Nikki Haley announces US presidential run for 2024 (Not Trump please)

[Sherrerd]

@kenobi_65

@flurb

Slavery was THE reason for the Civil War, because it’s preservation against a perceived threat from Lincoln’s election was the reason why the Southern states seceded. I can’t believe there’s still debate about this – southern politicians were open about why they were leaving the Union.

My suspicion is that it’s related to conservative opposition to “critical race theory.” Many modern-day conservative white Southerners want to feel proud of their heritage and history (including the Confederacy), and doing so while also acknowledging the role that slavery played in the South’s history (and just how horrible slavery was) causes cognitive dissonance.

I think this is right, and I think Haley was offering those voters a particular characterization of the South versus the North that any reasonable person would find offensive. Specifically, I think Haley was consciously and deliberately saying that the cause of the Civil War was the evil North’s determination to impose its evil oppressive will–i.e. government–on the noble, freedom-and-liberty-defending South.

The entire exchange is worth reading. This post (from the Pit) has a gift link to a WaPo article that gives more than just excerpts from her answer:
NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 3) - #2735 by Sherrerd

Here are Haley’s words (as reproduced in that post):

… I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run. The freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do.

…I mean, I think it always comes down to the role of government, and what the rights of the people are. And I will always stand by the fact that I think government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people. It was never meant to be all things to all people. Government doesn’t have to tell you how to live your life. They don’t need to tell you what you can and can’t do. They don’t need to be a part of your life. They need to make sure that you have freedom. We need to have capitalism. We need to have economic freedom. We need to make sure that we do all things so that individuals have the liberties — so that they can have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do or be anything they want to be without government getting in the way. …

It’s not just boilerplate blather. She’s saying that the cause of the Civil War was a clash of the philosophy of “liberty” versus the philosophy of “government getting in the way.” And she frames this as the South versus the North.

You can be certain that many Republican voters will embrace her words. No matter how many tsk-tsking news stories there may be about this incident, Haley’s poll numbers are almost certain to rise as a result of it.