The NC LS Winter Conference last Saturday entitled “The Myth of the Conservative Republican Party” drew an enthusiastic audience of members and guests to the Allred Banquet Room in Burlington, North Carolina. A succession of speakers took aim at the topic with League of the South National Board member Michael C. Tuggle’s talk, “Mad About Sarah,” leading the way.
Tuggle asked the question “does anyone believe that Sara Palin is a “fighter for small government and a States’ Rights advocate like Ronald Reagan? Reagan was none of these things” Tuggle said. He further questioned her viability as a presidential candidate with “changing the name tag of the puppet in charge wont change a thing,” and that once in power, “they become the opposite of what they claim to be as a candidate.” On the topic of neo-con control of the Republican party, he asserted that the neo-cons have changed the meaning of conservatism from representing small and limited government, to a belief that big government is necessary to advance conservative goals.”
NC LS Nathaniel Macon Institute Director Dr. Tom Minsel led the in-room dinner panel discussion on the Conference theme, followed by an overview of the Southern National Congress by visiting SNC Chairman, Tom Moore. Mr. Moore was returning to Virginia from the 10th Amendment Conference held in Atlanta last Friday.
The second speaker was former Alamance County (NC) Republican activist Jason Crawford who spoke on “The GOP’s False Choice,” a review of the GOP as a real alternative to the neo-Marxism of the Democrat party. Crawford cited the GOP’s three problems: a truth problem, a political problem, and a religious problem---and that historically Republican actions once elected are the reverse of the campaign promises. He stated that Southerners have had no choice but to “work within the template the Republican party have set for us”…and that Southern traditions, morals, political independence, limited government, and adherence to the constitution doesnt fit into their worldview. Though the Republicans have equaled the Democrats in anti-Christian actions, Crawford asserts that “if we are going to be a Christian nation, we have to create the environment for the churches to freely do their work” of moral and ethical teaching. He stated that “both the Republicans and Democrats are trying to do now what in times past were the province of the churches.” that is, the social, moral and spiritual guide for the citizenry.
The last speaker was Asheville attorney Steve Kropelnicki speaking on “The Myth of the Conservative Republican Party.” His talk gave the audience an overview of the political thought that is the basis of American law and society, and how Republican ascendancy from 1860 produced the worst in American political life, and whose crowning achievement was the monstrous “Gilded Age” of unbridled wealth in league with, and protected by, government. Stating that this period of unopposed Republican rule was essentially the “exploitation of poor people by the government,” he further saw that what was established in that period was nothing more than a repressive society enforcing equality---which continues today.
Kropelnicki views the 1960’s Republican candidacy of Barry Goldwater as more libertarian than conservative---and that he defines libertarianism as simply radical individualism without external controls. He stressed that conservatives are not libertarian; that conservatives recognize outside forces such as religious moral and ethical beliefs are necessary to constrain human behavior.
On the “Southern Strategy” of Nixon strategist Lee Atwater, Kropelnicki commented that it mimicked the successful working man appeal of presidential candidate George Wallace. After Wallace’s near-assassination, Nixon clothed himself in faux-conservative rhetoric to draw votes in the South and win his election. And Kropelnicki asserted that it was the Republican party during Reagan’s time that invented the concept of taxing unborn generations to live high today; and that Reagan’s “free market” bank deregulation laid the foundation for our current debacle.
The next NC LS Conference will be held in Burlington on Saturday, 22 May 2010.
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Bernhard Thuersam is Chairman of the North Carolina League of the South. For more information about the NC League please visit their website or contact Mr. Thuersam via email.
