@Cernovich @MaraGay Douglass was indeed a Republican, a member of the party that organized to stand against a cabal of wealthy men who controlled the US government and used it to establish an oligarchy. Their wealth came from enslaved labor, so Republicans sought to stop the spread of slavery. /1
@Cernovich @MaraGay It was a proud party, one that believed the economy grew from the bottom up, and so the government should protect equality of opportunity for all individuals (men, but that was expected in that era). /2
@Cernovich @MaraGay So it established public college, and gave away land to farmers, and invested in railroads, and taxed all American incomes to pay for national development. The early GOP gave us our first activist state... and the economy boomed. /3
@Cernovich @MaraGay Against the GOP stood the Democrats, controlled by a few extraordinarily wealthy white men, who insisted the government could do nothing but protect their wealth, even if the majority of Americans wanted it to do something more. They, and they alone, should rule the country. /4
@Cernovich @MaraGay Why would a brilliant man like Douglass- or Lincoln- side with a party that protected a rich cabal rather than opened up the way for able men to work hard, innovate, and rise? It was a no-brainer, then and now. Anyone similar, today, must emulate Douglass. Right? /END
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