by not stoking the fires of regional self loathing.
Take Sam Allis column in today's Globe in which he all but blames the Civil War on "effete 19th Limousine Liberals from Boston".
It seems a "Secret Six" of disgruntled wealthy anti slavery men bankrolled John Brown's attempted coup at Harper's Ferry in 1859...And well Sam has decided that little know cabal somehow is representative of the liberal spirit in Boston circa 2009.
There is much to deride in Allis' column today, the complete silence about the polarizing effects of the Dred Scot decision and the Fugitive Slave Act both of which gave the liberals of 1859 good reason for outright paranoia.
In fact if you think politics is fractured and driven by partisan hatred today, then please take a long look at 1859 again it is a portrait of a republic teetering on the brink of revolution and or dissolution.
Truly John Brown would've a found a way to killing even if six wealthy dingbats hadn't given him $5000.00 He ran up a nice bloody record in the Kansas territory sans any palmy fundraisers. In the end though, Brown was hung for the crime of attempting insurrection on a small scale in 1859, the slave-holders of Dixie would implement nearly the same model of rebellion on a regional basis not two years later. Truly, all Brown really did was hold the bridle that Robert E. Lee might ascend the saddle and ride off to some magnolia scented Ragnarok in the hills of olde Virginny.
Ah but Sam Allis reads history in a Agnewian manner, "effete liberals" are bad and cowardly and take advantage of other men's extremism before running away from the consequences.
Well, all I can say is, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and his troops didn't run away from any consequences, and trust me on the topic of slavery they were further to left than any of the so called "Secret Six".
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