Similarities Between the Periods of 1860 and 2012, Part 7

Pet “shovel ready” projects for massive federal bailouts conducted during the current administration include heavily unionized auto and road construction companies and “progressive”, “enlightened” investments in non-viable green industries and to the largest extent of all, education fund subsidies benefiting teachers union members, payback for those liberal supporters, particularly in the northeast and west coast regions.  Comparatively little investment was earmarked from the massive omnibus stimulus bills for the agricultural industries of the mid-west United States or the non-union industries based in the Southeast.  Stimuluswatch.org and http://www.recovery.gov/Transparency/agency/Pages/AgencyReportedDataMap.aspx provide data on the disproportionate disbursement of stimulus funds to these geographic and swing state regions.  In the period leading up to the War Between the States, burdensome inequitable taxation similarly targeted the Southern states disproportionately in order to fund industrial modernization and infrastructure projects in the Northeast.  Decades of federal tariffs which placed Southern exports at a competitive disadvantage in foreign markets harmed their economy and also taxed imports increasing the cost of the goods on which the Southern populace depended culminated in the Morrill Tariff, passed shortly after Lincoln’s election.  “The North favored protective tariffs for their manufacturing industry. The South, who exported agricultural products to and imported manufactured goods from Europe, favored free trade and was hurt by the tariffs. Plus, a northern-dominated Congress enacted laws similar to Britain's Navigation Acts to protect northern shipping interests.  (After the Morrill Tariff was enacted) the South seceded setting up a new government. Their constitution was nearly identical to the U.S. Constitution except that it outlawed protectionist tariffs, business handouts, and mandated a two-thirds majority vote for all spending measures,” as recollected by Dr. Williams.   Imagine spending measures requiring a consensus - gridlock is one method for reducing the current out of control federal deficit spending and debt.   The Southern states seceded in 1861 to avoid stifling tariffs and taxes used to fund infrastructure and progressive socialization projects in the industrializing Northern states and an intrusive dictatorial federal government and adopted a Constitution for much the same reasons our Founding Fathers did in 1787 when they shed the oppression of British rule to form a new Republic to protect their citizenry with guarantees of liberty.