Check this out....It's a party platform.
* Severe limits on immigration.
* Restricting political office to native-born Americans
* Mandating a wait of 21 years before an immigrant could gain citizenship.
* Restricting public school teacher positions to Protestants.
* Mandating daily Bible readings in public schools.
* Restricting the sale of liquor.
* Restricting the use of languages other than English.
Doesn't that have the same kind of feel as the teabagger/Right wing ideology that is sweeping through the US and Canada?
Immigrants are looked upon with suspicion and severely restricted, bring the bible back into the schools....ENGLISH only!
Now, I took out a couple bits, I will add them back in......
* Severe limits on immigration, especially from Catholic countries.
* Restricting political office to native-born Americans of English and/or Scottish lineage and Protestant persuasion.
* Mandating a wait of 21 years before an immigrant could gain citizenship.
* Restricting public school teacher positions to Protestants.
* Mandating daily Bible readings in public schools.
* Restricting the sale of liquor.
* Restricting the use of languages other than English.
That was the political platform of the American Party which was active from 1845-1860. Members were instructed to tell anyone who asked about their activities to say, "I know nothing". They have become known better by that title. "The Know Nothings".
Some of them believed that the Catholics were going to take over the country and install the Pope as the head of state.They also despised Jewish people and Germans.
Today's Know Nothings believe that Muslims are going to take over, and force all to convert and to pray to Mecca. They think that Mexican's and Tamil's are going to infiltrate society with their trashy ways. Despite all real evidence to the contrary.
The Know Nothings were mainly comprised of uneducated working men who feared the cheap labour of those immigrating to the US. But at one time they managed to get quite a bit of support.
As it shed its clandestine beginnings, the Know-Nothing movement spread rapidly. By 1852 supporters of the Know-Nothing movement had achieved significant results with many of their candidates winning seats in local and state elections. With the passage of the KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT of 1854, the movement gained more supporters. Although originally allied with the Whigs, the phenomenal success of the Know-Nothings as well as growing debate over SLAVERY helped cause the decline and demise of the WHIG PARTY.
snip
The Know-Nothings elected the governor and all but two members of the Massachusetts state legislature as well as 40 members of the New York state legislature. By 1855 Know-Nothing adherents had elected thousands of local government officials as well as eight governors. Forty-three Know-Nothing candidates were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and there were five Know-Nothing senators.
Yet even as the number of Know-Nothing adherents reached its peak, the movement was beginning to decline. Despite their numbers in elective office, the Know-Nothings were largely unsuccessful in passing significant legislation. They introduced a bill in Congress that called for the prohibition of immigration of foreign-born paupers and convicts. They also introduced legislation in several states that required registration and literacy tests for voters.
The WHIG party was dying, and many of them went over to the Know Nothing party. The players remained much the same, just by a different name.
When the Know Nothings lost steam, the Republican party was formed. Some went to the Democratic party.
The Whigs appealed to voters in every socio-economiccategory, but proved especially attractive to the professional and business classes: doctors, lawyers, merchants, ministers, bankers, storekeepers, factory owners, commercially-oriented farmers and large-scale planters. In general, commercial and manufacturing towns and cities voted Whig, save for strongly Democratic precincts in Irish Catholic and German immigrant communities; the Democrats often sharpened their appeal to the poor by ridiculing the Whigs' aristocratic pretensions. Protestant religious revivals also injected a moralistic element into the Whig ranks.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Eh?
In another time, a political party was formed based on ignorance and bigotry.
There was soap named after this party even, in an attempt to cash in on the popularity.
Today, the web has allowed for the marketing of hate on a large scale and you can find the most gawd awful crap, from bumper stickers to mousepads and Tshirts, all splayed with the same uneducated drivel there ever was.
Elections were won by these past Know Nothings, and the fever swept the nation.
Not all fun and games however.....
Know Nothings were not content to attempt to bring about their agenda through peaceful means. Intimidation meant to keep Catholics away from the ballot box came to a head on August 6, 1855, in Louisville, Kentucky. In a hotly contested race for the office of governor of that state, Know Nothings killed 22, injured many more, and destroyed property. The Louisville riot was only the most spectacular of violent acts perpetrated by Know Nothing sympathizers in 1855.
There were many instances where the Know Nothings were quite willing to use deadly force and intimidation to force their views on everyone.
Casting a vote was not the private act that it is now. Baltimore was divided into twenty wards, each with one polling place, a dominant political club, ward boss, and favorite sons. Casting one's ballot meant having to wait in line before passing through a gauntlet of partisans to drop a distinctly marked ticket into a ballot box overseen by judges. Immigrants had to present their naturalization papers. Merely looking German in a Yankee ward or trying to cast a Democrat ticket at a Know Nothing polling place brought a sound beating or worse.
If you have time, I highly recommend reading that link.....Kidnapping was also part of the strategy. Those kidnapped were taken to many polls on voting days to vote, and vote. And vote. For the Know Nothing candidates, of course.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
So, we have theRefooooooooooooooooooorm party in Canada, amalgamated with the Conservatives. Intolerant, nativist, racist gits with a penchant for that good old fundamentalist and extremist religion. Bible thumping in schools, Pro Drug war, anti science and anti brown people. Added because of what is going on in Canada, anti woman. Many of the traditional conservative platforms are gone.
We have the Teabaggers in the US. Advocating for religious intolerance, a return to Their GOD, Anti immigration. Pro Drug war and completely opposite to any common sense.
In essence: Complete asshats.
Both groups are being driven by massive amounts of money and fear mongering coming from large interests who understand that stupid people are best controlled through feeding fear and hate.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Or as Vonnegut would say, and so it goes.
Nativism has long dark roots in both the US and Canada, and many countries in Europe.
During hard times, these movements take off....There has to be someone to blame, when a mirror is often the most accurate.
Support for the Right wing, corporatism and greed in the US and Canada is what has brought us to this lastest round of hard times.
Not caring about fellow earth travelers.
It would be good to hope that this whole hateful chapter will fizzle like it has so many times before. I hope that it does before mobs are in the streets committing violent acts. But you know....I think that history will repeat here too.
It has already started.