The Republican Party began as a coalition. It came together to stand against an oligarchy intent on overcoming democracy. In the mid-1850’s, SC senator James Henry Hammond (an enslaver) said this. “I repudiate, as ridiculously absurd, that much-lauded but nowhere accredited dogma of Mr. (Thomas) Jefferson, that all men are created equal.

Apparently, there was a theme that some people were better than others and had the right–and the duty–to impose their will on everyone else. This elite group of enslavers came to control the party, the Senate, White House, and Supreme Court.

The Whig Party tried to make peace with this increasingly extremist group…and splintering occurred. A variety of political parties came together to counter President Franklin Pierce’s pro-slavery behavior. They called themselves Republicans, recalling the principles of the Declaration of Independence. 

It was within this massive division that Lincoln was elected president. The people came together to oppose those trying to overthrow democracy. “We contend for the policy which was adopted by our fathers who framed the Government, while you with one accord…spit upon that policy.”

And the rest is history.

But there is nothing new under the sun. Here we go again.

Vance backer billionaire Peter Thiel recently said, “Democracy, whatever that means, is exhausted.” 

But as Lincoln recalled, when people in his era realized that the very nature of America was under attack, they “rose each fighting.”  When the storm had passed in his day, old party lines had fallen apart and people reorganized along entirely new ones.
~ condensed from historian Heather Cox Richardson’s post, August 4, 2024.

The names and orientations have changed but the situation has not. When there’s talk of dismantling the Constitution,* people coalesce against it. You don’t have to agree on every point to come together. Sometimes the Christians and Muslims come together in India to fight for religious freedom.

I’m feeling some unity coming on…

*”A massive fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” I’ve included this Trump quote regarding the 2020 election because I’m not sure far right media ever reported it.