December 20 - South Carolina Seceded from the United States

South Carolina Didn't Secede Because of States' Rights - It Denounced States Rights

The Only Reason for Secession was Protection of Slavery

On this day, December 20, in 1860 South Carolina became the first state to pass an ordinance of secession from the United States. Some like to say this was to defend states' rights but exactly the opposite is true.

In its "declaration of independence" South Carolina denounced other states for passing laws it didn't like because they were in opposition to federal laws. South Carolina made it clear that there was only one reason it was seceding, to protect slavery. All we have to do is look at the words the South Carolina secessionists wrote themselves to explain why they were taking this action.

From the "Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union":

"an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations"

"The States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, have enacted laws which either nullify the Acts of Congress or render useless any attempt to execute them."

"Those States have assume the right of deciding upon the propriety of our domestic institutions; and have denied the rights of property established in fifteen of the States and recognized by the Constitution; they have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery"

"A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery"

This should settle, once and for all, that the cause of secession and the resulting Civil War was slavery, not states' rights. The south opposed the states' rights of the free states to oppose slavery. All the South cared about was preserving slavery and they were willing to go to war for that, even a war that resulted in their utter destruction.

Reminder of CRC (Charter Review Commission) Public Hearing

 

Please help get out the word about the CRC public hearing on Wednesday, January 20, 2016, at 7:30pm, in the County Council building (100 Maryland Ave, Rockville 20850).

You can tell all your friends and acquaintances that while the CRC is focusing on an amendment to the County Charter to allow elections to fill vacancies of more than three years in the office of County Executive, we welcome all citizens to the public hearing to tell us about any changes they wish to see in the County Charter. They can find a copy of the County Charter at http://bessel.org/charter/charter.htm or they can email or call our staff aide, Josh Hamlin at Joseph.Hamlin@montgomerycountymd.gov to obtain a paper copy of the Charter.

Although it is not required, it would help us if those who would like to testify at the CRC hearing on January 20 would contact Josh Hamlin or me --- besselpaulm@comcast.net --- ahead of the public hearing so we will know who to expect and what you plan to talk about. Those who contact us ahead of time will have priority in speaking at the hearing. If there are not a lot of people asking to testify there will not be any time limits.

I have been speaking about the CRC, the County Charter, and our public hearing, at meetings of the county's Citizen Advisory Boards and at political and all other meetings where I can obtain an invitation. If you know of similar groups, please let me know and I'll be glad to attend and give a short presentation.

Please also remember that the CRC will have its usual monthly meeting on Wednesday, January 13, 2016, at 8am in the morning, in the 6th floor meeting room of the County Council building, and we plan to continue to meet every 2nd Wednesday of the month at that same time and in that same place every month. We try to finish our meetings by 9am and we definitely finish by 9:30am at the latest. All our meetings are open to everyone so please feel free to invite anyone to join us.

Paul M. Bessel
Chairperson, CRC (Charter Review Commission)
 

 

Liquor Regulation Fight Will Be Heated

Yesterday the Rockville-Mid-County Democratic Breakfast Club held its monthly meeting. The speakers were Delegate Bill Frick and Council President Nancy Floreen, discussing bills to change the current MoCo liquor monopoly.

Both Delegate Frick and Council President Floreen are intelligent and kind people, but both got a little hot during this discussion, more so than I have seen on other issues. We're still months away from action by the General Assembly on the proposed bills about MoCo liquor regulation, so it appears this will be a very heated political issue.

Currently MoCo may be (this is disputed) the only county in the U.S. that has a government monopoly on liquor wholesale and retail sales. Those who support continuing this say the county would lose (the number varies) about $30 million is this is ended, but that is also highly contested. 

Those who want to end the MoCo liquor monopoly say this is a subject that should not be under government control (most agree with that), but the opposition says we're stuck with the current system. Opponents of continuing the liquor monopoly also say that action would lead to more choices and lower prices for consumers, but that is also disputed.

So, this will be a very hard fight.

Commemoration of the 13th Amendment

End of Slavery in the United States

Friday, December 11, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the Lincoln Cottage presented an excellent program commemorating the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ending slavery in the United States.

Officials from the Commission and the Cottage introduced professors who gave very detailed papers about how the 13th Amendment came to be and what affects it had on our country. It was great, and even the refreshments were better than at most such events.

Similar events will be held to commemorate the 14th and 15th Amendments in the coming years and I'm sure they will equally educational. There is a lot we don't know about these 3 "Reconstruction Amendments" to the U.S. Constitution.

Victory for Open Meetings

Decision of Compliance Board in Favor of My Complaint Against the Montgomery County Board of Elections

The Open Meetings Act Compliance Board has just ruled on my complaint the the MoCo Board of Elections violated the Open Meetings Act when 3 of its members (all Republicans) held a conference call during which they discussed and possibly decided which early voting centers would be selected.

