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Prologue: Untitled View of the Present Day That Was Yesterday
Presidential Government: Helen Watson and a Historical Perspective
October 5th, 2015
By Ted M. Bosch
Jason Silver’s hard earned omnipresent reputation took yet another blow this weekend in the whirlwind of madness that was Washington City. After a summer of predictions by Mr. Silver and the rest of the professional analysts, talking heads and wonks President Watson is still a man without a party --- or at least a party that matters --- as the Alliance remained out of reach and now seems destined to shifting to unified talks with the Coalition in regards to next year's Presidential Election. The high tide marked by July’s by-elections has rapidly receded into a whole lot of nothing.
Helen Watson’s dream of cannibalizing what parts she pleased from the Alliance and the Coalition to create her vaunted “Reform Federation” has little to show for it.
Four more Congressmen will now sit in the Free Member benches along with the Independents, Socialist Laborites, Localists and Neo-Red Badgers. If Congressmen Schultz who as of writing has already been recalled by his own constituency party and the other members of the “Gang of 19” who are liable to join him are able to hold onto their seats, the four may have company, the furthest of back benches being a far cry from the cabinet posts that must have seemed so close just last week.
The Secretary of American Affairs seems doomed in the short term, as in a resignation or firing will be announced probably before Press Time tomorrow. Prime Minister Hellyer in turn, now must worry for the inevitable knives to come out. No matter what he does now what he did in 2013 to Nordal is a likely fate. We may even see Nordal return to the post. Regardless of how that goes a General Election seems unavoidable before the end of the year.
And of course we can soon expect a return to the “old days” of 2009-2013. Yes that's right, get ready for more referendums. It will of course, remain to be seen if ‘E-Government’ will work now that Watson’s finally been blocked in the Alliance, cautious neutrality on the issues seems unlikely to be a broad policy anymore.
Of course all of this will be presented as shocking and will in many instances be ignored outright by the pundit corps that Mr. Silver and his Science-to-Victory netmemo so often serve as the vanguard for. But their ironic refusal to look at longer term historical trends, and only the day-by-day numbers and their algorithms prevents a broader understanding of what Helen Watson represents and why she failed.
It is not a question of Jeffersonian or Hamiltonian views in regards to her, as much as the modern terminology creates a dichotomy between them. At the end of the day Helen Watson and her Compact Party represents the modern manifestation of the “Old Republicans” who in turn were a manifestation of the most hardline Anti-Federalists in the years preceding the Constitution of 1787.
As covered in my book The Principles of ‘98: The Road from Henry, and Jefferson to Munson and La Salle this ultra-rejectionist and conservative strain of thought has wound its way through American History, between the two larger political movements for decades. The ‘Quids’ of John Randolph and the Nullifiers of John C. Calhoun begat the ideology of the Confederacy, the antebellum Democratic Party and found its way into elements of the early People’s Party. The Patriot’s Union and the Red Badgers and more recently, the Conservative Party of Frank La Salle all represented the most powerful strains of the anti-government and ultra-decentralization ideals into recent history.
And while this “Frontier Socialists” and “New Federalist” ideals have both tapped into the well from time to time, these ideals have generally been unable to gain the upperhand in American political history, that is until recent years. The Compact Party’s triumph in seizing what had by mutual agreement become less and less powerful mechanisms of government power shows both a disregard for their ideological foundations and a political brilliance that finally allowed the movement the means to victory.
This too though is not a new event in American political history. It is after all why Presidential Government fell to the wayside after the civil war. Washington, Jackson, and Lincoln all held the great power well, and sailed the ship of state safely past the sirens rocks. But for each of them and every John Adams and James Madison who simply put in a good job with little complain there was a Tyler, a Buchanan and a Johnson who sought to transform the office into a means of forcing a political transformation on the country contrary to the people and their other elected officials.
After the horrors of the Johnson Administration and the attempted scot-free return of the former rebel states into the Union without delay or trial or reconstruction it was probably inevitable that the office would lose ground. Maybe had President Thomas lived things might have changed, at least in the short term but inevitably someone else would have come to office, just as they later would and currently are, and try to seize back control.
But luckily for the nation and unluckily for Randolphites who would seize that power just to force their vision and then walk away as the Compact Party swears it will do once its reforms are finished, we were not a collection of parties or even a two party system at the time but really a one and a half party system. And the Republican Party it cannot be understated, were the heirs to the Whig Party.
Lincoln himself had always declared that the powers of his administration were based on the idea of not letting the Constitution die in the name of following it to the letter. Like other Whigs, he had always been a strong believer in Congressional Government. With his assassination and the death of President Thomas five years later, there was no other course to take for the National Unionist-Republicans than to embrace that old Whig idea, which in turn was an ideal embraced by Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian leaders of the first era in American politics. Two grand Article Five Conventions and decades of precedent and agreement we arrived at the modern system, with stable and secure systems until the election of President Watson.
