with a plaque and two artifacts from the Civil War: a brass breastplate engraved with the Union Eagle, and a New Jersey officer’s uniform button engraved with the Great Seal of New Jersey. The breastplate was unearthed at the Chancellorsville Battlefield in Virginia, where 24 New Jersey regiments fought from May 1-5, 1863, and suffered 1,700 casualties.

To hold these two relics from a key moment in our American story is to feel the weight of history and understand the need to protect our historical sites.




Common Sense Reform

Last week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that he would be stepping down after almost six years as our nation’s top law enforcement officer. He has some important actions and positions to point to. During his tenure the Department of Justice has fought to uphold the civil liberties of LGBT citizens, has defended the right of all Americans to vote, and has protected immigrants from harassment. While I felt he could have done more on issues like the NYPD’s warrantless surveillance of Muslim Americans, he has “done much to make real the promise of our democracy” as he said when announcing his resignation.

Just this month, the Attorney General announced that for the first time in 34 years, the federal prison population has actually decreased by 4,800 inmates. While the United States encompasses five percent of the world’s population, we imprison almost 25 percent of the total global prison population. An important factor in this change has been the Attorney General’s efforts to reduce mandatory minimum sentences, which I have long opposed because they discount mitigating factors in crimes and are discriminatory towards people of color.

We must also take other sensible steps to reform our broken criminal justice system. Senator Cory Booker has introduced the REDEEM (Record Expungement Designed to Enhance Employment) Act to give individuals convicted of non-violent crimes a second chance.

The Most Powerful Instrument Devised By Man

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson said that "the vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice." September 23rd commemorated National Voter Registration Day. Here in New Jersey the deadline to register to vote in the general election in November is October 14th. If you have not yet registered to vote, I encourage you to click here.

We must all remember that our duty does not stop with registration. Voter turnout is about 14 percent lower in non-Presidential election years (like this one) than when the office of the President is on the ballot. I understand that citizens are often busy and distracted, and sometimes unsure or confused about the candidates, or just plain cynical, but we must try to get all to exercise the most basic part of citizenship. Also, we in government must work to ensure that all eligible voters have good access, and that all votes are counted reliably and verifiably.

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress

Only 150 Years

The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter:

On New Year’s Day, America will recognize the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, which abolished slavery within the states attempting to secede from the U.S. and marked a step toward fulfilling our founding vision of a nation where all people are created equal.

It is worth pausing to reflect upon how far America has come since that January day in 1863. One hundred and fifty years is, within the long span of human existence, barely the blink of an eye – only two lifespans. In fact, my own grandfather could remember that day (yes, my grandfather). Yet in that time the Civil War has faded into the history books, the descendants of former slaves have risen to fill nearly every rank and role in American life, and the scourge of racism has diminished greatly. It required not only the leadership of a great man, President Lincoln, but also the personal involvement of millions of Americans rededicating themselves to the great unfinished work of the nation.

Indeed, history often reveals a remarkable human capacity to overcome division and hatred. I was born a few years after the United States concluded a horrific war against Germany, Japan, and Italy. Tens of millions had died. One might have imagined that the bitterness arising from such bloodshed could never be overcome – and yet now, only a handful of decades later, we count these former enemies as friends and allies.

Even during my time in Congress, I have seen progress that many thought impossible. In 2004, a president called upon Congress to amend our constitution to deny gay men and women the right to marry. Earlier this year, a different president announced his personal support for gay marriage.

Today, as America stands on the verge of a new year in which our challenges seem as great and our differences as stark as ever, I am encouraged to remember these lessons from our nation’s past. If history is any guide, the years ahead will once again bring the healing of deep scars, the bridging of great divisions, and the surmounting of insurmountable obstacles.

An Explanation to My Constituents

Last week, Congress passed a misguided bill authorizing the Defense Department for 2013. The legislation contained some positive provisions, including a (small) pay raise for troops, additional funding for family housing and support services, some provisions for additional research in breast cancer, some protections for women from sexual harassment and rape in the military, and an amendment I authored that creates a permanent National Language Service Corps within the Defense Department. It is intended to provide for the men and women we ask to defend our country.

