Weekend Leftovers
Some tab clearing.
Steven L. Taylor
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Monday, January 16, 2023
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5 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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Of course the MAGAt’s in Congress, like Gaetz, have just hollowed out the ethics process that Santos will be going through.
I personally think Dems should just leave Santos alone…he can be of the most value to them by being a omnipresent symbol of the GOP’s pathological mendacity.
As a resident of one of the most lily-white areas of lily-white Connecticut, I have to say I was unaware that this is Robert E. Lee day in AL. I also did not know that Alabama celebrates Jefferson Davis Day. I am embarrassed by my naivete. (Full disclosure – I have been to AL exactly once in my life and spent all my time at the Barber Motorsports Park and Museum, outside Birmingham…an absolutely amazing facility)
Having said that, it does seem odd to me that one of these United States celebrates traitors to these United States. I suggest AL cut the cord, and see how long they last without the financial support of blue states.
@daryl and his brother darryl: I understand people are reluctant to admit error. I do not understand the resistance to admitting one’s great-great-great-grandparents erred. Especially on the part of people whose ancestors weren’t even there. And in addition to the racism, which was common at the time, and the treason, which was not, it was stupid.
@gVOR08: a lot of these people don’t think their great-great-great-grandparents erred. They long for a day when negros knew their place and everything wasn’t always about race.
@gVOR08: William Faulkner, a southerner himself, once said, “The past isn’t history, it isn’t even past.”
To many, if they admitted that what was done long ago was wrong, that would make them the first of their line of descent to do so. They were raised with the notion of the War of Northern Aggression, and to break with that would be to break with their family and community tradition, and to potentially isolate themselves. Many are doing exactly that even so, but this is a bigger thing than I think you appreciate.
For my part, I’m much more enthusiastic about getting rid of Jefferson Davis Day than Robert E. Lee Day. I think that we white people should learn about Lee as a cautionary tale about just how easy it is to get on the wrong side of things. Jeff Davis, on the other hand, is just a jerk.