‘Judge’ Andrew Napolitano don’t know much about history
Conservatives try to adopt President Lincoln as their Republican icon but libertarians have an issue with how Lincoln ended slavery. Yes, libertarians are more concerned about the ‘free market’ then about people OWNING other people. But we already knew how some libertarians are plain assholes. That aspect of libertarianism was on full display recently on the FOX Business Channel (FBC).
In a Black History segment on FBC on February 14th, ‘Judge’ Andrew Napolitano falsely blamed Abraham Lincoln for the Civil War.
“Slavery was dying a natural death all over the Western world. Instead of allowing it to die or helping it to die or even purchasing the slaves and then freeing them, which would have cost a lot less money than the Civil War cost, Lincoln set about in the most murderous war in American history,” Napolitano said.
“Look, it’s not even all together clear slavery was the reason for secession, but largely the impetus for secession was tariffs.”
On a channel that wants to be trusted for the facts they present, ‘Judge’ Napolitano sure blew it by trotting out several libertarian fantasies to attack President Lincoln over slavery. Yes, over SLAVERY.
…the estimated economic cost of the Civil War was $6.6 billion. Buying the slaves would have cost at least $2.7 billion. It was more than 1/3 the total cost of the war, not 1/100th. This was not an option economically at the time.
And, who is to say that the South would accept such an offer?… And, who is to say that the southern democrats would abide by such an agreement?
One more thing– Seven southern states seceded before Lincoln even took office.
Correcting Ron Paul: Buying the Southern Slaves Was Not an Option
Buying all the slaves would have been too expensive in 1860. Slavery was seen as such an economic necessity in the South they would have refused to sell – look at what happened after the war when most former slaves remained to work the plantations as share croppers and the former owners took advantage of the arrangement. Finally many southern states had already left the Union before Lincoln took office.
The other important fact that was missed on FBC was the South started the shooting in 1861 by firing on Fort Sumter.
Buying the slaves is a pipe dream people like ‘Judge’ Andrew Napolitano and Ron Paul use to rewrite history using their rose colored glasses. It is also inherently dehumanizing because for them, slavery doesn’t trump their ‘free market’ fantasies. If you support equal rights and liberties for all then there is NO WAY you can “debate” slavery like the asshole on FBC tried to do.
Economic positions that disregard or dismisses people shouldn’t be a valid idea. But we shouldn’t be too surprised that support for slavery came from a corporatist propaganda cable channel like FOX Business.
The Daily Show takes down the rest of the crap Napolitano spewed out. It was an excellent segment.
The Daily Show
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