Unfortunately, the good measures were far outweighed by the bad. For example, the bill perpetuates a bloated nuclear weapons complex that does not enhance our security and in fact compromises our nonproliferation efforts. The bill continues funding for an exo-atmospheric kill vehicle – a provocative and destabilizing system that will waste millions more on our failed national missile defense effort. Worse, rather than moving toward a realistic scale of American military commitments, the bill commits our soldiers and our dollars to defend countries in Europe and the Pacific that should be capable of defending themselves. It continues to fund our combat operations in Afghanistan instead of restricting the use of those funds to withdrawal-related operations only.

Overall, the bill continues the acquisition programs and policies that have been in place for decades. It does not fundamentally reshape our armed forces for security today. It continues Cold War weapons acquisition programs that have no place in a 21st century, where the threats are much more diffuse and dispersed.

I deeply regret that I inadvertently cast a “yes” vote for this bill last week. There were six votes recorded in a row: a motion to recommit and then to pass of a large across-the-board cut of government programs, as proposed by Budget Chairman Paul Ryan; an honorific naming of a veterans health clinic in Spokane and another in Grand Rapids, naming a mountain peak next to Yosemite in honor of a former Olympic skier; and the Defense Authorization bill. I mistook the Defense bill. I intended to vote “no,” and I have inserted a statement into the Congressional record clarifying my intent. This is a very rare mistake for me. Although the bill passed by a huge margin, with many Republicans and Democrats voting for it, this was an important bill that in good conscience I would not vote for, and I want my constituents to know.

Stay In Touch with FEMA

If you registered for disaster aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, it is important that you keep in touch with FEMA, especially if your contact information changes. Updating contact information with current address and phone numbers will ensure FEMA can reach you with new information or questions.

To update your contact information, call the toll-free FEMA hotline at 1-800-462-7585. If you have not yet registered for disaster assistance, you may do so online by visiting www.DisasterAssistance.gov. Please note that FEMA has extended the deadline for New Jersey victims of Hurricane Sandy to apply for aid until January 30, 2013.

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress

Hallowed Grounds

From the E-Newsletter of Congressman Rush Holt:

Earlier this week, I joined six fellow members of Congress, representatives from the Civil War Trust, and Princeton University Professor James McPherson on a tour of Gettysburg National Military Park to promote our American battlefield protection legislation. Professor McPherson, a preeminent Civil War historian, guided us through the hallowed grounds of the battle. 

We visit these battlefields and study our history in order to honor, to learn from, and to gain from the sacrifices of generations of Americans.  Unfortunately, urbanization, sprawl, and development are constantly encroaching on many significant historic sites.

I introduced the American Battlefield Protection Program Amendments Act of 2011 to protect American battlefields that are in danger of being lost forever. The bill would allow federal officials to collaborate with state and local governments, non-profit organizations, and concerned individuals to preserve and protect endangered historical sites, and it would provide up to 50 percent of the costs of purchasing battlefield land threatened by sprawl.

My bill was recently approved by the House Committee on Natural Resources and is awaiting consideration by the full House. As the centennial of the War of 1812 approaches and as we continue to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, now is an opportune moment to recommit ourselves to the protection of our nation's hallowed grounds.

Saturday: Town Halls in Cranbury and Ewing

On Saturday, I’ll host town halls in Cranbury and Ewing to hear directly from you about issues affecting you and our community, such as job creation, health care, college affordability, and any other issues that you may wish to raise.  I hope you will come to share your thoughts, ideas, and concerns.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

10:00 a.m.
Cranbury Town Hall
23-A North Main Street
Cranbury, New Jersey 08512

1:00 p.m.
Ewing Township Municipal Building
2 Jake Garzio Drive
Ewing, New Jersey 08628

How Will Kicking 100,000 Kids Out of Head Start Help Our Economy?

How will kicking 100,000 kids out of Head Start help our economy?  How will firing researchers at the National Institutes of Health create jobs?  How will eliminating nutrition assistance to 700,000 children and mothers help to make our nation fairer?

According to the acting director of the Office of Management & Budget, these are representative of the cuts that would be required next year if domestic programs are slashed by 8 percent, as called for in the deal that Republicans demanded last year to avert a government shutdown.