But what happens now? In 1866-67 and 1893 the country was by chance one of --- at least on paper --- unified politics. We had Thaddeus Stevens and Henry Cabot Lodge. Who stands up to those men in the modern scene? With both the Coalition and Alliance facing factions and parties who agree more with Watson than their own electoral treaties can the President even be stopped?
History yet again says, most likely. The Randolphites were cast out by Jefferson and Madison who in the end, mostly embraced those aspects of Hamiltonianism which were beyond debating and brought about The Era of Good Feelings. John Tyler’s political demise came at the hands of James Polk who agreed with him on many issues and thus moderated the ideology for a time and opened the door for Compromises. Pierce and Buchanan and Jeff Davis gave way to Lincoln, War and national transformation.
Political revolution, collaboration or battle are the main options. And while there is no chance the President is going to see Civil War began on her watch, no matter what language she uses we are seeing a unique moment in American history.
If the Alliance and the Coalition came together we may find ourselves dealing with a new force in politics as both masses become one and the Randolphites of the Compactists and their factional supporters in practically all the other major parties bond together. While any Anti-Watson pact is framed as a temporary one, such a realignment is hard to walk away from long term.
This weekend and the failure of Prime Minister Hellyer brings an end to the Polk solutions viability, at least until the next Presidential Election --- The Governor of Columbia or the LEU Ambassador both seeming to be interested in trying to take leadership of the Compactists form their now defeated President --- but doesn’t remove the possibility that the Alliance’s next leader --- or the Coalition’s for that matter --- might not be seduced by the massive referendum numbers the President is getting all the same.
And of course there’s the third option, battle. In this case of course that meaning an entirely political struggle. But with the situation in both houses of the Congress, not to mention the States where it is at this point rather than a bloody but quick March to the Sea or end run to Appomattox we’d be facing the quagmire of the secondary revolts and the occupation years.
What option will win out? I cannot say with any certainty. As Mark Twain once noted “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” And while historians can trace out the possibilities, we don’t know the tune for certain. I, like Mr. Silver and the rest will just have to wait and see who will be standing at the front counter next week.
Populi News
Grounded Netmemo News
Grounded Netmemo News
Presidential Government: Helen Watson and a Historical Perspective
October 5th, 2015
By Ted M. Bosch
Professor Ted Bosch is Professor of Modern American History at Oklahoma Federal Grant State College. The Author of The Principles of ‘98: The Road from Henry, and Jefferson to Munson and La Salle, With Us or Against Us: Farmer-Labor Alliances Before Solidarity, and Red on Red: The Rise and Fall of the Socialist Labor Party of America. He is a winner of the Trotter Prize for History and is a regular contributor to Populi News' History Behind the Headlines analysis series.
Jason Silver’s hard earned omnipresent reputation took yet another blow this weekend in the whirlwind of madness that was Washington City. After a summer of predictions by Mr. Silver and the rest of the professional analysts, talking heads and wonks President Watson is still a man without a party --- or at least a party that matters --- as the Alliance remained out of reach and now seems destined to shifting to unified talks with the Coalition in regards to next year's Presidential Election. The high tide marked by July’s by-elections has rapidly receded into a whole lot of nothing.
Helen Watson’s dream of cannibalizing what parts she pleased from the Alliance and the Coalition to create her vaunted “Reform Federation” has little to show for it.
Four more Congressmen will now sit in the Free Member benches along with the Independents, Socialist Laborites, Localists and Neo-Red Badgers. If Congressmen Schultz who as of writing has already been recalled by his own constituency party and the other members of the “Gang of 19” who are liable to join him are able to hold onto their seats, the four may have company, the furthest of back benches being a far cry from the cabinet posts that must have seemed so close just last week.
The Secretary of American Affairs seems doomed in the short term, as in a resignation or firing will be announced probably before Press Time tomorrow. Prime Minister Hellyer in turn, now must worry for the inevitable knives to come out. No matter what he does now what he did in 2013 to Nordal is a likely fate. We may even see Nordal return to the post. Regardless of how that goes a General Election seems unavoidable before the end of the year.
And of course we can soon expect a return to the “old days” of 2009-2013. Yes that's right, get ready for more referendums. It will of course, remain to be seen if ‘E-Government’ will work now that Watson’s finally been blocked in the Alliance, cautious neutrality on the issues seems unlikely to be a broad policy anymore.
Of course all of this will be presented as shocking and will in many instances be ignored outright by the pundit corps that Mr. Silver and his Science-to-Victory netmemo so often serve as the vanguard for. But their ironic refusal to look at longer term historical trends, and only the day-by-day numbers and their algorithms prevents a broader understanding of what Helen Watson represents and why she failed.
It is not a question of Jeffersonian or Hamiltonian views in regards to her, as much as the modern terminology creates a dichotomy between them. At the end of the day Helen Watson and her Compact Party represents the modern manifestation of the “Old Republicans” who in turn were a manifestation of the most hardline Anti-Federalists in the years preceding the Constitution of 1787.