I and those who support open meetings won the case. The Compliance Board ruled that although the Board of Elections' counsel claimed that there was no quorum when the 3 Republican members of the Board held their conference call, he was wrong. The Board is now required to publicly acknowledge the decision of the Compliance Board stating that they violated the Open Meetings Act.

This is a victory for open government and allowing the public to see and hear all deliberations of public officials. I am very happy with this decision.

John Brown, American Abolitionist, Hanged on This Day

John Brown, shown above in a colorized portrait and then a painting that is in the Kansas Capitol, was hanged on this day, December 2, in 1859, after a kangaroo court trial in Virginia.

John Brown is sometimes called a madman but nothing could be further from the truth. He was a deeply religious man who felt --- absolutely correctly at the time in 1859 because slavery was expanding --- that nothing would end slavery in the United States unless someone took direct action. 

He decided to attempt to bloodlessly end slavery by going into the south and providing slaves with a safe place to which to escape on their way to Canada, in the mountains in the South. The fact that his strategy was flawed should not detract from the fact that his goal was good, as almost all people now would agree.

There are many reasons his trial was unfair. He was severely injured and all courts now, and almost all then, would have delayed the trial until the defendant was sufficiently well. Instead Brown had to be brought into his trial on a bed. He was not allowed time for his lawyer to arrive although the lawyer was on his way. And Brown was charged with treason against Virginia, a state to which he owed no loyalty and therefore could not be guilty of treason. 

Nevertheless, everyone knew he would be rushed to a guilty verdict. So, about 6 weeks after his raid on Harpers Ferry he was sentenced to death by hanging. Present at his execution were men later to become famous such as Stonewall Jackson and John Wilkes Booth.

Poets such as Henry David Thoreau in his "Plea for Captain Brown" quoted Brown. "I think, my friends, you are guilty of a great wrong against God and humanity, and it would be perfectly right for any one to interfere with you so far as to free those you willfully and wickedly hold in bondage."

And his last note was prophetic. "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood." Almost exactly one year later, very much because of John Brown, the states of the South started to secede from the United States, plunging our country into a Civil War that resulted in the deaths of 2% of our population, a percentage that today would mean the deaths of 6.4 million Americans.

New Leaders of MoCo Council

   

This morning the MoCo Council elected its leaders for 2016. George Leventhal left as Council President and was replaced by Nancy Floreen. The new VP is Roger Berliner.

Nancy Floreen was Council President in 2010 and Roger Berliner was Council President in 2012.

The MoCo Council elects its president and vp each year at the first meeting in December. The VP usually moves to president the next year, but as recently as 2010 that did not happen.

The Council President presides over meetings of the County Council but also has other very significant powers over such things as setting the agendas, appointment of committees, supervising the staff, and generally guiding the Council.

MoCo Delegation Hearing on Local Bills

Last night the MoCo Delegation (8 State Senators and 24 State Delegates, most of whom were present) held a hearing on bills that have been introduced for the coming Maryland General Assembly session in Annapolis that only relate to Montgomery County.

I testified in support of Delegate Al Carr's bill to provide for elections in case of vacancies in the office of members of the MoCo Board of Education when the remaining term is 3 years or more. I pointed out the the MoCo Charter Review Commission is working on a similar amendment for vacancies in the office of MoCo County Executive.

The major issue of the evening, taking many hours, was discussion of two issues concerning liquor sales in MoCo. The first was whether MoCo liquor special orders should be allowed without going through the DLC (Department of Liquor Control). MoCo is the only county in the U.S. (out of about 3,000) that by law requires all liquor sales to go through a government agency.

The second, and more controversial, was a bill by Delegates Bill Frick, Kirill Reznik, and others, to hold a referendum on the MoCo ballot in November 2016 on whether the voters want to continue the MoCo government liquor monopoly or not. Some feel that our county government should not be in this business, as we are the only such county, and that consumers would benefit if liquor sales in our county were made by private companies, as in most other parts of the country.

Opponents, including County Executive Ike Leggett, feel that it would be too much of a financial burden for MoCo to lose the income from the DLC, estimated at different amounts by different people but generally referred to as about $30 million. Others who opposed this bill forcefully included Mcgeo, the union that represents the employees of the DLC. They were in the county council hearing room in force and engaged in demonstrations to support their position.

What happens now? Both bills will probably be introduced in Annapolis, the one to revise DLC to allow private parties to engages in sales of special wines and beer, and the one to have a referendum on whether or not to allow all liquor to be sold in MoCo by private companies in addition to DLC. There will be more hearings in Annapolis, probably in February and/or March 2016, and then the Maryland State Senate and House of Delegates will vote on these bills and if they pass they will go to the Governor for signature or veto.

Based on the discussion last night, there is no doubt that these will be very contentious issues.