It would be difficult under the best of circumstances for federal programs to absorb an 8 percent cut.  But the language of last year’s deal is particularly onerous and foolish.  It requires that the same percentage must be slashed from every “program, project, and account,” meaning that federal agencies cannot shield urgent or crucial priorities by focusing cuts on less-important programs.  A recent Center for American Progress analysis found that, due in part to these restrictive terms, cuts to the Federal Aviation Administration could result in the closure of as many as 106 U.S. airports.

Last week, I led more than 70 of my colleagues in writing a letter to House and Senate leaders demanding that crucial domestic programs not bear the unjust burden of spending cuts.

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress

P.S. Just a reminder: I always want to hear from you, but to ensure a prompt response, please don’t reply to this e-mail.  Instead, please visitholt.house.gov/contact or call 1-87-RUSH-HOLT (1-877-874-4658).

New Civil War erupts, led by super rich, GOP

I was sent this article yesterday by a friend, it is very interesting and an eye opener for those that think trickle down Reaganomics actually works and is what's best for America's working class.The only people that have benefited from Reaganomics are the super rich and the gap between those that have and those that have not is growing increasingly larger every day. Before you know it, a new civil war will be fought in this country if economic conditions do not become more equitable for all.

This article appears online at Marketwatch.com:

By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Yes, “there’s class warfare, all right,” warns Warren Buffett. “But it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” Yes, the rich are making war against us. And yes, they are winning. Why? Because so many are fighting this new American Civil War between the rich and the rest.

Not just the 16 new GOP governors in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, and across America fighting for new powers. Others include: Chamber of Commerce billionaires, Koch brothers, Forbes 400, Karl Rove’s American Crossroads, Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform — which now has 97% of House Republicans and 85% of the GOP Senators signed on his “no new taxes” pledge — the Tea Party and Reaganomics ideologues.

Wake up America. You are under attack. Stop kidding yourself. We are at war. In fact, we have been fighting this Civil War for a generation, since Ronald Reagan was elected in 1981. Recently Buffett renewed the battle cry: The “rich class” is winning this war. Except most Americans still don’t realize they’re losing, don’t see the prize at stake.

All this was predicted back in September 2008 by Naomi Klein, author of “Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.” Yes, we were warned that the GOP’s Reaganomics ideology would stage a rapid comeback … warned before the market collapsed … before Wall Street was virtually bankrupt. … before Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson conned Congress into $787 billion in bailouts … warned before Obama’s 2008 election

Free-market Reaganomics roaring back, more powerful than before

Yes, back in the heat of battle, in September 2008, Klein warned America: “Whatever the events of this week mean, nobody should believe the overblown claims that the market crisis signals the death of ‘free market’ ideology.” Then the meltdown went nuclear.

Klein warned: “Free market ideology has always been a servant to the interests of capital, and its presence ebbs and flows depending on its usefulness to those interests. During boom times, it’s profitable to preach laissez faire, because an absentee government allows speculative bubbles to inflate.”

But “when those bubbles burst, the ideology becomes a hindrance, and it goes dormant while big government rides to the rescue.” Remember: A week later Paulson was on his knee, begging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for that $787 billion bailout, to save our incompetent Wall Street banks that caused the meltdown from certain bankruptcy.

“But rest assured,” continued Klein in September 2008, Reaganomics “ideology will come roaring back when the bailouts are done. The massive debts the public is accumulating to bail out the speculators will then become part of a global budget crisis that will be the rationalization for deep cuts to social programs, and for a renewed push to privatize.”

And yes, America, this war strategy is happening thanks to General Buffett, the new GOP Congress and 16 aggressive anti-democracy GOP governors.

GOP using ‘shock doctrine’ to gain new anti-democracy powers

The GOP is anti-democracy: With the GOP, “this whole democracy thing” is “very inefficient,” warned Klein. Republican governors are using “a fiscal crisis as a pretext to do stuff they otherwise want to do … Republicans in Michigan want to be able to unilaterally abolish your town. And how do you know when you’re in a financial emergency? Because the governor tells you … or a company he hires.”

Yes the GOP, the party of big business and billionaires, secretly hates democracy, it’s too inefficient for the rich class.