As covered in my book The Principles of ‘98: The Road from Henry, and Jefferson to Munson and La Salle this ultra-rejectionist and conservative strain of thought has wound its way through American History, between the two larger political movements for decades. The ‘Quids’ of John Randolph and the Nullifiers of John C. Calhoun begat the ideology of the Confederacy, the antebellum Democratic Party and found its way into elements of the early People’s Party. The Patriot’s Union and the Red Badgers and more recently, the Conservative Party of Frank La Salle all represented the most powerful strains of the anti-government and ultra-decentralization ideals into recent history.
And while this “Frontier Socialists” and “New Federalist” ideals have both tapped into the well from time to time, these ideals have generally been unable to gain the upperhand in American political history, that is until recent years. The Compact Party’s triumph in seizing what had by mutual agreement become less and less powerful mechanisms of government power shows both a disregard for their ideological foundations and a political brilliance that finally allowed the movement the means to victory.
This too though is not a new event in American political history. It is after all why Presidential Government fell to the wayside after the civil war. Washington, Jackson, and Lincoln all held the great power well, and sailed the ship of state safely past the sirens rocks. But for each of them and every John Adams and James Madison who simply put in a good job with little complain there was a Tyler, a Buchanan and a Johnson who sought to transform the office into a means of forcing a political transformation on the country contrary to the people and their other elected officials.
After the horrors of the Johnson Administration and the attempted scot-free return of the former rebel states into the Union without delay or trial or reconstruction it was probably inevitable that the office would lose ground. Maybe had President Thomas lived things might have changed, at least in the short term but inevitably someone else would have come to office, just as they later would and currently are, and try to seize back control.
But luckily for the nation and unluckily for Randolphites who would seize that power just to force their vision and then walk away as the Compact Party swears it will do once its reforms are finished, we were not a collection of parties or even a two party system at the time but really a one and a half party system. And the Republican Party it cannot be understated, were the heirs to the Whig Party.
Lincoln himself had always declared that the powers of his administration were based on the idea of not letting the Constitution die in the name of following it to the letter. Like other Whigs, he had always been a strong believer in Congressional Government. With his assassination and the death of President Thomas five years later, there was no other course to take for the National Unionist-Republicans than to embrace that old Whig idea, which in turn was an ideal embraced by Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian leaders of the first era in American politics. Two grand Article Five Conventions and decades of precedent and agreement we arrived at the modern system, with stable and secure systems until the election of President Watson.
But what happens now? In 1866-67 and 1893 the country was by chance one of --- at least on paper --- unified politics. We had Thaddeus Stevens and Henry Cabot Lodge. Who stands up to those men in the modern scene? With both the Coalition and Alliance facing factions and parties who agree more with Watson than their own electoral treaties can the President even be stopped?
History yet again says, most likely. The Randolphites were cast out by Jefferson and Madison who in the end, mostly embraced those aspects of Hamiltonianism which were beyond debating and brought about The Era of Good Feelings. John Tyler’s political demise came at the hands of James Polk who agreed with him on many issues and thus moderated the ideology for a time and opened the door for Compromises. Pierce and Buchanan and Jeff Davis gave way to Lincoln, War and national transformation.
Political revolution, collaboration or battle are the main options. And while there is no chance the President is going to see Civil War began on her watch, no matter what language she uses we are seeing a unique moment in American history.
If the Alliance and the Coalition came together we may find ourselves dealing with a new force in politics as both masses become one and the Randolphites of the Compactists and their factional supporters in practically all the other major parties bond together. While any Anti-Watson pact is framed as a temporary one, such a realignment is hard to walk away from long term.
This weekend and the failure of Prime Minister Hellyer brings an end to the Polk solutions viability, at least until the next Presidential Election --- The Governor of Columbia or the LEU Ambassador both seeming to be interested in trying to take leadership of the Compactists form their now defeated President --- but doesn’t remove the possibility that the Alliance’s next leader --- or the Coalition’s for that matter --- might not be seduced by the massive referendum numbers the President is getting all the same.
And of course there’s the third option, battle. In this case of course that meaning an entirely political struggle. But with the situation in both houses of the Congress, not to mention the States where it is at this point rather than a bloody but quick March to the Sea or end run to Appomattox we’d be facing the quagmire of the secondary revolts and the occupation years.
What option will win out? I cannot say with any certainty. As Mark Twain once noted “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” And while historians can trace out the possibilities, we don’t know the tune for certain. I, like Mr. Silver and the rest will just have to wait and see who will be standing at the front counter next week.
To read more on Populi’s coverage of the failings of Jason Silver’s Science-to-Victory Predictions Click Here.
More Coverage of The 2015 Alliance General Conference Click Here.
President Watson’s National Address: Video Recording and Analysis Here.
More Coverage of The 2015 Alliance General Conference Click Here.
President Watson’s National Address: Video Recording and Analysis Here.
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