[LS]

Except your MODEL, the Confederacy, has been proved by Bensel to be MORE tyrranical, more oppressive, even for white people (and that anyone should have to add that disclaimer is an amazing comment on the slave society in the south).

No one on our side thinks that the growth of government power is good. I'm not aware of a single pro-Lincoln conservative who doesn't dislike the tariffs and the railroad subsidies. But it is YOU who are mixing up cause and effect. The crisis brought on by the SLAVE south, hiding behind the mantle of "states' rights," brought on more government power. But guess what? John C. Calhoun (yes, that "states' rights" Calhoun) argued even earlier that not only did southerners have a perpetual right to own slaves, but that their ownership should be protected against all SPEECH against slavery. Here was the great states' rights champion arguing 20 years before the war that no one should be allowed to even question slavery. Sounds to me like the gay-rights/global warming crowds.

[central_va]

Differences, like the ones between you and I, cannot ever be resolved politically. Secession is an option, war is another. Choosing secession is not choosing war. War comes when the party left tries to do something. I don't care to discuss this with you anymore we fully understand each other, further discussion is useless.

IMO while you may call yourself a conservative, i don't see you as one.

Would you mind telling me which area of the country you live in? Which state? I ask because I have a political theory and I just need a data point.