In the interview, Klein reiterated: The GOP governors’ strategy is a clear example of “disaster capitalism,” the Reaganomics war strategy that has dominated, obsessed and driven the GOP for a generation. Klein warns, “these guys have been at this for 30 years,” it is “an ideological movement … they believe in a whole bunch of stuff that’s not very popular,” like “privatizing the local water system, busting unions, privatizing entire towns. If they said all this in an election they’d lose.”

And that’s why crises are so crucial to the GOP war strategies to take over America: Crises “are very, very handy, because you can say we have no choice. … the sky is falling in.” Then the GOP governors “can consolidate power. We remember this from the Bush administration. They did this at the federal level. After 9/11, they said, we have a crisis, and we have to essentially rule by fiat.”

But the truth, warns Klein, is that the GOP “really doesn’t believe in the governments that they are running … this is a really old story.” The greed of their billionaire backers is insatiable. They do not like democracy. And the actions of the new GOP governors is proof that what they really want are dictatorial powers to privatize government and get personally richer.

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DURING FIRST WEEK OF NEW CONGRESS, HOLT REINTRODUCES ONLINE JOB TRAINING AND BATTLEFIELD PROTECTION BILLS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Washington, D.C.) – On the first day of the 111th Congress, U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12) reintroduced the Online Job Training Act and the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Battlefield Protection Act.

The Online Job Training Act (H.R. 145) would provide grants to states to establish or improve workforce training programs on the Internet. The bill would make job training more accessible and convenient for prospective workers. The legislation is based on a successful online learning pilot program run by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development and Rutgers University.

“In 2009, our first priority must be jobs, jobs, and jobs,” Holt said. “We need innovative programs that help get people back to work, and online job training is one such program that merits our support.”

Under the bill, each state would be eligible for $100,000 in federal funding to implement or enhance online courses as part of their workforce investment programs. The bill would also authorize $1 million for the creation of a national center for excellence in online job training to coordinate with state and local workforce investment boards as they develop technology-driven methods for education and job training.

The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development pilot program has demonstrated the value and effectiveness of online courses in providing skills training and education to low waged workers. This program, developed by Dr. Mary Gatta, Director of Workforce Policy and Research at Rutgers University’s Center for Women and Work, provided 128 women with a computer, Internet connection and access to online courses. Nearly all the women completed the program, and participants experienced a 14 percent annual wage increase.

One New Jersey woman took a course at night, while working in a residential group home. Because she was gaining certificates and job training in Excel and Access, her employer gave her a promotion to digitize and then manage the bookkeeping/database. In fact, she competed with another employee with more seniority for the promotion, and received the promotion specifically because of her job training. With the money from the promotion, she was able to start saving to send her daughter to college.

“Congressman’s Holt’s bill demonstrates the importance of using technology to better deliver education and training to all Americans,” Gatta said. “Over the years, many other states have implemented similar online learning programs for marginalized groups, and this bill represents a significant next step in scaling these programs up nationwide.”

The Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Battlefield Protection Act (H.R. 146) would establish a federal grant program specifically for preserving and protecting battle sites associated with the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Urbanization, suburban sprawl, and unplanned commercial and residential development have encroached on many of the significant battlefields of the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. According to a 2007 National Parks Service (NPS) report, 170 of 677 nationally significant sites associated with the two wars are in danger of being destroyed in the next 10 years, including sites in Trenton and Princeton. At least 33 states could benefit if the bill becomes law. The bill passed the House in the 110th Congress but did not receive a vote in the Senate.

“The battlefields of the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 provide a unique opportunity for Americans to experience where and how the epic struggle for our nation’s independence took place,” Holt said. “Preserving these American historic treasures is essential in remembering the sacrifices that our forefathers made to secure our freedom and independence, and in educating future generations about our rich cultural history.”

Enactment of Holt’s legislation would set aside funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the preservation and protection of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 battlefields and related historical sites, as is currently done for Civil War sites. The bill would allow officials at the American Battlefield Protection Program to collaborate with state and local governments and non profit organizations to preserve and protect the most endangered historical sites and to provide up to 50 percent of the costs of purchasing battlefield land threatened by sprawl and commercial development.

In addition to the 170 sites in danger of being destroyed within the next 10 years, the NPS “Report to Congress on the Historic Preservation of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Sites in the United States” found that 99 have already been lost forever and 234 are in poor condition.

Contact: Zach Goldberg
202-225-5801 (office)